About Ort Gallery

Mission Statement

Ort Gallery | Bridging gaps with Art and Warmth

Ort Gallery is on a social mission to redefine contemporary visual arts by rejecting the sector’s exclusivity, centring access and equity, and by providing inclusive high quality art experiences. We support this mission with a care-centred approach and give artists, team members, and participants autonomy over their projects.

We believe everyone should have access to high quality art experiences and aim to provide that standard by providing exhibition and professional development opportunities to artists, creatives, and community members.

We are particularly focused on investing in and engaging with community members of the Balsall Heath area that are often overlooked.  We use our space to provide our community with art focused events, activities and volunteering opportunities. We believe that art holds transformative power for mental wellbeing, bridging gaps between communities. We believe that you are never too young, too old or too different to learn a new skill or engage with art.

We place Warmth at the heart of all our work. We recognise that galleries are sites of oppression which centre and reproduce white normative and elitist ways of ‘being’ under the supposed guise of neutrality. We are interested in challenging this head on; whilst also committing to creating space for local artists and marginalised community groups of the Balsall Heath and wider Birmingham area to play an active role in shaping such practices, in the hopes of transforming our city and industry. 

We are proud to provide exhibition opportunities to Black and Brown artists, those from working class backgrounds, the LGBTQ+ community and artists with disabilities.

We always compensate artists and staff for their work and contribution to our space – no matter the stage of their careers. We strive to provide further earning opportunities through extending artists networks and offering opportunities for them to sell their work.

 

Warmth

Ethos | Leadership | Pay rates | Accountability | Access

We use Warmth as a starting point for all our work. Read more about this here

Ort Gallery is accredited by the Living Wage Foundation and a Disability Confident Employer.

 

Policies

Download our policies here

 

Proposals

Artists are welcome to submit proposals for future projects. For more information please e-mail: [email protected] with a short introduction.

 

Annual Reports

Read our 2017 Annual Report here

Read our 2018 Annual Report here

Read our 2019 Annual Report here and our 2019 Impact Report here

In 2020 we published our Warmth Report instead of an Annual Report

In 2021 we published our Warmth One Year Later Report instead of an Annual Report

Read our 2021 & 2022 Impact Report here