ARTSPLACE Gallery

ARTSPLACE is a contemporary visual-arts gallery and arts centre at 396 St George Street in Annapolis Royal, operated by the Annapolis Region Community Arts Council (ARCAC), a registered community charity dedicated to encouraging and promoting the arts across the region. It is the town's home for contemporary art: juried exhibitions, experimental installations, workshops, a horror film festival, and the annual Paint the Town artist weekend, all a two-minute walk from King's Theatre and Fort Anne. Pair a visit with the stops in our Annapolis Valley self-drive guide.

One Building, Four Galleries

ARTSPLACE runs four distinct exhibition spaces, a remarkably ambitious footprint for a town of a few hundred people. The Main Gallery, 60 square metres with roughly 25 linear metres of hanging wall and three-metre ceilings, carries a juried, fee-paid exhibition program booked so far ahead that it is currently programmed through 2027. Exhibiting artists are paid professional fees, and their work is not offered for sale during the run of a show, a policy that keeps the emphasis on the exhibition rather than the till. The Library Gallery is the experimental room: a fluid space for pop-ups, residencies, installations, video, and new-media work where emerging artists can test ideas still in development, at no cost to exhibit. The Mym Gallery is designated for ARCAC members, and the Chapel Gallery rounds out the roster. The result is a building where a finished touring exhibition, a member's first framed works, and a video artist's work-in-progress can all hang in the same month, and where a visit during a changeover might catch staff mid-hang and happy to talk about what is coming next.

Contemporary, by the Canada Council Definition

ARCAC's programming follows the Canada Council for the Arts' definition of contemporary visual arts: photography, fine craft, performance art, independent curating, critical writing and publishing, and architecture, alongside emergent forms that range from artist's books to audio, video, film, and digital work. Exhibition proposals are reviewed by the gallery's exhibition committee and invited external jurors, and are selected on artistic merit, connection to community, and viability. In practice, recent seasons have ranged from multi-artist abstract painting exhibitions curated by guests to community-driven projects, so the calendar rewards repeat visits even on a short stay in town.

Paint the Town, SILENT SCREAMS, and the Calendar

The gallery's flagship event is Paint the Town, held each August. Artists set up easels around Annapolis Royal and, in the adapted recent format, create works from their own studios as well, while visitors watch pieces come together over a weekend; finished work goes on display at the gallery on the Sunday before moving into a week-long online auction. In the lead-up, studio works are posted at fixed Buy Now prices, and bidding on the weekend pieces opens the Monday after; the 2026 edition offered 145 artworks across painting, watercolour, pastel, collage, fibre art, and more, raising operational funds the gallery describes as increasingly vital in a difficult funding climate for small arts organizations. Come autumn, ARTSPLACE flips the mood entirely with SILENT SCREAMS, its horror film festival. Around those anchors sit ArtSeen.ca, an online gallery that extends the organization's reach beyond the valley; a Member-in-Residence program; the Library Gallery project stream for community proposals; and rental studio space for working artists.

A Town That Punches Above Its Arts Weight

Annapolis Royal concentrates more working culture per block than most towns ten times its size, and ARTSPLACE sits at the middle of it. The gallery's St. George Street address puts it two blocks from King's Theatre, whose calendar of films and live performance runs year-round, and a short walk from the Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens, the summer farmers' market on the waterfront, and Fort Anne's star-fort earthworks. In high summer the candlelight graveyard tours add an evening ritual to the mix. None of this is accidental: the same community that rescued its theatre in the 1980s built an artist-run gallery that pays exhibiting artists professional fees, and visitors benefit from the result, a town where an art stop, a heritage site, and a live show can share a single afternoon. Support from the Canada Council for the Arts and Nova Scotia's culture department appears on the gallery's own masthead, which tells you the standards it holds itself to.

Workshops, Memberships, and Ways In

Participation is the point here, and travellers can join in rather than observe. The workshop calendar has included altered-book sessions with book artists, where a discarded hardcover becomes a sculpture, and intuitive-drawing classes built on automatic-art techniques; sessions are small, materials are usually included, and spots fill through the gallery's website and social channels. Membership in ARCAC is open to anyone, buys entry to the members' gallery and program discounts, and supports the fee-paid exhibition mandate; volunteers staff openings and events, and calls for exhibition proposals generally go out in spring and summer. If a piece catches your eye, work by regional artists is available through the ArtSeen.ca online gallery, which lets you take part of the Annapolis arts scene home without cramming a canvas into the car.

Visiting the Gallery

ARTSPLACE keeps extended summer hours, Tuesday to Thursday 10am–5pm, Friday 10am–7pm, Saturday 10am–5pm, and Sunday 11am–2pm, closed Mondays, with reduced hours through the shoulder season, so confirm the current posted times on arcac.ca before making a special trip. The gallery sits on the same street as King's Theatre, with the Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens, the farmers' market, and Fort Anne all within a short walk, making it one of the easiest cultural stops to slot into a day in town. Exhibitions turn over regularly, the Main Gallery's program alone runs multiple shows a season, so even returning visitors will usually find new walls.

The Practical Details

Address & Location — 396 St George Street, Annapolis Royal, NS B0S 1A0, on the town's main street two blocks south of King's Theatre.

Hours — Summer: Tuesday–Thursday 10am–5pm, Friday 10am–7pm, Saturday 10am–5pm, Sunday 11am–2pm; closed Mondays. Reduced off-season hours; confirm on arcac.ca.

Contact — (902) 532-7069 or arcac.ca; current exhibitions are posted on Instagram at @arcac.artsplace and on the gallery's YouTube channel.

Getting Involved — Visitors can join ARCAC as members, donate, or volunteer; workshops and events are ticketed through the gallery's site.

Parking — Street parking along St. George Street and adjacent blocks.

For travellers, ARTSPLACE is the kind of stop that rewards an unplanned hour: a small-town gallery with professional programming standards, four rooms of contemporary work, and a schedule of events that has made it a genuine community hub. If your Annapolis Valley trip lands in August, time it for Paint the Town and watch the town turn into an open-air studio.