Feasibility Study - Stirchley Art Room @ Stirchley Library 

We are currently working with APEC Architects to conduct a feasibility study to explore our vision of establishing a community art space at Stirchley Library.
​Huge thanks to the National Lottery Communities Fund for supporting this project!

After a very happy few months delivering drop-in art workshops at the library during the summer of 2019, it  became our dream to set up shop and become permanent residents there. The library staff and FoSL have always been fantastic hosts, and while working on tables in the middle of the library has worked well, we hope there may be a better way of doing things.

The upstairs rooms at the front of the library are fantastic spaces but they are not accessible to the public due to the very steep stairs, lack of a lift, and the state of disrepair they are in due to a leaky roof in the past. 
For this reason we are exploring the idea of making the first floor of Stirchley Library a usable space for the whole community - an art room for Stirchley.
​Stirchley Art Room in fact! ​

Under our plan, Stirchley Art Room would become a tenant of the library. As tenants, we could apply for funding to restore the unused spaces of the library in keeping with its listed status, and to make them accessible to the public, for example by installing a lift and accessible fire-escape to the first floor.

Since autumn 2019 we have been working alongside APEC Architects, Friends of Stirchley Library and Birmingham City Council to consult and look into a range of possibilities. We applied for and were awarded funding from the National Lottery Community Fund to help us do this. 

We have had some very positive feedback on our ideas already, but it is really important to us, and to our partners, that we gather as many views as possible from lots of different sections of the community.
You can have your say by using the contact form below or emailing us: stirchleyartroom@gmail.com 

"I think it would be fantastic for the community to have a dedicated arts space above the library, increasing footfall to the library as a side effect, and making the most of an existing building that has so much potential.
We came along to the summer workshops and really enjoyed them. If they were a regular feature we would certainly come along."

"I whole-heartedly support your dream of a community art room in Stirchley, more particularly in the first floor of the library! Amidst all the preoccupations of daily life, and compounded by the dearth of community space and time, we desperately need to re-inspire ourselves and connect in meaningful ways.  This is a fantastic way of doing it. Especially in a building that was made possible by Carnegie and Cadbury. I can think of no better way to honour and sustain their legacy."