Participate Contemporary Artspace (PCA) is an artist run community interest company. It was set up in 2015 by Jill Impey, Elizabeth Turner and Keith Ashford to create space for artists to work and exhibit in Shrewsbury, Shropshire. They took over a vacant supermarket in the town centre and established a thriving community of 22 artists. Over the 7 years this site was their home PCA developed new audiences for contemporary and progressive art and helped local artists develop a market for their art in Shrewsbury. During this time PCA had 62 exhibitions with a total of over 52,000 visits. The gallery was made possible by the enthusiastic support of studio artists and volunteers.
With the studios and gallery established the CIC received Arts Council funding to enhance the professional development of PCA artists, particularly collaborative working and self help. It supported individuals and artist partnerships with their Arts Council funded projects and community groups with lottery funding. PCA became a Bronze and Silver Arts Award centre, running summer schools for young people. It ran an annual Open Exhibition for new curators, introducing a different range of creative approaches to the gallery.
The Gallery and Studios were forced to close when the Shrewsbury town development plan involved the demolition of the supermarket. PCA was unable to find similar premises, but decided to continue as an organisation to prevent the loss of the group’s skills and resources.
The CIC now concentrates on supporting a range of artist’s collaborations, assisting with funding applications for public art and research projects.
