Devonshire Collective

At our gallery, VOLT, we commission four solo exhibitions by emerging and underrepresented artists living in East Sussex and nationally each year. We host a range of free engagement activities alongside each exhibition, including family and community workshops and artist talks. Exhibitions run for an average of 9 weeks. We are free to visit, and everyone is welcome.

Open Space is our in-between programme, where we facilitate short (1 to 2 week) exhibition and event projects proposed to us directly by our community partners and local artists.

VOLT is open to the public Thursday to Sunday 11am-5pm during exhibitions. The name ‘VOLT’ is in reference to the site’s history as a hardware and electronics store.

Our commissions aim to support artists to experiment, work in new ways, or contextualise their practice on their own terms. Our ethos is artist-led and collaborative. We are proud to follow the exciting next steps of the artists we work with. You can view our archive of exhibitions below.

Fair pay

We recognise the vital contribution of artists in society and believe artists should be paid fairly for their time. Our exhibition budgets are on average £4,000, and £1,500 of this is ring fenced to artist fees. We don’t ask an artist to produce an exhibition of entirely new works for this sum, instead we work with each artist to commission new work alongside recent and never-before-seen work. These rates are what we are currently able to pay as of October 2024, and we hope to raise them in future years.

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Volunteering and Work Experience

_{We are dedicated to providing equitable access to opportunities within Devonshire Collective’s programming. This includes prioritising paid roles and remunerated opportunities over unpaid engagements, ensuring all artists, regardless of background, can engage meaningfully with our work.

While we occasionally work with volunteers for specific roles, we understand that volunteering is not accessible to all. We aim to offer paid positions where possible and focus on providing professional development and meaningful work experiences.

Volunteers are not placed in roles that are essential to our core operations, ensuring they do not replace paid opportunities.}