I have British Land to thank for ArtHouse Galleries coalescing from an idea into reality. It was their team who made us believe that we could do it, gave us affordable space to try our idea out and helped us realise that we needed to form a company! As a result, today ArtHouse Galleries is giving artists the opportunity to turn what they’re good at into their main source of income, making empty shops look fantastic and making original art affordable to the general public.

About 20 years ago, I had a cancer episode. Going through something like that really focuses your mind that you’re not here for ever. So, I changed my life and signed up for arts college, which I’d always wanted to do. After five years’ studying fine art, fashion and textiles at Kingston University, I opened an art gallery, which I ran until Covid struck.

Together with my two sons, who are both artists as well, we started displaying art at British Land’s shopping centres in Ealing Broadway and Kingston-upon-Thames. This proved so popular that British Land invited us to do to a pop-up gallery in an empty store for a few months. This led to us running a gallery at Ealing Broadway for two years, selling work by 15 different artists and growing as a business. We’re now a Community Interest Company.

WHAT ART BRINGS

Art is a fantastic way to brighten up an empty shop and add something unique for customers, at no cost to the landlord. We can move in quickly when a space becomes available and get out quickly when a commercial tenant signs up. It’s much better for potential tenants to look at a successful working concern than an empty property. Even if we can’t pay a commercial rent, we can contribute towards it and take a lot of the burden of business rates away.

Art is overlooked as a potential anchor in a shopping centre. It can increase footfall. We get people who travel to our galleries because they’ve built a big extension and want a stunning piece of art to impress their neighbours. We also have a lot of customers who’ve never spent money on original art before. We get dads who bring their kids on Saturday mornings and then come back with their partners. On weekends, whole families visit us to look at art together. Our customers are very diverse.

Shoppers love our art and enjoy interacting with our artists, who staff the gallery. Even if you go to an affordable art fair (which often aren’t very affordable), you’re usually meeting the galleries, not the artists. In my experience, it creates a whole different feeling when you buy a piece from an artist you’ve met, because you have a connection and understand why they did it.

Growing social value

The biggest issue that most artists face is how to turn what they’re good at into a living. Our cooperative model allows artists to sell their work commission-free, sharing the cost of space and helping with staffing to keep costs down. Around a third of our artists are now full-time. One artist went from only being able to paint at weekends to art being her full-time career. Another has an ongoing mental health condition that means he can’t sustain a full-time job, but his artwork is fantastic and it sells. He draws on his mental health experiences in his pieces and people really relate to that.

We make a big effort to have a mix of artists who reflect the diversity of our local communities, including younger artists who wouldn’t otherwise be able to try a career in art, people who identify as LGBTQ+ and people of different religions and backgrounds. The mum of one of our young artists, whose work sold really well, told me how much confidence this gave her daughter. We support our artists with mentoring when needed too.

Democratising art is important to me. I cannot stand galleries where you hardly dare go in, because there are no prices and you’re made to feel you can’t afford anything. We have pieces from £5 right the way up to £1,500. We sell prints as well, because not everyone can afford an original but they might be able to get a framed print. We also sell artwork in box frames that stand up, for people renting who can’t hang things on their walls.

Our galleries are part of what a community should be. We welcome visits from local schools. We’re a safe space for elderly residents who want to have a chat in a nice environment and for people who are neurodiverse. At Ealing, British Land gave us extra space to raise funds for Ukraine, selling artworks donated by our artists. 

I’m absolutely indebted to British Land. They’re a fab company. I was surprised that such a big business was willing to entertain a small company like ours – in fact, when we first started working together, we weren’t even a company! They’ve been terrific in supporting us, including finding us furniture and fitments to get started.

I’d encourage more property owners to think creatively about opportunities to bring alive empty shops, and to simplify legal documents to make that possible. This could benefit everyone

Find out more about how to work with Arthouse Galleries: www.arthousegalleries.live/fill-your-space

British Land provides affordable space to local community organisations, charities, social enterprises and small businesses as part of our 2030 Sustainability Strategy: Greener Spaces, Thriving Places, Responsible Choices.

www.britishland.com/sustainability