About

Why we are called the Art Bank?

The surroundings are fabulous and creative, a grand building that formerly housed a high street bank. We are an inclusive and diverse community run venue, a neurodiverse and LGBTQ+ collective supporting people and ensuring they feel included and heard. Our mission is to provide a platform for everyone.

If you have an idea for an event, something you would like to see programmed into the ArtBank or want to volunteer please get in touch. We would love to hear from you! info@artbank.org.uk

What does the Art Bank do?

The Art Bank works at improving social cohesion in Shepton Mallet and beyond by
offering a hub for creative connection and collaboration. We are an inclusive venue that provides a platform for the local community. An eclectic range of events are programmed weekly (see our what's on) The Art Bank houses the Not for Profit Art Bank Cafe and Bar and The Rubbish Art Project, that takes waste materials from local businesses, charity shops and individuals and helps artists and people transform them into thought-provoking art. Central to our aims is environmental messaging, a reconsideration of one-use plastics and other materials.

The project takes commissions from businesses and charities to create installations from waste to convey an environmental message about their organisation.

The ArtBank runs creative community events that are inclusive, immersive and bring everyone together under the umbrella of creativity and fun.

The Team

Many people collaborate at the Art Bank. As a community venue, we are proud to work with an array of talented creatives. Visual artists, musicians, writers, actors, producers, comedians, they have all brought a different flavour to the space.

But it is the people of Shepton Mallet, its surrounding villages and the wider community within Somerset and beyond who come with their flair and enthusiasm to enrich the work of the Art Bank.

The ArtBank team are proud to be members of the LGBTQ+ community, have lived experience of being long term carers and are neuro diverse.

We will be adding bios of artists, performers and some of our Art Bankers soon. Watch this space!

Dimitris
Koutroumpas

James
Barker

Lucy
Smith

Dimitris co-directs the Art Bank and is the Artist in Residence. Originally from Athens, Greece, but resident in the UK for more than 15 years and Somerset for 6, his passion is collage (including 3D collage and decoupage), mixed media, photography and book gardens, live plants that are grown in books. This ‘tree-cycling’ gives new life to forgotten books he rescues from collections destined for the bin or finds in charity shops. Commissions have included work for NHS Walsall Hospitals and private collectors. He has been successful in receiving funding from Arts Council England and charitable trusts and has devised community arts projects working with marginalised groups including carers, cancer patients, disabled adults and over-60s. Other work includes a documentary and performance based photographic installation (with James), 'The Social Death of Ray Crane,' which was exhibited at A.E.Harris in Birmingham, and 'Sub-Urban,' a solo exhibition at the Tacchi Morris Arts Centre in Taunton. In 2019 his Plastic Flowers were exhibited at Glastonbury Festival as well as at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival, where they contributed to an award for Good Presentation. He also produced two pieces, ‘Spirit’ and ‘Memories’ for the Festival of Death and Dying and was the creative force behind the ‘Alice in Rubbishland’ exhibition and the ‘Shepton on Show' extravaganza. His current work is his ‘Plastidermy’ series, which incorporates waste from the Art Bank Cafe in the production of miniature, magical worlds that showcase the power, resilience and beauty of nature.

James co-directs the Art Bank and hosts the monthly ‘Art Bank Voices’ spoken word evening. Following a career in international marketing and recruitment in the higher education sector, he became a full-time carer for his parents. It was while caring for his mother that he devised and ran a series of creative workshops with funding from Arts Council England. These courses aimed to offer carers catharsis and support as well as highlighting the difficulties carers face and led to a year-long exhibition and the publication of a book (co-curated with Dimitris), ‘Why Do You Care?’ that showcased carers’ creative work. James went on to secure further funding to devise creative writing workshops for people over 60 as well as arts workshops for disabled adults. He also collaborated with Dimitris in producing a documentary and performance-based installation, ‘The Social Death of Ray Crane,’ that explored the isolation carers often experience. This was exhibited at A.E.Harris in the Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham. James has a Masters in Creative Writing from Lancaster University and is currently undertaking a part-time PhD in the same subject at Loughborough University, thanks to a scholarship from the Department of English and Arts.

Lucy co-directs the 'Art Bank' with James and Dimitris and is also the co-founder of the 'Rubbish Art Project'. Lucy lived in London for over 10 years working in music videos and commercials and other productions companies. She left London and relocated to Bristol where she began working with young adults in supported living. In 2005 Lucy started working with Glastonbury Festival in a supportive role in the press office while also researching on the Glastonbury Movie. She went on to coordinate the green initiatives and sustainability for Glastonbury Festival for a number of years introducing cycling and public transport initiatives, compost toilets and reusable cups and water bottles. Lucy was involved in programming and commissioning all the environmental messaging for the big screens either side of the stage and running environmental campaigns for the festival aimed at the Glastonbury audience and festival goer. The Rubbish Art Project was inspired by the desire to set up a creative hub in Shepton Mallet while also tackling consumerist waste. Lucy is a strong believer that creativity is the key to social change within communities and helps to support a more cohesive society.

We love to hear from you!

Creativity is Our Currency

The Rubbish Art Project, the Community Benefit Society at the Art Bank, has received funding from the following organisations: