Two decades after Bristol Crown Court moved out, the former Guildhall and Assize Courts building in Broad Street now has a new life as an arts centre.
Courtrooms, meeting rooms, corridors and cells have become an exhibition venue and artists' studios complex that will remain open until Bath-based property developers, The Osborne Group, begin redeveloping the site at the end of the year.
From now until December, the historic premises will host exhibitions of painting and photography, artists' studios, lectures, theatrical events and more. Areas of the building will be opened phase by phase as local artists and organisations get involved: the Centre will also host, this autumn, the first-ever Bristol Art Prize, a painting competition for both professional and amateur artists with a first prize of £5,000.
The Guildhall Arts Centre is the brainchild of the Osborne Group's managing director Trevor Osborne, who bought the Guildhall site from Bristol City Council last year and plans to develop the building into a five-star hotel. Aware that these plans will take some time to come to fruition, Osborne invited Bath's Art Ventures to devise a nine-month programme of events and exhibitions to entice artists and the viewing public into this historic but currently dormant site.
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