A great article here about our re-opening - apart from the pun in the headline, of course!

The centre is now fully open and our new buildings are full of activity over the weekend - come and see what all the fuss is about. And here’s what we got up on the opening night…

Last night’s re-opening celebration was a massive success - and you can hear what some of those present think of the new buildings and the refurbished gallery by downloading this Wysing podcast from http://artstalk.libsyn.com/

Wysing re-opening, originally uploaded by wysingartscentre.

Opening night at Wysing Arts Centre and the site is buzzing as well over two hundred people have their first sight of the new buildings.

The imposing bulk of the new studio building overshadows a temporary dome erected in the courtyard, dispensing champagne and goodwill. The new reception area, hosting the drawing exhibition, is filled to overflowing, and everyone takes time to look around the opening exhibition in the newly refurbished gallery.

After the introductory speeches from Andrea Stark, Donna Lynas and Matthew Collings a fair number of those present decamp to the Window Room for food and conversation, while others brave the January night to tramp across the field to the open studios and engage with the artwork on display.

Wysing is back on the map. Here:

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An excerpt from Katherine’s new work, Untitled (morning light) , being shown as part of Wysing’s re-launch exhibition.

Wysing Arts Centre is one of seven fantastic new artistic venues that will open to the public in the East of England over the next 18 months.

We at Arts Council East are particularly proud of the investment we have committed to this strong, visionary organisation which we think has the potential to attract and develop new artistic talent in the East of England. We are confident that Wysing Arts Centre will fast establish itself as a national and international centre of excellence for the development of visual artists, and play a large part in building a world-class cultural offer in our region.

We look forward to joining you all for a glass of champagne this Friday to celebrate the launch of the new centre!

The Communications Team, Arts Council England, East

Wysing, originally uploaded by wysingartscentre.

We’ve got space on the Flickr photo-sharing website, so if you want to see photos of the site, the artists, the team and the re-opening you can find us there… and here too, of course.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wysingartscentre/ for the photos

We also have a Flickr group where you can add your own Wysing photos - it’s at http://www.flickr.com/groups/wysing/ so come along - anyone can join.

We certainly hope you have all heard about our reopening and if you cannot join us for our Open Weekend - when all 24 artists studios will be open and the artists present - then we hope we can welcome you very shortly to Wysing Arts Centre in Bourn - only a few miles out into the beautiful Cambridgeshire countryside.

At the moment I am frantically answering press enquiries and at the same time chasing key press locally and nationally that we would like to see our new site and review our new artistic programme !

I am covering everything from the local community radio station 209 Radio where I am being interviewed by Justin Coleman this coming Sunday at 1030ish - 105 FM - through to contacts we have within the BBC both nationally and locally, as well as hosting the Black Thunder crew from Q103 radio on the night of the launch - and that’s just the radio coverage!

Tonight I am doing the rounds at Anglia Ruskin University to ensure everyone at the Fine Arts Department there knows about our launch. Alongside that I am ensuring that the local Cambourne Weekly News cover the local South Cambs Councillor cutting the ribbon at our Open Weekend.

After that I may have some time to go back and chase the national newspapers and their visual arts critics and writers.

Our online space is growing and we are trying to keep an eye on our website at least weekly, to update areas and ensure technically it all works.

On the road