TOWNHOUSE

Townhouse was established in downtown Cairo in 1998 as an independent, non-profit art space with the goal of making contemporary art and culture accessible to all without compromising creative practice. The Gallery’s programming supports a wide range of activities including exhibitions, residencies for artists, curators and writers, educational initiatives and symposia as well as outreach programs.

By establishing local and international relationships, as well as diversifying both the practitioners and audiences of contemporary art, Townhouse continues to support and expand the knowledge, appreciation and practice of contemporary arts in Egypt and the region.
Since its inception, Townhouse has strived to make the arts accessible to different groups of society, whilst using them as a powerful medium for integration and understanding. Our Outreach Program offers a number of arts workshops for adults and children, with participants coming from all over Cairo, including those with special needs and from marginalized communities.
Townhouse collaborates with institutions and arts professionals both regionally and internationally to create exhibitions, share resources, and facilitate artist exchanges.

Townhouse’s Artist in Residence programme is considered one of the cornerstones of the organisation’s activities and offers resident artists access to artist networks across the city. The local landscape comprises something of a symbiotic relationship between gallery and street, and artists from around the world have repeatedly drawn upon the networks and communities accessed through the gallery’s outreach programmes and local residents, to produce inspiring pieces of work.
Providing not only a private studio space within the gallery premises, but also a local staff with active knowledge of the local arts scene, Townhouse as a hosting organization becomes the point of departure for residents to engage their work with the city and its people.