Hastings Contemporary

Hastings Contemporary is an independent gallery of modern and contemporary art on the fishing beach in Hastings Old Town, run by a registered charity separate from the local council. The building opened in 2012 as the Jerwood Gallery, taking its current name in 2019, and its exterior of roughly eight thousand hand-glazed black tiles echoes the tarred net huts on the beach beside it. The gallery mounts a changing programme of exhibitions by British and international artists, recently oriented around themes of the sea and environmental change, alongside talks, workshops and partnerships with scientists and community groups. Sir Quentin Blake has been the gallery's artist patron since it opened. Entry is free for under-18s, and the gallery is open Wednesday to Sunday. It stands beside the beach-launched fishing fleet and the net shops as one of Hastings Old Town's landmark buildings, funded through admissions, membership and charitable donations rather than public subsidy.