{"id":28398,"date":"2026-01-29T13:40:02","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T13:40:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/west-sussex\/?p=28398"},"modified":"2026-01-29T13:44:05","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T13:44:05","slug":"creative-crawley-agree-new-lease-with-county-mall-shopping-centre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/west-sussex\/creative-crawley-agree-new-lease-with-county-mall-shopping-centre\/","title":{"rendered":"Creative Crawley agree new lease with County Mall Shopping Centre for pop up creative space & the West Green Studios experiment comes to an end"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Unit 79\/80 County Mall<\/strong><\/p>

We are delighted to announce that Creative Crawley\u2019s partnership with County Mall Shopping Centre continues at least until July 2026 and so that flexible theatre, gallery, workshop space and recording studio will continue to be available for Crawley residents and the creative community.\u00a0\u00a0AudioActive<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0continue to base their Crawley work from Unit 79\/80 and a programme of events continues. See our\u00a0What\u2019s On<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0page for more info.<\/p>

West Green Studios<\/strong><\/p>

In March 2026, the current partnership for West Green Studios between Theatre Centre and Creative Crawley will end and the lease for 1, Town Barn Road will\u00a0return to Crawley Borough Council.<\/p>

Theatre Centre and Creative Crawley worked together since 2023 to create West Green Studios in 1, Town Barn Road, West Green, opposite Crawley hospital. In March 2025, the studios opened as a fit for purpose flexible performance space, 24 hour public access gallery and artists studios with 5 resident artists.\u00a0<\/p>

Funding was secured from Arts Council England and the UK Government Shared Prosperity Fund to develop and test the space as a creative hub and since June 2023 to date it has been used by nearly 700 local participants from the elders at Carey House to students from The Gatwick School. Over 70 local and nationally renowned artists such as\u00a0Sarah Maple<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0Clod Ensemble<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Marco Woolf<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0have used the space to perform, rehearse or run workshops. There have been 14 different skills development workshops for local people from archiving to floristry to printmaking and climate sustainability.<\/p>

\u2018To have a studio in Crawley, doesn\u2019t mean you have to just serve Crawley\u2026 the reality is quite different. The location is something to celebrate, be proud of. The potential for national and international studio work is here, that\u2019s exciting, and if you look closely\u2026 it\u2019s already started happening!\u2019\u00a0Karl Singporewala, Architect, visual and resident artist, West Green Studios<\/em><\/p>

Creative Crawley has managed and programmed the space and has supported\u00a05 local, resident artists and 2 associates<\/strong><\/a>, commissioned\u00a05 new visual artworks for the Window Gallery<\/strong><\/a>, hosted performances from nationally recognised artists from\u00a0Andy Smith<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0Second Hand Dance<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and curated a\u00a0Skills Exchange Programme<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0for local young people to gain access to the creative industries.<\/p>

\u2018We loved bringing our show for preschoolers and babies \u2018We Touch, We Play, We Dance\u2019 to Crawley.\u00a0 The intimacy of the space at West Green and the way it was set up created a special atmosphere and it was wonderful to see the children so keen to participate.\u2019\u00a0Producer,\u00a0 Second Hand Dance<\/em><\/p>

The five, local resident artists or those who have created or presented work in the space have gone on to present or display their work in the Frieze Sculpture trail 2025, SOAS Gallery, London, Kew Gardens, London and have had international magazine spreads.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>

\u2018My time at West Green Studios has contributed greatly to my most financially successful year as an artist. Before I couldn\u2019t afford to commute and travel in London\/Brighton to a similar space, not to mention the travel was too much as a disabled person. I have put myself forward for more opportunities\u00a0 thanks to the space and the confidence it has given me. I\u2019ve had work sent internationally, been published in press in at least 6 countries and displayed work both locally and at places like Kew Gardens.<\/p>

The studio is also a great place to teach and mentor from. It\u2019s been very rewarding to give back specialist knowledge to those who wouldn\u2019t usually have access to it.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>

Beth Williams, Living Textiles artist and Resident at West Green Studios.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>

Theatre Centre has brought BAFTA and Olivier award winning writers and professional artists and partners including National Youth Theatre, into West Green Studios and local schools to work with young people in Crawley. Since moving into West Green, they have produced three new plays commissioned from leading writers and developed with local young people. Theatre Centre are committed to remaining in Crawley and working with local schools and community groups alongside their national touring and with schools and young people.<\/p>

Before we leave West Green Studios, we have a programme of visual art, workshops and an artist sale to celebrate the end of the space as a cultural hub in style:<\/p>

31 Jan, 11am \u2013 5pm: Artists Studio Sale<\/a><\/p>

Until 27 January: Beth Williams\u2019 installation:\u00a0Together we are a garden<\/em><\/a><\/p>

From 29 January: Pearl Makayi installation:\u00a0For Us<\/em><\/a><\/p>

Theatre Centre are also hosting a range of workshops as part of\u00a0WordFes<\/a>t in March<\/p>

Beth Williams<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Sophie Merriner<\/a>\u00a0are hosting textiles based workshops in January and February\u00a0supported by Neighbourhood Shared Prosperity funding.<\/p>

\u2018Very inspiring to see such a range of art and voices in the area I call home \u2013 will definitely come again!\u2019\u00a0Audience member at a local showcase event at West Green Studios, 2025<\/em><\/p>

Image: Ian Greenland<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unit 79\/80 County Mall We are delighted to announce that Creative Crawley\u2019s partnership with County Mall Shopping Centre continues at least until July 2026 and so that flexible theatre, gallery, workshop space and recording studio will continue to be available for Crawley residents and the creative community.\u00a0\u00a0AudioActive\u00a0continue to base their Crawley work from Unit 79\/80 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":28399,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[417],"tags":[],"directory-category":[],"event_categories":[],"class_list":["post-28398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art-culture"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-20 18:22:52","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/west-sussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/west-sussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/west-sussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/west-sussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/west-sussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28398"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/west-sussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28406,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/west-sussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28398\/revisions\/28406"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/west-sussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/west-sussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/west-sussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/west-sussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28398"},{"taxonomy":"directory-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/west-sussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/directory-category?post=28398"},{"taxonomy":"event_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/west-sussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event_categories?post=28398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}