What’s On

Michael Landy: The Essex Way

See a large-scale collage along our building’s magnificent 140m curved wall, created by artist Michael Landy.

Michael Landy: Essex Man (after Collet)

See artist Michael Landy’s artwork ‘Essex Man (after Collet)’ (2021) – a larger-than-life standing figure in our Welcome Area made from a hand drawn reproduction of the original ‘Essex Man’ illustration by Edward Collet in a 1990s Sunday Telegraph.

Sculpture at Firstsite

See artworks by artists Ryan Gander, and Bharti Kher in our new sculpture park.

Julian Opie: Imagine you are driving are yellow car, 2004; Imagine you are driving a blue Honda (2004)

‘Imagine you are driving a yellow car’, (2004) and ‘Imagine you are driving a blue Honda.’ (2004) are life-size automobile sculptures by Julian Opie.

Distanced Assemblage: Imagine Lantern House

Contribute your artwork to the Mehdi Jalalaghdamian: Art In Exile exhibition by creating your own Lantern House. Suitable for adults and children of all ages, this fun and thoughtful creative activity is for the whole family.

Mehdi Jalalaghdamian: Art In Exile

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

Reena Saini Kallat: Leaking Lines

Reena Saini Kallat explores the violence and fragility of national borders by juxtaposing the outlines of boundary lines from across the world with images of the landscapes which they divide.

Piggy

Sara is stuck in her family’s butcher shop, dreaming of being someone else. Sick of being constantly bullied by a bunch of girls from school.

Firstsite Holiday Fun 2023: Make

Get making during February and March Holiday Fun with a variety of free creative activities.

Firstsite Holiday Fun 2023: Weekends – Street Dance

Children can show off their best moves over some weekends during February and March.

Firstsite Holiday Fun 2023: Weekends – Canteen

Enjoy freshly made hot meals for all the family at Firstsite’s canteen in Colchester town centre – available every Saturday and Sunday in February and March.

A Man Called Otto

A Man Called Otto tells the story of Otto Anderson (Tom Hanks), a grumpy widower who is very set in his ways.

Alcarràs

In the small village of Alcarràs in Catalonia, the peach farmers of the Solé family spend every summer together picking fruit from their orchard.

CLiP

CLIP is a weekly meet up for anyone 12 years old and up interested in music and sound. Play with synths, microphones and musical technology.

Your Choice: Apocalypse Now

Apocalypse Now is Francis Ford Coppola’s stunning vision of man’s heart of darkness revealed through the madness of the Vietnam War. 

Limitless Street Dance

Breakdance skills for 8 – 14 year olds. Join the Limitless dancers Andi Mill and Isaac James to try out the basics of street dancing in a cool, fun and energetic environment.

A Man Called Otto (Captioned)

A Man Called Otto tells the story of Otto Anderson (Tom Hanks), a grumpy widower who is very set in his ways.

Moonage Daydream (Parent & Baby)

Moonage Daydream is an immersive cinematic experience; an audio-visual space odyssey that not only illuminates the enigmatic legacy of David Bowie.

Drumming Workshop

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

YAK | Young Art Kommunity

Young Art Kommunity (YAK) is Firstsite’s young-people peer led group which organises events and activities within the gallery and in the wider community.

Dance and Movement for Well-being

A gentle session for over 60s to ease joint mobility, improve agility, balance and self-awareness in movement. Every Friday 10:30am during term times.

Puss In Boots: The Last Wish

This year, everyone’s favourite leche-loving, swashbuckling, fear-defying feline returns.

Opening Celebration | BIG WOMEN

Join us for a special evening event to celebrate the opening of our hotly anticipated new exhibition, BIG WOMEN.

Be the first to experience this thought-provoking and entertaining exhibition curated by one of Britain’s most significant and exciting contemporary artists – Sarah Lucas.

Empire Of Light

Hilary (Olivia Colman), a woman with a difficult past and an uneasy present, is part of a makeshift family at the old Empire Cinema on the seafront.

BIG WOMEN

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.

Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (Relaxed)

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.

The Million Ryo Pot (Japan Foundation Touring Film)

A cast of colorful characters are all looking for this pot, and when the child runs away after being chided by Ogino, everyone goes after him.

Palentine’s Tapas Night

Forget Valentines! Celebrate Palentines with your closest friends by joining us at Firstsite for a fun evening of music, sangria & delicious tapas!

Boozy Brushes

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

Firstsite Holiday Fun 2023: Weekends – Drumming

Keep the kids active and entertained over weekends at Firstite during February and Mrach with a fun drumming workshop at Firstsite.

Enys Men

A wildlife volunteer’s daily observations of a rare flower take a dark turn into the strange and metaphysical, forcing both her and viewers to question what is real.

Empire Of Light (Captioned)

Empire of Light is a love story set in and around a beautiful old cinema on the South Coast of England in the 1980s.

Firstsite Holiday Fun 2023: Feb Half Term – Afro-Moves

Get warm, fit and enjoy a one hour Afro Moves family dance fitness open to all ages. 

Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (Captioned)

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.

Firstsite Holiday Fun 2023: Feb Half Term – Canteen

Enjoy freshly made hot meals for all the family at Firstsite’s canteen in Colchester town centre – available during the February half term.

Enys Men (Captioned)

A wildlife volunteer’s daily observations of a rare flower take a dark turn into the strange and metaphysical, forcing both her and viewers to question what is real.

Firstsite Holiday Fun 2023: Feb Half Term – Street Dance

Children can show off their best moves over the February half term school holiday with Street Dance at Firstsite Holiday Fun in Colchester!

Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (Parent & Baby)

This year, everyone’s favourite leche-loving, swashbuckling, fear-defying feline returns.

The Royal Opera House: The Barber of Seville (Live)

When Rosina falls in love with a mysterious young suitor who calls himself Lindoro, she must use all her cunning – and a little help from her local barber – to outwit her calculating guardian Dr Bartolo.

Firstsite Holiday Fun 2023: Feb Half Term – Drumming

Keep the kids active and entertained during the February Holiday Fun with a fun drumming workshop at Firstsite.

Essex Talks: Tim Burrows in conversation with Hana Loftus and Ken Worpole

Tim Burrows, architect Hana Loftus (Director of HAT Projects) and writer Ken Worpole (author of ‘350 Miles: An Essex Journey’) discuss the Essex Flood of 1953 – one of the worst natural disasters in British history.

Essex Talks: Tim Burrows in conversation with Hana Loftus and Ken Worpole (Livestream)

Enjoy our exclusive livestream of the first in our series of Essex Talks

Firstsite Holiday Fun 2023: Feb Half Term – Fitness Fun

Enjoy physical fun for children with dancing, props, and team games to get you moving and smiling over the February half term school holiday with Fitness Fun at Firstsite Holiday Fun in Colchester!

Sally Shaw in conversation with James Dodds and Simon Carter (Livestream)

Join this exclusive online event as our discussion with artists James Dodds and Simon Carter and Firstsite Director, Sally Shaw MBE, is livestreamed directly from Firstsite.

Sally Shaw in conversation with James Dodds and Simon Carter

Artists James Dodds and Simon Carter discuss the influence East Anglia has had on their lives and work with Firstsite’s Director, Sally Shaw MBE.

Holy Spider

HOLY SPIDER is a gripping and darkly atmospheric crime thriller inspired by the true story of Iran’s most notorious serial killer.

Colchester Record Fair

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.  

Samurai Hustle (Japan Foundation Touring Film)

This entertaining film is a representative period drama which is accessible even to those who are not necessarily knowledgeable about Japanese history.

Babylon

A tale of outsized ambition, outrageous excess, it traces the rise and fall of multiple characters during an era of unbridled decadence and depravity in early Hollywood

The Royal Opera House: The Barber of Seville (Encore)

When Rosina falls in love with a mysterious young suitor who calls himself Lindoro, she must use all her cunning – and a little help from her local barber – to outwit her calculating guardian Dr Bartolo.

TÁR

TÁR examines the changing nature of power, its impact, and durability in our modern world.

TÁR (Captioned)

TÁR examines the changing nature of power, its impact, and durability in our modern world.

Babylon (Captioned)

A tale of outsized ambition, outrageous excess, it traces the rise and fall of multiple characters during an era of unbridled decadence and depravity in early Hollywood

TÁR (Parent & Baby)

‘Tár’ examines the changing nature of power, its impact, and durability in our modern world.

More Big Women Conference (Livestream)

Join us for a livestream of our conference inspired by our new exhibition BIG WOMEN.

More Big Women conference

Inspired by our new exhibition BIG WOMEN, we’ve brought together some of the most influential and inspiring women from across the art and cultural sector (and beyond!) to share their professional and personal experiences of leadership in culture.

National Theatre Live: Othello

Wed in secret, Desdemona and Othello crave a new life together. But as unseen forces conspire against them, they find their future is not theirs to decide.

The Fabelmans (Captioned)

Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans is a cinematic memory of the forces, and family, that shaped the filmmaker’s life and career.

All The Beauty And The Bloodshed

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed is about photographer Nan Goldin’s battle against the notorious big-pharma Sackler family.

Firstsite Holiday Fun 2023: Weekends – Afro-Moves

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

Sensei, Would You Sit Beside Me? (Japan Foundation Touring Film)

It is about a marriage on the verge of collapse and a psychological war where truth and fiction intertwine.

Drag Queen Life Drawing with Sirena Hart

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

The Fabelmans

Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans is a cinematic memory of the forces, and family, that shaped the filmmaker’s life and career.

More Than Ever

Hélène and Mathieu have been happy together for many years. The bond between them is deep. Faced with an existential decision, Hélène travels alone to Norway.

January

In the midst of nowhere, five men are stuck in a snowstorm. The road is snowed over, you can get lost and freeze, the wolves are hungry and can be heard howling all night

All The Beauty And The Bloodshed (Captioned)

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed is about photographer Nan Goldin’s battle against the notorious big-pharma Sackler family.

The Fabelmans (Parent & Baby)

Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans is a cinematic memory of the forces, and family, that shaped the filmmaker’s life and career.

Brian & Roger Eno Live at the Acropolis

Brian Eno and Roger Eno have been recording together since 1983. This unique musical event not only sees the two brothers performing live together for the first time.

Under the Open Sky (Japan Foundation Touring Film)

Mikami, an ex-yakuza of middle age with most of his life in prison, gets released after serving 13 years of sentence for murder.

Exhibition On Screen: Mary Cassatt: Painting The Modern Woman

Mary Cassatt made a career painting the lives of the women around her. Her radical images showed them as intellectual, feminine, and real.

Parent and Toddler

These artist-led sessions provide a safe and fun environment for children under 5 and parents/carers to use their imagination and curiosity to explore, test and experiment with a range of art activities and materials.

Louisa Buck in conversation with Sonia Boyce (Livestream)

Join this exclusive online event with artist Sonia Boyce and art critic Louisa Buck.

Louisa Buck in conversation with Sonia Boyce

As with all the artists in this series, Louisa will also be asking Sonia from her creative perspective, what is she feels is most important for us to focus on as one society, post-covid.

Tsuyukusa (Japan Foundation Touring Film)

Fumi lives a wholesome life in a small town among dear friends.One day, her car is hit by a meteorite, the odds of which are 100 million to 1.

Essex Talks: Tim Burrows in conversation with Simon Heffer

Journalist Simon Heffer joins Tim Burrows to discuss his invention of “Essex man” – exploring the cultural phenomenon it described and its legacy today.

Essex Talks: Tim Burrows in conversation with Simon Heffer (Livestream)

Join us for an exclusive live online broadcast of the second in our Essex Talks with Tim Burrows.

MET Opera Live: Lohengrin

Wagner’s Lohengrin returns to the Met stage after an absence of 17 years with this atmospheric new staging by François Girard.

The Royal Opera House: Turandot (Live)

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

Blue Thermal (Japan Foundation Touring Film)

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

The Royal Opera House: Turandot (Encore)

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

National Theatre Live: Life Of Pi

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.

Louisa Buck in conversation with Ryan Gander

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

Louisa Buck in conversation with Ryan Gander (Livestream)

Louisa and Ryan will discuss Ryan’s artistic practice and vast and diverse body of work including Everything is learned, i, 2010, currently presented in the Firstsite sculpture garden.

MET Opera Live: Falstaff

Baritone Michael Volle stars as the caddish knight Falstaff, gleefully tormented by a trio of clever women who deliver his comeuppance, in Verdi’s glorious Shakespearean comedy.

The Royal Ballet: Cinderella (Live)

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

MET Opera Live: Der Rosenkavalier

Maestro Simone Young takes the podium to oversee Robert Carsen’s fin-de-siècle staging.

The Royal Ballet: Cinderella (Encore)

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

Exhibition On Screen: Vermeer

In the spring of 2023, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam will open its doors to the largest Vermeer exhibition in history.

National Theatre Live: Good

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

The Royal Opera House: The Marriage of Figaro (Live)

Royal Opera Music Director Antonio Pappano conducts a truly international cast in David McVicar’s timeless production.

MET Opera Live: Champion

Bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green is the young boxer Emile Griffith, who rises from obscurity to become a world champion, and bass-baritone Eric Owens portrays Griffith’s older self, haunted by the ghosts of his past.

The Royal Opera House: The Marriage of Figaro (Encore)

With more twists than a page boy’s stockings, the story of Mozart’s comic opera will surprise and delight you at every turn.

National Theatre Live: Best of Enemies

1968 America, as two men fight to become the next president: the cunningly conservative William F. Buckley Jr., and the unruly liberal Gore Vidal.

MET Opera Live: Don Giovanni

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

Exhibition On Screen: TOKYO STORIES

Based on a major exhibition at the Ashmolean in Oxford, Tokyo Stories spans 400 years of incredibly dynamic art.

The Royal Ballet: The Sleeping Beauty (Live)

Be swept away by Tchaikovsky’s ravishing music and Oliver Messel’s sumptuous fairytale designs with this true gem from the classical ballet repertory.

The Royal Ballet: The Sleeping Beauty (Encore)

Be swept away by Tchaikovsky’s ravishing music and Oliver Messel’s sumptuous fairytale designs with this true gem from the classical ballet repertory.

MET Opera Live: Die Zauberflöte

Nathalie Stutzmann conducts her second Mozart work this season with a new production of Die Zauberflöte.

The Royal Opera House: Il Trovatore (Live)

Starring Ludovic Tézier and Jamie Barton, Adele Thomas’s energetic staging sets Verdi’s tale in a Hieronymus Bosch-inspired universe of medieval superstition.

The Royal Opera House: Il Trovatore (Encore)

Starring Ludovic Tézier and Jamie Barton, Adele Thomas’s energetic staging sets Verdi’s tale in a Hieronymus Bosch-inspired universe of medieval superstition.

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

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.

Recorded Talk: Rachel Joyce in Conversation with Professor Susan Oliver

Recorded live at Firstsite in November 2022, award-winning author Rachel Joyce discusses how landscapes play an inspirational and important role in her writing, with Professor Susan Oliver.

Recorded Talk: Louisa Buck in conversation with Andrew Wilson & James Birch

Recorded live at Firstsite, art critic Louisa Buck discusses the life of artist Denis Wirth-Miller with James Birch and Andrew Wilson.