Our Mission
Creating a context, challenging perceptions, promoting creativity, delivering contemporary visual art for all.
Since 1998
300+ Exhibitions
Our Purpose
To broaden access to and improve public experience of visual art in NI.
Our History
The Golden Thread Gallery (GTG) was founded in a former Linen Mill in North Belfast in 1998, with the aim of becoming a space for people to take time out and come together. From the very beginning we have been committed to breaking down barriers to access and participation, fostering and encouraging connections, and unlocking the transformative power of creativity.
Our first home on the Crumlin Road gave us an opportunity to bring contemporary art to an area of Belfast that hadn’t previously been served by a gallery. Despite the very recent signing of the Good Friday Agreement, it was an area of Belfast that remained fragmented along old sectarian divides. Peace Walls were still being extended; rioting was not uncommon; and the social deprivation levels remained amongst the highest across the region.
Working with new and established artists, we set about creating exciting exhibitions and developing collaborative opportunities. We began making more international connections as a way to bring artists and artworks to Belfast for the first time, and to champion Northern Irish artists all over the world. We worked to connect local people with one another through art, and to see issues impacting our own lives through the eyes of the other. Our earliest activities were created with the Ardoyne Shankill Healthy Living Project, and focused on bringing people together to talk and think about isolation, health and wellbeing through art and having fun.
Exhibitions at the Golden Thread Gallery's first home on the Crumlin Road
With the support of our communities, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and the Belfast City Council, we moved from the Crumlin Road to Great Patrick Street, on Friday 13th April 2007. This move really began our transition from being Artist-led to Audience focused.
It also took us from the ‘epicentre of civil unrest’ to the wrong side of the tracks! We were separated by five lanes of traffic from the Belfast’s cultural quarter – the Cathedral Quarter. Our new home, a former electricity switch room, was a similar size as the former Linen Mill, but we were able to use the space differently. We created a Project Space for emerging and experimental artists alongside our main galleries, as well as informal community space and a Book Shop.
From here we continued to grow our relationships with the communities in Belfast. We have evolved with excellence, empathy and resilience, and have embraced working in partnership and collaboration with all our communities.
Our home from 2007 to 2023 in Great Patrick Street
And now…
The Gallery is run by Co-Directors Peter Richards and Sarah McAvera. Peter is the artistic lead, with Sarah leading on fundraising and operations. Working together, they set the strategic direction for the gallery, design the programmes, source the funding and allocate the staffing resources to achieve this vision. Both are among Ireland’s leading specialists in Northern Irish Art and collectively have over 36 years’ experience of curation, leadership and project management in the Visual Arts sector, at national and international level.
Our purpose is to present high quality artistic programmes embracing the breadth of contemporary arts practice, and to develop, support and champion contemporary Northern Irish artists. Our exhibitions showcase work by world-class national and international artists, and emerging and early-career artists. Our mission statement is “Creating a context, challenging perceptions, promoting creativity, delivering contemporary visual art for all”.
The gallery plays an important role in contributing to the visual arts infrastructure of the city. We provide hours of free one-to-one mentoring and advice to artists here every year, helping them to access funding, make connections and develop their careers. We also provide vital financial support by employing artists as technicians to install exhibitions, and commissioning them to create new online workshops for us.
We are part of the Plus Tate network, the national Art Pass scheme, the British Art Network, the North-South Network of arts organisations and we play an active role in the Belfast Visual Arts Forum.
Our principal funders are the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Belfast City Council.
Audiences and communities are at the heart of all that we do
Help fund our work
Through a one-off or repeat donation, you’ll enable us to continue showcasing art and culture with our community.
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