esea contemporary will receive £359,100 from the Creative Foundations Fund which is helping theatres, performing arts venues, galleries and grassroots music venues in England address urgent infrastructure needs. The investment forms part of the Arts Everywhere Fund, a £1.5 billion package to support cultural infrastructure projects, delivered by Arts Council England on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
The funding will allow us to replace the heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment in our listed building. It will ensure that esea contemporary can continue to deliver a creative programme, safeguarding our role as the UK’s leading platform for East and Southeast Asian contemporary arts and allowing us to expand our engagement with communities across Greater Manchester and beyond.
We are delighted to welcome Pio Abad and Skinder Hundal as the newest members of our Board of Trustees.
Pio Abad's artistic practice is concerned with the personal and political entanglements of objects. His wide-ranging body of work, encompassing drawing, installation and archival intervention, examines the legacies of colonialism, political trauma and personal memory. Abad’s artworks are part of a number of important collections including Tate; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Hawaii State Art Museum, Honolulu; Singapore Art Museum; Kadist, Paris/San Francisco and Art Jameel, Dubai. He was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2024.
Skinder Hundal is a distinguished arts leader and cultural leader with an extensive background in international arts, cultural exchange and business strategic modelling for creative organisations. Previously Global Director of Arts at the British Council, he is currently Aakash Odedra Company's Joint CEO, Global Chair for Arts for the think-do tank Value AI Institute and an Associate of World Cities Culture Forum working closely with the Deputy Mayor of Culture, London. He will serve as co-chair alongside Peter Lin.
Last month, we welcomed the Year of the Fire Horse with a special fundraising event co-presented with London's The House of KOKO.
We were thrilled to be joined by over 200 guests from across the worlds of music, film, fashion and the arts for this landmark celebration of the Lunar New Year, including Rashida Jones, Aziz Ansari, Tinie Tempah, Poppy Delevingne, Jazzy De Lisser, Phoebe Dahl , Fiona Xie, Nick Wood and Jamie QQ.
Proceeds from LUNA 2026 will help fund esea contemporary's artistic programme. You can be amongst the first to find out about future special events by becoming a member.