About HYDE PARK ART CLUB
Hyde Park Art Club was founded by Sarah Roberts, Simon Rix and Jack Simpson in 2020, since then HPAC has expanded to welcome more members including Curator Benedetta D’ettore [Leeds/Venice] and Artist, educator and curator Marion Harrison, plus our amazing steering group, and our growing team of HPAC alumni and our events links at our beloved Hyde Park Book Club. As an unconstituted curatorial group, we aim to showcase Northern-based artists and broaden visual art audiences by displaying high-quality contemporary art in a non-traditional setting at Hyde Park Book Club. Our shows have excellent engagement from both audiences accustomed to viewing art and hundreds of cafe/venue goers, who experience art incidentally and can appreciate it more slowly. We provide free, experimental space to test new, innovative ideas. Since 2020, we showcased over 180 artists including. Our exhibitions have received press attention including SoAnyway, FAD, Corridor8 and The State of The Arts. In May 2024, we set up a steering group to pool resources, collaborate with organisations across the city, and increase our accountability and engagement.
Our mission
HPAC is an independent grassroots platform for artistic expression and experimentation. Based in the events-led, pan-arts creative hub.
Hyde Park Book Club, we aim to provide surprising, enriching and meaningful encounters with art in a setting that is non-institutional and easy to access for all. We are embedded in and serve the communities of Hyde Park, Headingley and the wider city beyond.
Our vision
HPAC will offer a model that is Holistic; Kind; and Open.
HPAC will offer quality work in ‘mainstream’ spaces.
HPAC will embrace our position as an ‘alternative economy’ model to achieve greater sustainability.
HPAC will expand and diversify our audiences and deepen participation.
Our values
HPAC encourages artists and supports risk-taking and experimentation. We care about equity, inclusion, mental health, the environment and being a safe space open for all. We care about our neighbourhood and invite local residents, students, and a wider audience within the city to connect with our programme.
Want to show at the Book Club?
We are sorry but Hyde Park Art Club is not funded and has limited capacity, so we cannot accept unsolicited proposals. We are working on a curated programme of exhibitions and towards an open model, so look out for open calls and other opportunities.
Hyde Park Book Club’s snug area (the cozy room without the bar on the ground floor) and the basement space downstairs can be booked as testing sites. Get in touch with the events team for direct bookings contact@hydeparkbookclub.co.uk. We are also happy to direct you to other networks in the city that may be able to help dm us @hydeparkartclub or email hydeparkartclubls6@gmail.com.