BACKLIT Gallery buys its historic home in £880,000 fundraising success, and ensures the future of the East Midland’s largest artist studio hub.

BACKLIT has raised an incredible £884,000 in just 12 months to buy its home, Alfred House—a historic Victorian textile factory in Sneinton—from the City Council, saving over 75 artist studios.

Owning Alfred House secures BACKLIT’s future and paves the way for exciting improvements, including improved disabled access throughout the building, a brand-new ground-floor gallery, and community garden.

BACKLIT is an internationally renowned public gallery, and the largest artist studio hub in the East Midlands. It was founded in 2008 as an artist-led space by Nottingham Trent University graduates, including the current Co-Director Matthew Chesney. Co-Director Suzanne Golden has been at BACKLIT for over 10 years. Golden has worked in arts business management for over 25 years.

BACKLIT moved into Alfred House in 2012, where it became home to 120 artists, collectives and associate members.

Our collectives bring artists together to learn and collaborate with each other. The Pending Collective supports young emerging artists under 25; the Lumina Collective explores feminist themes in the arts; and our emerging Neurodivergent Artist Network (NAN) connects neurodivergent artists across the East Midlands.

Building History and Community Consultations

Alfred House is a former Victorian factory. It was built by the anti-slavery and education pioneer Samuel Morley in 1872. BACKLIT will conserve many of the original Victorian features while making Alfred House more accessible and sustainable than ever before.

To guide these improvements, BACKLIT is launching a series of community consultations to gather the interests and needs of artist members and Nottingham locals. BACKLIT staff are especially interested in the insights from disabled people, residents of St Anns and Sneinton, and other community groups.

Members of the public can get in touch about the consultations by emailing [email protected]

After it announced its bankruptcy in 2024, Nottingham Council put Alfred House on the market. The race was on for BACKLIT to raise the funds to buy it. Six hero funders helped BACKLIT raise this amount in remarkable time: it took less than a year, and BACKLIT Gallery bought Alfred House for the market value of £625,000.

The Arts Council and the Garfield Weston Foundation provided the largest donations of £480,657 and £150,000 respectively.

Our four other donors include the Architectural Heritage Fund, the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), The Foyle Foundation, and the Clothworkers Foundation.