All Arts Organisation

CHAMPIONING CREATIVITY TO ENHANCE PEOPLE LIVES.

INSPIRE – Affordable, dynamic and innovative space to create, showcase and retail

CREATE – Inspiring creativity, encouraging diversity, creating inclusivity

SHOWCASE – Providing affordable space to exhibit in Chatham & Rochester

SUPPORT – Promoting access to the Arts for over 15 years throughout Medway & Kent

Nucleus Arts is the Award Winning flagship arts organisation founded by the Halpern Charitable Foundation. The Foundation was the brainchild of the late Hilary Halpern and it was his dream to promote the Arts in Medway and Kent. Nucleus Arts has become the cultural and creative heart of Kent & Medway over the past 15 years (founded in 2002) and focuses on affordability, accessibility and excellence in the Arts.

 Featuring a wide variety of works by local artists, Nucleus Arts aims to prove that beautiful, original and unique works of art can be both attainable and affordable, whilst at the same time providing low-cost studio space to artists in order to enable them to be able to practice their Art.

 Now in our 15th year, Nucleus Arts has sites in Chatham where artists can create and display their work. Open to the public (and free to enter), constantly updated, the Nucleus showrooms are a haven for local art lovers and a wonderful retreat for those who want a little something different from their shopping trip.

Nucleus Arts manage two art galleries:

• The Halpern Gallery in Chatham
• The Halpern Pop in Rochester

The Halpern Charitable Foundation exists to inspire and transform the lives of the broad and diverse audiences of people and communities in Medway and Kent.

The Halpern Charitable Foundation was founded in 2002, achieving charitable status in March 2003. It was set up initially to meet three particular aims – to provide affordable space for artists to work and exhibit in Medway; to help people with mental and/or physical illness/disability; and as a backstop for the Chatham Memorial Synagogue, should it ever be in real financial difficulty with no other avenue left.

Since then the Foundation has refined and expanded its ideas. We realised that in addition to providing studio and exhibiting space at affordable prices to artists, we needed to help break down the barriers some of the public felt in accessing contemporary arts. We realised that there were a lot of people not being included within the local community and we have found that using the arts to enable these groups is tremendously effective.

Rochester Art Fair is a new and exciting event providing art lovers, art collectors and the local community based in Kent, Surrey, Sussex, London and the surrounding areas, with the opportunity to browse and buy beautiful, original artwork and interact directly with artists from across the UK and Europe.
Set against the lavish backdrop of the 18th Century Rochester Corn Exchange in the historic town of Rochester, Kent. The Fair showcases a wide variety of visual art including 2D and 3D works, created by both established and emerging artists.

The Margate Bookie is a charity that brings people together through reading and writing. It runs the town’s litfest, hosts workshops and teaches writing skills.

Our next festival is 20-22 October 2023. We’ll be at Dreamland, Turner Contemporary and lots of special venues around Margate.

Subscribe and follow to be at the front of the queue.

We work with artists, creative organisations and those who want to make the world better through cultural engagement.
We’re a small family business with big ambition! Founded and run by Medway residents Heather and Ed, Sun Pier House is an evolving project that started by chance in 2012. We’re now over 10 years in and still have a long list of ideas for the space that we’re working towards…

A creative arts space and venue split across 3 floors; we are home to an exhibition gallery, 26 artist studios, a Community Hire Room and a cafe with a view.

We’re passionate about showcasing the artwork of South East creatives and local community art initiatives at leading shopping and leisure destinations. Our aim is to provide an inclusive, joyful and uplifting experience for visitors whilst enabling local artists, the opportunity to exhibit their work in locations that make art more accessible to the wider community.
​Run by artists for artists, our exhibitions provide a unique opportunity to meet the artists themselves.

We are a vibrant creative hub, right in the heart of Herne Bay offering to try new things, to meet new people, to share your ideas and talents, a a space to hire.

We support people on their creative journey and give artists and makers space to create and show their work and bring people together through creative activities. Our exhibitions, events and learning opportunities make a real difference to people’s lives in Herne Bay.

JAM on the Marsh is a multi-arts festival based on Kent’s Romney Marsh.  4-16 July 2023

Founded in 2000, JAM (John Armitage Memorial Trust) has commissioned an immense number of works from some of the most important composer in the UK, influencing the classical music repertoire in the UK and around the world.
JAM regularly collaborates with some of the most important composers, performers and other like-minded organisations: BBC Singers, London Mozart Players, Onyx Brass and BBC Radio 3.

MISSION
JAM is internationally recognised as a creative, dynamic, forward-thinking arts organisation, with new music at its core. It embraces artistic risk-taking through contemporary innovation, exploration, collaboration and creation, that intentionally integrates high-quality performances and education.

Kent Creative is an independent cultural organisation formed in 2009. We are based in Faversham and we operate throughout Kent. We promote arts and culture across Kent by supporting ambitious emerging and established a creatives and organisations. Our vision is of a society that values creativity, arts and culture and actively celebrates their positive contribution to our lives.

Kent Creative currently has 4 primary activities:

• Culture in Kent : online directory showcasing and promoting arts and culture in Kent.
• The Kent Creative Show: a podcast and Youtube Channel and podcast that offers conversations with artists and creatives who share their experiences, journeys and creative work. Each show gives an insight into their life story and how it led them to do what they do today.
• Art shows and cultural events: selling shows for Kent based artists, designers and makers to sell their work directly to audiences. All shows are curated for quality and consistency.
• Project 365: Community photography project inviting members of the community to take photographs taken each day of the year, depicting life in their community.

Across all our projects, we are particularly interested in developing relationships with the wider business community, offering sponsorship opportunities.

“Top Ten Concerts and Opera 2022” The Guardian

Founded in 2011, Music@Malling brings world-class music to historic venues in and around West Malling, Kent.  Set in an area of outstanding natural beauty and a rich cultural heritage, our concerts and outreach engage hundreds of people who would not otherwise have access to high quality arts provision: our activities bring outstanding musicians to people’s doorsteps.

Music@Malling has a comprehensive outreach programme that runs throughout the year, engaging children and young people from across Kent: designed to increase participation and engagement; reaching people would not otherwise have the opportunity to experience the arts.

Our activities inspire creativity and give children and young people opportunities to work with outstanding professional musicians.  Outreach is differentiated and designed to appeal to different age groups and abilities.

Concerts for 2023 include Earth, Water, Air and Fire featuring new music by Deborah Pritchard and art by Maggie Hambling CBE and Marc Chagall and our annual festival which runs from 24th-30th September 2023.

Big Trouble is a quarterly poetry night hosted by local poets David Dykes and Bethany Goodwill at the 12 Degrees Micropub in Rochester. It has 2 featured performers plus a free-for-all open mic section where we encourage anyone to take the stage to share their poems, short stories, rants, monologues or ideas.

We encourage the use of the space by poets who want to try something new or perform something they’ve been working on that they would like to test out.

Big Trouble is a pay-what-you feel event; any money we receive goes towards publicising future nights.

Living Words is an arts and literature organisation created by Susanna Howard.

We live by our values of integrity, social benefit, equity & inclusion. Since 2007 our artists have been applying our unique Listen Out Loud methodology to co-create individual books of words with project members on their lived experience. With their involvement and within an ethical framework, we craft these into anthologies, films and performances to enable these voices to be heard in the world to challenge associated societal stigma and promote inclusion.

We want to see a world in which all our sounds and words are given space to be heard; for speakers to be validated and take power through their vocal expression, listeners to get in sync, and our artists affirmed in their art and progression of their skills.

Following a pivot in delivery due to Covid-19 & subsequent reframing of our work, this is now applied in two distinct strands.

LIVING EXPERIENCE involves residencies in care homes, community settings, day centres and hospitals, working one-to-one with people
experiencing dementia and their carers & families. Staff workshops and sharings embed the use of people’s Living Words books & enhance wellbeing through deeper connection.

LIVING WARRIORS uses the same method to work with people experiencing ongoing mental health concerns. Projects take place in our specially build library hub, with artists working one-to-one with people and in small groups.

Now in our 11th year, we have 28 venues to visit this July and work on show by over 200 artists, including painting, printmaking, jewellery, ceramics, photography, textiles, illustration and animation.

Each year, visitors are welcomed to explore the hidden creative work spaces and secret studios across Medway. Along the trail you can take part in art activities and events, view exhibitions, talk to the artists, buy art and crafts, and see first hand the array of artistic talent and opportunities in this impressively creative area of Kent.