We’re a charity, please help to keep us free!
We are passionate about making art accessible for everyone. To do that, we keep all our exhibitions, workshops, tours and events free of charge. In our Hub we provide free art materials and activities, a Little Free Library, a play area and free Junior Newsletters. We provide free baby-care and period products in our accessible bathroom. We never want cost to be a barrier for anyone who visits us… But costs are rising everywhere, so we could do with a helping hand!
Donate £3
Pay for tea and biscuits for an older person attending a workshop.
Donate £5
Pay for two kids art packs.
Donate £10
Pay for art materials for community workshop participants.
Donate £20
Pay for 50 free Junior Gallery Newsletters.
Donate £30
Pay for a mentoring session for a local artist.
Donating even the price of a cup of coffee helps us to keep bringing visual art to as many people as possible.
Other ways to help
If donating is not possible, instead why not…
Buy at the bookshop
Our shop stocks limited edition art books, exhibition catalogues, prints, artworks, tote bags and postcards… Profits from all sales go to artists and to the Gallery.
Follow us on socials
Share the love! Like and share our posts and stories, especially events. Send us pictures of the artwork you create from our GTG Workshops.
Join our mailing list
Keep up to date with our exhibitions, news and community projects, including being the first to hear about our events! Connecting with our audiences helps us to show that we matter to you.
Write a review
Share your experience by writing a review on Google, Facebook or TripAdvisor. Share this page with friends and family who love art!
Your generosity helps us to continue…
Bringing visual art to all communities
In our community Hub, we offer free art activities every day to our local communities, people of all ages, abilities and ethnicities. We believe that art is about play, fun, creativity, building confidence and new skills, self-expression and looking at the world around us in unexpected and different ways. We know that engaging with art improves health and wellbeing, especially mental health. Art just makes life better, so we want as many people as possible to have a chance to access it!
Our engagement work is all about partnership and collaboration. We take the time to build creative projects with our participants, not just for them. Our work in communities addresses Northern Ireland’s past and its future, finding creative tools to tackle complex issues.
Our partners include Anaka Collective, the Belfast Stroke Group, Belfast Met Supported Learning, NICRAS, the NOW Group, Belfast City of Sanctuary, Lower Shankill Community Association, North Belfast Interface Network, Kilcooley Women’s Centre, Glenbank Community Garden, and New Lodge Serenity Club. We’ve delivered Arts & Older People programmes across Belfast, North Down & Ards, and Antrim Coast & Glens Council area, including special projects for people with dementia.
Supporting Northern Ireland artists
Funding cuts in Northern Ireland over the past ten years have hit local artists hard, but it hasn’t limited their creative ambition. Artists make Belfast one of the most creative and culturally vibrant cities in Europe, and we’re proud to do all we can to support them. We provide hours of free one-to-one mentoring, professional support and advice to artists here every year, helping them to access funding, make connections and develop their careers. We provide vital financial support by employing artists as technicians to install exhibitions, and commissioning them to create new online workshops for us. We are building the first permanent Collection of contemporary Northern Ireland art, to safeguard our shared visual art heritage for everyone.
Free art activities for kids
We love inspiring and being inspired by the next generation of creative talent! If kids have the chance to make art and feel at home in galleries when they are little, they are more likely to stay involved in arts and culture all their lives. Busy parents and guardians tell us that making art with their children allows them to connect and have fun together, away from screens and distractions. And with art education in schools coming under more pressure, we make sure to offer free exhibition tours and art workshops for schools and youth groups. Our free family workshops happen in the Hub on the first and third Saturday of every month, with fun art activities and cool new skills to try. We provide all the art materials needed, as well as snacks, drinks, and free baby-changing items too. Young visitors have their artwork displayed in our Junior Gallery and can even pick up a free GTG Explorer Pack!
Making art available online
Not everyone can visit the gallery in person, and exhibitions are temporary things. So we are committed to putting Northern Ireland art online, to make it accessible to people all over the world. You can view items in our growing Collection of Northern Ireland art here on our website. Soon we will be able to share a very special new collaboration with Art UK… watch this space!
We are creating an archive gallery of all of the GTG’s past exhibitions on this website, dating back to 2001, alongside our online galleries of current / recent exhibitions here in Queen Street. This will be a huge resource on the story of contemporary visual art in our city over the past few decades.
And we have dozens of free online art workshops available to watch on our YouTube channel, with activities for all ages!
Thank you for your help!
Our charity information
Golden Thread Gallery is registered as a charity with the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, charity registration no: NIC101097
We are recognised as having charitable status by HMRC under reference XR 54731.
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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