Turf Projects

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Turf Projects Founded in 2013 by Croydon locals, Turf Projects is Croydon’s homegrown artist space and the first entirely artist-run contemporary art space in the borough.

Based in Croydon’s Whitgift Shopping Centre, we;

- Put on free exhibitions, showcasing the work of both local & national artists.
- Run free creative workshops, open to all, including skills workshops for artists, Family Art Fun Days and workshops with local schools.
- Provide space for artists to create via affordable artist studios.
- Host two collectives of local artists; MOSS (a collective of local learning disabled artists) and Art Press (a collective of Croydon artists aged 14-21).
- Host a community project space which is free to use by Croydon locals (we also have spaces you can hire!)
- Run a support & residency programme for Croydon School of Art & BRIT school students, family workshops, projects with local schools & more.
- Support artists with paid opportunities via exhibitions, workshops and commissions, with a principle that artists should be fairly paid for their work and time. Since 2013 Turf has supported the work of over 500 artists! Turf is a registered charity ( #1160527), and currently exists across two meanwhile-use retail units. A second site at Keeley Road, ‘Little Turf’, is our original home which now houses production space for artists & makers. You can hire that, too! For more info or to get involved, please email us at [email protected]

ANNOUNCEMENT 🥁 join us in celebrating the weirdness of the human imagination with our upcoming exhibition, Canny Valley....
03/10/2026

ANNOUNCEMENT 🥁 join us in celebrating the weirdness of the human imagination with our upcoming exhibition, Canny Valley. Bringing together works that play with traditional making in unexpected ways, the exhibition leans into the comfort of weird joy made from human hands. The title plays with the concept of the ‘uncanny valley’, that strange discomfort of encountering something familiar that appears to be almost human, but not quite.

In rejection of uncanny sensations experienced sifting through the slop of our current digital landscape, Canny Valley reorientates our attention through tactile tapestry, ceramics, sculpture & painting. A vibrant feast for the eyes, the works shared celebrate the sometimes strange, joyful & endless creative potential of human minds.

Nourish your imagination through the haptic visions of Holly Benians [holly Benians 🍄🐌], Ada Bond [Ada Bond], Kara Chin [Kara Chin], NPD Fraser [], Ana Kazaroff [Ana Kazaroff], Kenji Lim [Kenji Lim], Eun-Ha Paek [Eun-Ha Paek] & Andy Pomarico [Andy Pomarico].

Full programme to be announced, join us for the opening event Sat 31 Oct 👻 Exhibition continues until Sat 30 Jan 2027. Free & open to all!

12 Years of Turf: In-conversation with Amy J Wilson & Meitao Qu 🗣️Sat 25 Jul 2-4pmWhat support do artists need to develo...
06/07/2026

12 Years of Turf: In-conversation with Amy J Wilson & Meitao Qu 🗣️
Sat 25 Jul 2-4pm

What support do artists need to develop a creative career? Following on from our 2025/26 LEGACY year, we’re inviting Turf alumni artists back to reflect on and discuss their careers since their involvement with Turf 🌱

Meitao Qu [Meitao Qu] and Amy J Wilson [Amy J Wilson] started collaborating after being paired on The Exchange programme in collaboration with Turf, The NewBridge Project [The NewBridge Project] and Eastside Projects [Eastside Projects] during the Covid-19 pandemic. Join Turf CoDirector Rosie Crane Eckmire for an informal discussion with them about how this collaboration led to their current Turf show ‘Prefab Paradise’ and the importance of artist-led spaces for artist development.

🔗 Link to upcoming events in bio!

Last weekend as part of the Closing Gathering for ‘Tending’, we played ‘Tending Transmissions’ into the Whitgift Centre....
06/07/2026

Last weekend as part of the Closing Gathering for ‘Tending’, we played ‘Tending Transmissions’ into the Whitgift Centre. A radio interruption, made by the artists, tuning into the more-than-human sounds of Croydon. No-one from the Whitgift Centre said anything about the noise. People walked by and may not have even realised what they were hearing, where it was coming from. What does it mean to transmit ‘Tending’ sonically into a space that is slowly being neglected? 📡

In a place shaped by displacement, vacancy and waiting, perhaps tending to that which others may overlook or think insignificant - like some might consider us - is way of listening before acting, a first step to understanding how different systems affect each other.

Listen to ‘Tending Transmissions’ via rtm.fm, drawing sonic attention to reflecting, dreaming and resting to the listener. Take a moment to put down your shopping bags and pay attention to the unheard beings that occupy the airwaves 🎧

04/07/2026

Prefab Paradise Opening Launch 🚀
Sat 11 Jul 1-4pm

Join us for the opening of our latest exhibition Prefab Paradise, a collaboration between Amy J Wilson [] and Meitao Qu [] at Turf Projects.

Developed through a series of workshops with local young people, Prefab Paradise invites us into a world of collaborative worldbuilding & future visioning. At the center of the exhibition sits a human habitat, surrounded by rainforest, grassland, ocean and desert biomes, inspired by real and fictional worlds. Come and experience these worlds, ask a Turf member to introduce you to the exhibition, meet the artists and try some tiny drinks or snacks.

Prefab Paradise opens on Sat 11th July from 1-4pm and continues Wed-Sat 11-5 until the 26th September.

🔗 Link to upcoming events in bio!

Prefab Paradise Opening Launch 🚀Sat 11 Jul 1-4pmJoin us for the opening of our latest exhibition Prefab Paradise, a coll...
01/07/2026

Prefab Paradise Opening Launch 🚀
Sat 11 Jul 1-4pm

Join us for the opening of our latest exhibition Prefab Paradise, a collaboration between Amy J Wilson [Amy J Wilson] and Meitao Qu [Meitao Qu] at Turf Projects.

Developed through a series of workshops with local young people, Prefab Paradise invites us into a world of collaborative worldbuilding & future visioning. At the center of the exhibition sits a human habitat, surrounded by rainforest, grassland, ocean and desert biomes, inspired by real and fictional worlds. Come and experience these worlds, ask a Turf member to introduce you to the exhibition, meet the artists and try some tiny drinks or snacks.

Prefab Paradise opens on Sat 11th July from 1-4pm and continues Wed-Sat 11-5 until the 26th September.

🔗 Link to upcoming events in bio!

29/06/2026

✏️ Welcome to The Tiny Vintage Stationery Kiosk! 📚

Pencils, Crayons, Notebooks, Threads, and even some Creepy-crawly origami?!

All at amazing prices and available to purchase here at Turf Projects! 🛍️

As a registered charity, Turf sales are non-profit, so your purchase goes back into keeping our programme running & free to all while we continue to campaign for a permanent home! 🌱

Drawing The Space Inside My Hand with Lina Ivanova [] ✏️✋Sat 16 May 11am-1pmFree & open to all!Drawing The Space Inside ...
09/05/2026

Drawing The Space Inside My Hand with Lina Ivanova [] ✏️✋

Sat 16 May 11am-1pm
Free & open to all!

Drawing The Space Inside My Hand invites participants to explore drawing as a sensory and embodied practice. Taking place during the exhibition Tending, the workshop uses observational drawing to deepen ways of sensing and feeling.

Participants will draw from the ceramic pieces in the show, as well as their own hands and each other’s, considering the hand as our first tool for making and tending.

The session encourages slow looking, presence, and learning through the body. This workshop is open to the public and no prior drawing experience is required.

🔗 Link to upcoming events in bio!

Drinking Tea & Hiding with Meera Shakti Osborne [] 🍵Sat 18 Apr 2-4pm @ Turf Projects, Whitgift Centre Free & open to all...
15/04/2026

Drinking Tea & Hiding with Meera Shakti Osborne [] 🍵

Sat 18 Apr 2-4pm @ Turf Projects, Whitgift Centre Free & open to all

Join in a gathering with tea and light creative invitations exploring our right to opacity and the need to hide sometimes. Meera has put together a series of short texts that will help guide us in our creative explorations. There will be reflective charcoal drawing and writing activities along with breath work and getting to know each other.

This workshop particularly welcomes people of global majority and folks who have experience of migration and displacement.

🔗 Link to upcoming events in bio!

Address

46/47, Trinity Court (Ground Floor), Whitgift Shopping Centre
Croydon
CR01UQ

Opening Hours

Wednesday 11am - 5pm
Thursday 11am - 5pm
Friday 11am - 5pm
Saturday 11am - 5pm

Telephone

+442032510108

Website

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