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Milton Keynes bids for City of Culture
We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to be part of Milton Keynes’ bid to become UK City of Culture 2029. Fresh from being longlisted in the national competition – which will see one city receive £10 million to help develop culture locally – we are calling on the city’s cultural sector, residents, creatives, and businesses, to help shape a vision that truly reflects the city’s creativity, diversity and ambition. There’s lots of ways to get involved. Over the next month, workshops and pop-up sessions will take place around the city where local people can share ideas, family stories, and their thoughts on what MK means to them. A Book of Ideas will capture what makes the city so special, and there’ll be opportunities for all ages to create collages and other artworks, as well as activities in schools. The final bid will be submitted in August. Shortlisted cities will be announced in the autumn, with the winner revealed in early 2027 – Milton Keynes 60th anniversary year. Cllr Jane Carr, Leader of Milton Keynes City Council, said: “ This is a huge moment for Milton Keynes. Being longlisted is just the beginning, now we have the chance to come together and create something bold, ambitious and uniquely ours. We want to hear from everyone, because this bid belongs to the whole city. Whether you’re an artist, a business owner, someone growing up here, or you just love Milton Keynes, your ideas and your voice can help shape what we hope will be a brilliant celebratory year of culture. Winning the title would be transformative for many years but the journey is something great in itself – and our conversations are already sparking ideas, strengthening connections and creating new cultural opportunities we can all be proud of.” Find what’s happening, where and when here on the new Destination Milton Keynes (DMK) website. There’s also a quick and easy way to share ideas at mkculture2029.co.uk
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Summer Replay Returns!
Get ready for a summer of cinematic magic with Summer Replay! Perfect for the whole family, our programme features a spectacular lineup of the latest and greatest children's films, guaranteed to delight audiences of all ages. Film Lineup:
- The Spongebob Movie: Search for Squarepants
- Little Amelie
- Wicked: For Good (2025)
- Zootropolis 2
- Goat
- The Magic Faraway Tree
- The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
- Hoppers
- The Sheep Detectives
- Price: £4 per ticket
- A diverse selection of the newest family-friendly films
- Affordable entertainment for a perfect summer outing
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Comedy Festival Comes to MK Gallery
Milton Keynes Comedy Festival 2026 is set to be a major event across the City.
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MK Gallery’s Inclusion Team receive Marsh Award for Excellence in Visual Arts Engagement
We are delighted to announce that our Inclusion Team, Sophie Bennett (Producer of Inclusion) and Rosie May (Inclusion Coordinator) have jointly received a Marsh Award for Excellence in Visual Arts Engagement. Over the past four years, they have collectively grown and reimagined MK Gallery’s multi-award-winning Inclusive Practice in the Arts (IPA) programme, widening opportunities for local disabled and neurodivergent children, young people and adults, and contributing to national conversations around disability, inclusion and representation. Their work has broadened MK Gallery’s wider access programme, engaging communities often excluded from the arts, whilst influencing organisational change and exhibition programming. IPA is rooted in providing innovative and bespoke creative opportunities for individuals with additional and complex support needs, as well as their families and support networks. The team’s approach is built on prioritizing long-term exchange and developing meaningful, impactful relationships with participants. Activity has included:
- Art and Us, weekly family workshops
- Our Studio, supported studio space for young adults
- Art Together, holiday workshops
- Sensory Exhibition Tours, for early years and SEND audiences
- Sensory Boxes, outreach offer
- Tactile Art Workshops, for adults with visual impairment
- Partnership projects with local SEND schools and disability organisations
- Audio Described and BSL exhibition tours
- Relaxed exhibition viewings and cinema screenings
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Our Studio 2025 Reflections
As we begin the new year, we wanted to look back on an exciting year of growth for the Our Studio programme at MK Gallery
2025 saw a number of highlights for Our Studio including:
Converting the Project Space into a dedicated onsite studio to run weekly sessions, which was made possible by funding from Milton Keynes Community Foundation
Running a series of sessions exploring Andy Warhol: Portrait of America and making a zine artworks in response to the exhibition
Artworks from our Andy Warhol sessions have been made into a zine has been printed by the brilliant Silly Gooze Editions, which can be purchased online and in the MK Gallery Shop*
Visiting Coventry to see This is me, This is us (a free outdoors Augmented Reality art exhibition created by disabled artists from Art Riot Collective and Coventry University’s Disabled Staff and Carers Network) and Obsessions, Possessions at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum
Hosting the first Open Studios event in December to celebrate the festive season and the amazing work that our young artists have made this year
We can’t wait to see what 2026 holds!
Find out more about Our Studio
*All proceeds go to supporting the Our Studio programme Our Studio is generously funded by Milton Keynes Community Foundation.
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Announcing our 2026 exhibition programme
MK Gallery is set to present three major exhibitions by artists whose work encapsulates the spirit of the 20th century. 2026 marks the largest solo exhibition of British painter Euan Uglow in 40 years, an exploration of iconic French photographer Jacques Henri Lartigue’s use of colour and the biggest career survey of L. S. Lowry in fifty years to mark the 50th anniversary of his death. Visitors to MK Gallery will have the chance to enjoy Uglow’s obsessive painting from life, Lartigue’s ground-breaking experiments with the photographic image and the full range of Lowry’s subjects and techniques.
Euan Uglow: An Arc from the Eye
Saturday 14 February – Sunday 31 May 2026
Curated by Catherine Lampert, this landmark exhibition brings together over 70 paintings and drawings by Euan Uglow and includes nudes, still lifes and landscapes, many seen in public for the first time in many years. Renowned for his methodical systems, Uglow was meticulous in painting from life and often took months – sometimes years – to complete nudes and still life paintings in his studio. The artist also painted landscape scenes of Europe in the summer, many of which will be exhibited at MK Gallery in 2026. This retrospective of Uglow’s work will place the artist in dialogue with those who inspired him, including Paul Cézanne and Alberto Giacometti, and his tutors at the Slade School of Art in London, William Coldstream, Victor Pasmore and Claude Rogers.
Now booking
Jacques Henri Lartigue: Life in Colour
Saturday 20 June – Sunday 4 October 2026
Best known for his black and white scenes of Parisian society during the Belle Époque, Jacques Henri Lartigue was a pioneer of what later became known as street photography. Lartigue captured an age of innovation in the early twentieth century on camera, documenting car racing, aviation and early tourist resorts on camera. This exhibition – the first in the UK in over ten years – focuses on a little-known and rarely seen aspect of Lartigue’s work and explores his lifelong experimentation with colour. The exhibition brings together more than 150 prints, photographs and unique works on paper from the 1900s to the late 1980s that shine a light on Lartigue’s innovative use of colour photography.
This exhibition has been organised in collaboration with the Association des Amis de Jacques Henri Lartigue, Ministère de la Culture, France and diChroma photography.
Now booking
L. S. Lowry
24 October 2026 – 28 February 2027
Fifty years after the death of Laurence Stephen Lowry in 1976, this will be the much-loved painter’s first major exhibition in over a decade. In addition to his well-known scenes of industrial life, this significant overview explores the full breadth of Lowry’s subject matter, including portraits, seascapes, early academic studies and enigmatic later works recalling Surrealism. Lowry’s career ran alongside huge changes in British society, with much of the industrial landscape he depicted closed, cleared and replaced during his lifetime. The artist’s technique involved just five colours of undiluted oil paint: ivory black, vermillion, Prussian blue and yellow ochre; his use of flake white as a background colour is synonymous with Lowry’s landscapes.
Now booking
Become a member today
Discover our exciting programme of exhibitions and exclusive behind-the-scenes access as a member of MK Gallery. Our members get unlimited entry to all exhibitions as well as exclusive invites to previews, talks, behind-the-scenes content and discounts in our café and shop. All income goes towards supporting our mission to make MK Gallery more accessible to all; from £1 Tuesday tickets for residents, to pay what you can Sundays and our Inclusive Practice in the Arts programme. Sign up today and support a blockbuster year of art at MK Gallery Image credits: Euan Uglow, Head of Pat (1978-83). Oil on canvas laid on panel, 49.5 x 54.6 m. Courtesy of Bernard Jacobson Gallery Jacques Henri Lartigue © Ministère de la Culture, France / MPP-AAJHL L. S. Lowry, Our Town (1943). Oil on canvas. Purchased from the artist, 1944. © Touchstones Rochdale, Rochdale Arts & Heritage Service£0.00
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Exhibition Announcement: L. S. Lowry
Announcing our 2026 exhibition programme MK Gallery is set to present three major exhibitions by artists whose work encapsulates the spirit of the 20th century. 2026 marks the largest solo exhibition of British painter Euan Uglow in 40 years, an exploration of iconic French photographer Jacques Henri Lartigue’s use of colour and the first career survey of L. S. Lowry in fifty years to mark the 50th anniversary of his death. Visitors to MK Gallery will have the chance to enjoy Uglow’s obsessive painting from life, Lartigue’s groundbreaking experiments with the photographic image and the full range of Lowry’s subjects and techniques. L. S. Lowry 24 October 2026 – 28 February 2027 Fifty years after the death of Laurence Stephen Lowry in 1976, this will be the much-loved painter’s first major exhibition in over a decade. In addition to his well-known scenes of industrial life, this significant overview explores the full breadth of Lowry’s subject matter, including portraits, seascapes, early academic studies in pencil, charcoal and pastel and enigmatic later works recalling Surrealism. Lowry’s career ran alongside huge changes in British society, with much of the industrial landscape he depicted closed, cleared and replaced during his lifetime. The artist’s technique involved just five colours of undiluted oil paint: ivory black, vermillion, Prussian blue and yellow ochre; his use of flake white as a background colour is synonymous with Lowry’s landscapes. Become a member today Discover our exciting programme of exhibitions and exclusive behind-the-scenes access as a member of MK Gallery. Our members get unlimited entry to all exhibitions as well as exclusive invites to previews, talks, behind-the-scenes content and discounts in our café and shop. All income goes towards supporting our mission to make MK Gallery more accessible to all; from £1 Tuesday tickets for residents, to pay what you can Sundays and our Inclusive Practice in the Arts programme. Sign up today and support a blockbuster year of art at MK Gallery
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Announcing Jacques Henri Lartigue: Life in Colour
MK Gallery is set to present three major exhibitions by artists whose work encapsulates the spirit of the 20th century. 2026 marks the largest solo exhibition of British painter Euan Uglow in 40 years, an exploration of iconic French photographer Jacques Henri Lartigue’s use of colour and the first career survey of L. S. Lowry in fifty years to mark the 50th anniversary of his death. Visitors to MK Gallery will have the chance to enjoy Uglow’s obsessive painting from life, Lartigue’s ground-breaking experiments with the photographic image and the full range of Lowry’s subjects and techniques. Jacques Henri Lartigue: Life in Colour Saturday 20 June – Sunday 4 October 2026 Best known for his black and white scenes of Parisian society during the Belle Époque, Jacques Henri Lartigue was a pioneer of what later became known as street photography. Lartigue captured an age of innovation in the early twentieth century on camera, documenting car racing, aviation and early tourist resorts on camera. This exhibition – the first in the UK in over ten years – focuses on a little-known and rarely seen aspect of Lartigue’s work and explores his lifelong experimentation with colour. The exhibition brings together more than 150 prints, photographs and unique works on paper from the 1900s to the late 1980s that shine a light on Lartigue’s innovative use of colour photography. This exhibition has been organised in collaboration with the Association des Amis de Jacques Henri Lartigue, Ministère de la Culture, France and diChroma photography. Become a member today Discover our exciting programme of exhibitions and exclusive behind-the-scenes access as a member of MK Gallery. Our members get unlimited entry to all exhibitions as well as exclusive invites to previews, talks, behind-the-scenes content and discounts in our café and shop. All income goes towards supporting our mission to make MK Gallery more accessible to all; from £1 Tuesday tickets for residents, to pay what you can Sundays and our Inclusive Practice in the Arts programme. Sign up today and support a blockbuster year of art at MK Gallery
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Our Studio Festive Open Studios!
Wednesday 10th & Thursday 11th December, 2025 | 2:30-6pm
MK Gallery Project Space | Free entry, no reservation required drop in
Celebrate the festive season and explore works created by artists who attend Our Studio at their first open studios event! Our Studio is a supportive creative space for disabled and neurodivergent young people aged 14-25yrs. Groups meet twice weekly on a Wednesday and Thursday, as well as monthly on a Saturday and are supported by our artist facilitators to develop their practice, experiment and grow in a friendly and sociable space.
There will be opportunities to get hands on with some making yourself, the chance to meet some of our young artists, and sample some seasonal refreshments !
Christmas cards and limited-edition zines designed by Our Studio artists will be available to purchase, with all proceeds going towards supporting the studio.
For any questions about the event, or if you are interested in attending with a group, please contact Rosie on rmay@mkgallery.org. Discover information on the Our Studio programme, please see here.
Our Studio is generously funded by Milton Keynes Community Foundation.
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Lynette Yiadom-Boakye in Conversation
“I’ve selected things that I love by dint of their poetry, their beauty, their refusal, their internal logic and, above all, their power. Each artist here invents the language they need, and there is magic in it.” – Lynette Yiadom-Boakye Join us this November to hear Lynette Yiadom-Boakye in conversation at MK Gallery’s Sky Room with Anjalika Sagar and Kodwo Eshun, interdisciplinary artists and founders of The Otolith Group. As the curator of our upcoming exhibition, To Improvise A Mountain, Yiadom-Boakye has selected works by 17 artists, including The Otolith Group, working internationally from the nineteenth century to the present day. Artworks on display—featuring painting, drawing, sculpture, photography and film—have been personally chosen by the artist and shine a light on Yiadom-Boakye’s artistic process. This in conversation event will give audiences the chance to hear from one of Britain’s most exciting figurative painters and will offer a rare insight into her creative practice. Lynette Yiadom-Boakye (b. 1977, London) depicts imagined subjects, inspired by stories, memory and images that the artist collects, and which are interwoven into oil paintings and charcoal sketches. Her work is inspired by painting, music and poetry—an interconnectedness that informs the process of selecting works on display at MK Gallery. To Improvise A Mountain: Lynette Yiadom-Boakye Curates is inspired by a phrase/line in Miles Davis’s song, ‘Inamorata’ (1971): “Who is this music that which description may never justify? / Can the ocean be described?” For Yiadom-Boakye, painting—like poetry—translates the intangible into images. Lynette Yiadom-Boakye will be in conversation at MK Gallery Sky Room, Saturday 8th November, 2:30pm. Guests can also visit To Improvise A Mountain: Lynette Yiadom-Boakye Curates at a discounted rate. Tickets from £10 Book now
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Read moreFunding Announcement: Jerwood Foundation Grant for Euan Uglow exhibition
We are delighted that Jerwood Foundation is to fund a catalogue accompanying the first major survey exhibition of British painter Euan Uglow’s work in over 20 years, taking place at MK Gallery from 14 February to 31 May 2026. The catalogue will accompany the first major survey exhibition of British painter Euan Uglow’s work in over 20 years. This grant builds upon Jerwood’s previous support of a Vanessa Bell catalogue, which accompanied MK Gallery’s exhibition in 2024. The Euan Uglow catalogue, comprising of newly commissioned writing by the show’s curator Catherine Lampert and Dr Kate Aspinall, as well as contributions from artists John Stezaker, Ellen Altfest and Robert Dukes, will feature beautiful reproductions of Uglow’s works. As Catherine Lampert says, “The most radical of his pictures continue to set a benchmark for art nominally in the Western tradition.” Euan Uglow (1932-2000) was one of Britain’s most significant 20th century painters, known for his sustained observation and painstaking technique, often taking months, if not years, to complete a work. He was shortlisted for the Jerwood Painting Prize in 1994 and the forthcoming exhibition will feature two works on loan from Jerwood Collection: The Blue Towel, 1982-83: and Study for Blue Towel, 1982. These will be shown alongside works from public collections including The Government Art Collection, Southampton Art Gallery and Tate as well as generous loans from private collections. The exhibition will featuring over 40 of his most ambitious paintings, as well as drawings and examples of work by his artistic influences, Paul Cézanne, Alberto Giacometti and his former tutors William Coldstream, Victor Pasmore and Claude Rogers. Anthony Spira, Director, MK Gallery said: It is thanks to Jerwood's generous grant that MK Gallery can research and commission an extensive Euan Uglow Exhibition Catalogue presenting a lavishly illustrated overview of the artist's remarkable career, with newly commissioned writing intended to deepen and extend the appreciation of his paintings and drawings to new audiences. Lara Wardle Executive Director and Trustee Jerwood Foundation said: I am delighted that Jerwood Foundation will be supporting the forthcoming and long overdue UK survey of Euan Uglow’s work at MK Gallery through funding the accompanying catalogue. Euan Uglow was shortlisted for the first Jerwood Painting Prize in 1994, and we will be loaning both of our works by him from the Jerwood Collection as part of our proactive loaning programme. Euan Uglow: An Arc from the Eye exhibition will be open from 14 February to 31 May 2026. Find out more about Jerwood Foundation Book your tickets now
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Profound and Multiple Exhibition
Join us for a unique, interactive exhibition where sensory experiences tell powerful stories and make history. Created by and with people with Profound & Multiple Learning Disabilities.
Part of MK Disability Awareness Day, this event is perfect for families with young children and/or SEND, adults with learning disabilities, and students or professionals in social work and care, youth work, teaching, counselling, health, community, and the arts.
Everybody’s welcome to explore a free, colourful, multi-sensory space where history is more than words. Drop in, relax, connect, be!
Taking place: Event Space, MK Gallery | Sunday 13 & Monday 14 July
10am - 3pm
Created by Collar & Cuffs Co, in partnership with Heritage Horizons at the University of Bedfordshire, and funded by Heritage Lottery. Collar & Cuffs Co are Associate Artists of MK Gallery, designing and delivering the gallery’s sensory tours as part of the Inclusive Practice in
the Arts programme.
For enquiries contact Rosie: RMay@mkgallery.org
