DAY TRIP TO DISCOVER THE BRIGHTON BEACON COLLECTION AT THE NEW BRIGHTON SOHO HOUSE WITH CURATOR GEMMA ROLLS-BENTLEY

Join us for a day trip to discover the Brighton Beacon Collection, in the new Soho House on Brighton’s seafront, with curator Gemma Rolls-Bentley.

The Brighton Beacon Collection is curated by Gemma Rolls-Bentley who brings together the most relevant and influential queer artists of our time. The work of the artists in this collection, from newly emerging to critically acclaimed contemporary masters, provides a collective response to the notion of a beacon city, to Brighton’s global significance as an LGBTQ+ haven and the role that queer hubs have played in each artist’s own practice, their community and wider contemporary culture.

Gemma Rolls-Bentley has been at the forefront of contemporary art for over a decade, working passionately to amplify the work of queer artists and provide a platform for art that represents and explores LGBTQ+ identity. In addition to her independent curatorial practice, Gemma is Chief Curator at Avant Arte, a visiting lecturer at the Royal College of Art and an advisor to early stage startups, cultural projects and private art collectors. She co-chairs the board of trustees for Queercircle, a charity that supports art, culture, health and well-being in the LGBTQ+ community and she is a member of the Courtauld Association Committee board. Gemma has delivered projects for a range of global institutions and platforms, including key projects; The Gay Times Honours that she launched in partnership with the National Portrait Gallery in 2017, Queertopia a collection of artist videos curated for Daata Editions and presented at international venues including Somerset House London, Palace of Fine Arts San Francisco, Art Night 2018 at BFI London and Turner Contemporary Margate, Art Hole a monthly art column for Gay Times Magazine that covered exhibitions around the UK commemorating the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of male homosexuality in England and Wales.

9.00 AM : Departure by train from Victoria

10.00 AM : Arrive in Brighton 

11.30 AM : Arrive at Soho House, tour of The Brighton Beacon Collection

12.30 PM Lunch at Cecconi’s

2.30 PM: Return to London

Photo: Gina Soden