INTER_CHANGE 23/24 Field Trip: Scarborough

INTER_CHANGE artist Harry Newman walks us through a packed day out visiting art spaces in Scarborough on 29 November 2023.

Our wonderful Scarborough trip kicked off with a tour of the Old Parcels Office, a studio space for local artists and with large open gallery halls offering utilities that are often used for artist exhibitions and local craft markets.

After this we stopped by the Scarborough Art Gallery. Here we were guided by Dorcas Taylor, Head of Collections and Interpretations at Scarborough Museums Trust, who showed us around Always Been Here, an exhibition exploring Scarborough’s queer heritage. Dorcas shared with us insights into her knowledge and expertise regarding applying for and collaborating with gallery spaces as an independent artist.

After perusing the gallery space some more, we made our way to the next stop; Crescent Arts. A beautiful building offering a lot of facilities and showcasing a varied amount of artistic work, especially in Garth Gratrix’s exhibition Cheeky Felicia. Here we enjoyed showing ourselves around and found the experience to be very immersive. Next, we stopped to recoup at a local cafe and eatery, Greensmith Coffee, where we had a nice chat and some much needed refreshments to send us on our way again.

Our last stop of the trip was at a brilliant artist-led space called Mandy Apple, where we got to speak to Joel Hague, a curator of the space there. He offered some information about the space, as well as some of his experience collaborating with artists. We were encouraged to have a look around the building, which was bursting with a varying amount of artistic talent. From a shop at the front offering hand-made and unique goods for sale, to a showcase of work by Wendy Galloway in the back. It was a treat to visit and a great place to end our tour.

A big thank you to everyone we met along the way on this trip; it gave the team a lot of helpful information on navigating gallery spaces from big to small, how to communicate effectively with the curators and organisers of these spaces, and even further helping us to understand how we can see ourselves taking up these spaces. For that, this trip was definitely one to remember.