About West Space

West Space is an independent, non-profit contemporary arts organisation in Naarm (Melbourne), established by artists in 1993.

West Space supports timely work by artists in Australia and beyond.

West Space is a place where artistic safety is cultivated, and where creative community can gather, test and imagine around art and ideas.

Programs

West Space Gallery

Our main space, presenting major visual art commissions and curatorial projects.

West Space Window

Our micro-project space on the facade of our gallery.

West Space Offsite

Our digital platform publishing writing and artist-led content in support of our program.

West Space Studio

A fully subsidised studio, offering residencies above our gallery and office.

Values

First Nations First

West Space operates on Wurundjeri Country, in a continent with an Aboriginal past, present, and future. First Nations voices are embedded across our organisation, from our governance to our artistic program.

For Artists

West Space exists to support artists. We commission timely, groundbreaking art — supporting practice that is rigorous, experimental, socially engaged, and self-reflexive about the role of art in society.

For Purpose

West Space creates space for voices across culture, class, generations, gender, and ability. We advocate for artists and arts professionals and build collaborations and partnerships that provide space for generative practice development.

Open and Welcoming

West Space is a place to gather freely, to test and imagine around art and ideas. With an understanding that art is for everyone, we contextualise works of art and communicate complex ideas to facilitate greater engagement with urgent artistic enquiries.

History

For three decades, and in five different venues across Wurundjeri and Boonwurrung country, West Space has produced and presented work by experimental artists in Victoria and across the continent.

Founded by artists Brett Jones and Sarah Stubbs, in the western suburb of Footscray, West Space arose out of a cultural moment categorised by shifting funding priorities and rising artist-collectivity. In a climate where established art institutions dominated state and federal funding, West Space sought to offer a platform for innovation and advocate for artists as a priority for government funding.

In the 1990s, West Space was of the few artist-run spaces in Melbourne presenting a critically engaged, multidisciplinary program, accessible through open-access. In 2000, West Space relocated to Anthony Street in the CBD, and in 2005, formed a Board with the strategic skills to steer and grow the organisation. In 2011, West Space moved to a site spanning five exhibition spaces on Bourke Street.

In 2014, West Space began actively commissioning new work, and in 2017, introduced National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) rated fees for all exhibiting artists. As one of the few organisations our size to take this landmark and critical step, West Space is recognised as an exemplary model for best practice. West Space began presenting major commissions spanning the entirety of our galleries.

In 2020, West Space moved to the inner-north, to a single space in Collingwood Yards, alongside artists, non-profit arts organisations, and social enterprises as well as independent retailers, cafes and bars.

The current era of West Space supports the development of timely projects with long incubation periods.

We present a year-round program of differently scaled exhibitions, presentations, residencies, discursive, digital, and capacity-building programs. Anchored in place and informed by global solidarities, West Space offers a supportive space for experimentation, mentorship, and connection with an ever-growing networks of peers.

Our programming model comprises invited presentations alongside open access opportunities, a founding ethos of the organisation that allows for new voices to be heard. Open call opportunities are selected by our curatorial team in consultation with our diverse and experienced Artist Committee, comprising a rotating group of artists based across the continent and the artists on our Board.

Funding and Partners

Core Funding

West Space receives operational funding from Creative Victoria through the Creative Enterprises Program and Creative Australia through the Four Year Funding Program.

Project Funding

Projects in 2025 are supported by City of Yarra through the Annual Grants Program, and Creative Australia through the Arts Projects for Organisations Grant.

West Space Supporters

West Space is empowered by a generous community of Supporters.

2025 Program Partners

Arts Access Victoria, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Centre for Projection Art, Hope st radio, Liquid Architecture, Melbourne Art Fair, Slow Burn Books, Victorian College of the Arts, UTS Gallery, Utp, Yarra Youth Services, un Projects.

Sponsors

Base Design, Sibling, McCorkell, Lūpa, Brighter Later, Heaps Normal, Little Brunswick Wine, Veriu Collingwood

Network Partners

West Space is an anchor tenant in multi-arts precinct Collingwood Yards — a place of cultural and artistic production, open to the public.

West Space subleases our office to un Projects, an independent publisher of arts writing.

West Space is a member of Contemporary Arts Organisations Australia, a national network of independent non-profit arts organisations advocating for the small-to-medium visual arts sector.

West Space is a steering member of All Conference, a national network of artist-led and experimental arts organisations.

West Space is a member of A Climate for Art, a union of arts organisations responding to the climate crisis through tangible action.