ADMISSION TO FIRSTSITE IS FREE

Open 10am – 5pm everyday

Welcome to Firstsite!

Firstsite is Art Fund Museum of the Year 2021.

See the world differently – experience the very best art and culture from around the world that inspires, empowers and opens your mind.

Enjoy our exhibitions, films and events. Relax in our colourful cafe with outdoor seating and find quirky, fun and stylish products in our shop.

See What's on

ADMISSION TO FIRSTSITE IS FREE

Open 10am – 5pm everyday

What's on

Top picks

Exhibitions

Free

BIG WOMEN

11 February - 18 June 2023

10:00 am - 5:00 pm

Join us for a BIG exhibition celebrating the creative achievements of women in art, curated by one of Britain’s most significant contemporary artists – Sarah Lucas.

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Courses, Clubs & Classes

Drag Queen Life Drawing with Sirena Hart

26 November 2022 - 15 April 2023

Multiple times available

A one-of-a-kind life drawing class, where your tutor and model will offer multiple poses in fantastical settings.

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Talks & Events

Andrew Graham-Dixon in conversation with Mark Bills

6 April 2023

7:00 pm

Art critic and presenter Andrew Graham-Dixon and Mark Bills, Director of Gainsborough’s House will delve into the history of art and creativity in East Anglia. This region has been home so many talented and influential artists from Thomas Gainsborough…

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Holiday Fun Weekends

Free

Firstsite Holiday Fun 2023: Weekends – Afro-Moves

4 February - 26 March 2023

Multiple times available

Get warm, fit and enjoy a one hour Afro Moves family dance fitness every Saturday and Sunday in February and March.

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Exhibitions

Free

Mehdi Jalalaghdamian: Art In Exile

3 September 2022 - 3 September 2023

10:00 am - 5:00 pm

Master rug-maker, Mehdi Jalalghdamian, draws attention to the experiences of refugees and asylum seekers worldwide through the traditional craft of Persian rug making

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Courses, Clubs & Classes

Boozy Brushes

17 March - 28 April 2023

Multiple times available

Join Sirena Hart at Firstsite for Boozy Brushes – our New Multi-Art, Drag entertainment painting class extravaganza!

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Talks & Events

Louisa Buck in conversation with Ryan Gander

31 March 2023

7:00 pm

Discover more about Ryan’s fascinating and varied career, which includes teaching, curation and TV writer and presenting. Find out what inspires, influences and motivates Ryan throughout his work and his journey to become an internationally renowned artist

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Online

Recorded Talk: Dame Zandra Rhodes & Jon Lys Turner in conversation

31 December 2023

12:00 pm ,

Recorded live at Firstsite Rhodes and Turner will be discussing and celebrating the never-to-be-repeated lives of Dicky Chopping and Denis Wirth-Miller, their literary and artistic output and their complex relationship with Francis Bacon.

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Community and Partners

Free

Colchester Record Fair

25 March 2023 - 5 November 2022

Multiple times available

Colchester’s Record Fair returns to Firstsite, a treat for both enthusiasts and casual collectors alike. Come browse through stall holders’ collections of vinyl and CDs from a vast range of genres. Grab yourself a bargain – or perhaps something a little rarer.  

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Courses, Clubs & Classes

Drumming Workshop

1 February - 19 July 2023

Multiple times available

Learn the basics of African Drumming with drumming tutor Hassan who is experienced in teaching people of all levels.

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Cinema

MET Opera Live: Don Giovanni

20 May 2023

5:55 pm

Tony Award–winning director Ivo van Hove makes his Met debut with a new staging of Mozart’s tragicomedy Don Giovanni.

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Cinema

The Royal Opera House: Turandot (Live)

22 March 2023

7:15 pm

Puccini’s final opera is a glorious pageant of rich colour, dance and drama in Andrei Serban’s classic staging.

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Cinema

National Theatre Live: GOOD

20 - 23 April 2023

Multiple times available

As the world faces its Second World War, John Halder, a good, intelligent German professor, finds himself pulled into a movement with unthinkable consequences.

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Cinema

National Theatre Live: Life Of Pi

30 March - 2 April 2023

Multiple times available

A 16-year-old boy named Pi is stranded on a lifeboat with four other survivors – a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan and a Royal Bengal tiger.

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Cinema

Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (Relaxed)

11 February - 25 March 2023

Multiple times available

Puss has burned through eight of his nine lives, though he lost count along the way. Getting those lives back will send Puss in Boots on his grandest quest yet.

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Cinema

Blue Thermal (Japan Foundation Touring Film)

25 March 2023

2:00 pm

An unusual setting in the world of aviation, this coming-of-age animation is the achievement of collaboration of respectable creators and voice actors.

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Cinema

Broker

24 - 27 March 2023

Multiple times available

On a rainy night in Busan, So-young leaves her baby Woo-sung outside a ‘baby box’, a safe place set up in Korean churches for new mothers to leave unwanted infants.

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Cinema

Everything Everywhere All At Once

16 - 29 March 2023

Multiple times available

Directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, collectively known as Daniels, the film is a hilarious and big-hearted sci-fi action adventure about an exhausted Chinese American woman (Michelle Yeoh) who can’t seem to finish her taxes.

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Cinema

Mummies (Relaxed)

1 - 15 April 2023

Multiple times available

The film follows the fun adventures of three Egyptian mummies who live in an underground secret city, hidden in ancient Egypt

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Cinema

Fashion Reimagined

1 April 2023

3:15 pm

Follows Amy Powney, a daughter of environmental activists, during her trajectory from outsider to industry leader as she sets out to create a fashion collection.

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Cinema

Joyland

24 - 27 March 2023

Multiple times available

As the Ranas, a happily patriarchal joint family, yearn for the birth of a baby boy to continue the family line, their youngest son secretly joins an erotic dance theatre.

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Cinema

Mummies

31 March - 16 April 2023

Multiple times available

The film follows the fun adventures of three Egyptian mummies who live in an underground secret city, hidden in ancient Egypt

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Cinema

Nostalgia

20 - 23 March 2023

Multiple times available

Pierfrancesco Favino suffers an identity crisis when returning to his home town after a prolonged absence in our atmospheric drama Nostalgia.

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Cinema

The Banshees Of Inisherin

5 - 28 March 2023

Multiple times available

Set on a remote island off the west coast of Ireland, THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN follows lifelong friends Padraic and Colm, who find themselves at an impasse.

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Cinema

The Royal Ballet: Cinderella (Live)

12 April 2023

7:15 pm

A new production of the much-loved Royal Ballet fairytale classic.

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Cinema

Women Talking (Parent & Baby)

22 March 2023

11:30 am

A group of women in an isolated Mennonite religious colony in Bolivia as they struggle to reconcile their faith with a string of sexual assaults.

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Cinema

Close

31 March - 6 April 2023

Multiple times available

The intense friendship between two thirteen-year old boys Leo and Remi suddenly gets disrupted.

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Holiday Fun April

Free

Holiday Fun: Canteen – April 2023

3 - 14 April 2023

Multiple times available

Enjoy freshly made hot meals for all the family at Firstsite’s canteen in Colchester town centre

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Cinema

The Inspection

17 - 23 March 2023

Multiple times available

A young, gay Black man, rejected by his mother and with few options for his future, decides to join the Marines, doing whatever it takes to succeed.

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Cinema

What’s Love Got To Do With It (Captioned)

28 March 2023

Multiple times available

How do you find lasting love in today’s world?

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Take a look at our online shop

Featuring a range of design-led products and books inspired by our exhibition programme, events and community, our shop has something for everyone. All profits from your purchase raises funds to help us keep our exhibitions free and supports our community outreach activities.

Shop online
Christmas at Firstsite

Hold your event at Firstsite

Firstsite’s stunning architecture and versatile spaces creates a fun and inspiring venue for any event – from private parties to conferences, community meetings and presentations.

Plus, by hiring our spaces you can support the local community as any profits go straight back into funding our exhibitions and outreach projects.

Hire Our Spaces

Make the most of your visit

Latest news

Firstsite Collectors’ Group Bursary Award Winners Announced

14 March 2023

Fifteen of Essex and Suffolk’s most exciting artistic talents have been recognised in the Firstsite Collector’s Group 2022 Bursary Awards.

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Social posts

Welcome area at Firstsite. 'Big Hello' (2018) Peter Liversidge. Photo by Jayne Lloyd.

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