An Open Table for Castlefield Gallery Associates
Associates Event
An Open Table for Castlefield Gallery Associates
26 May 2026
6pm - 8pm
Castlefield Gallery / Online
This event is for Castlefield Gallery Associates only
It is a blended event: in person at Castlefield Gallery and online via Zoom
To book: Please follow the link in the latest Associates events mail-out
Not an Associate yet? Join our scheme here
You are warmly invited to an Open Table for Castlefield Gallery Associates. Take time out to reflect and refresh with us! Join the Castlefield Gallery team and guest artist/curators Amy Stevenson (Bluecoat, Liverpool, and independent) and Yuen Fong Ling (independent artist-curator), for an evening of conversation, reflective exercises and a series of quickfire 1-2-1s.
Alongside this, Helen Wewiora, Director & Artistic Director, and Kacey Stonnell, Gallery & Volunteer Coordinator, will lead collective reflection sessions throughout the evening. We want to deepen our understanding of Associates’ needs and interests. As an open table, the evening is designed for Castlefield Gallery Associates to inform the future shape and range of Associates’ activities. Importantly, the evening will offer space for informal conversations including opportunities to speak directly with Helen Wewiora, other members of the Castlefield Gallery team, and with each other.
Those attending are also invited to take time out for themselves to connect with Matthew Pendergast, Head of Programmes, and our guest curators Amy Stevenson and Yuen Fong Ling, through a series of quickfire 1-2-1s. The 1-2-1s will enable you to quickly introduce yourself, your practice, and explore one or two practice and/or career focused ‘burning issues’. Whether you’re looking for practical advice, peer exchange, or a chance to influence the direction of the Associates’ programme, this event will provide a supportive and open environment to do so.
Book to attend and reserve your 1-2-1
Each participant is limited to one 15-minute introductory session with only one of the curators. This is so we can ensure as many Associates as possible have the opportunity to access the event based on availability. You may select multiple time slots but you will only be considered for a 1-2-1 with the curator(s) you select to book a slot with, and allocated on a first-come first-served basis. If your booking is successful, you will receive a confirmation email.
Can’t attend in person? We are also offering up to six online 1-2-1s. Advance booking is required to attend in person or remotely.
For those attending online – once we have received your booking, we will allocate your 1-2-1 time slot and send a survey to complete. Your slot will only be confirmed once you have returned the survey, after which you’ll get a confirmation email with a meeting link. If the evening is oversubscribed, we will explore repeating the session later in the year.
Book via the link in the latest Associates event mailout. If you have any questions or accessibility requirements, please contact kacey@castlefieldgalery.co.uk
Amy Stevenson
Curator, The Bluecoat (Liverpool) and independent curator.
Amy Stevenson is the Curator at The Bluecoat in Liverpool. Prior to this Amy worked for Liverpool Biennial as Assistant Curator for two iterations of the Festival of Contemporary Art – the UK’s largest contemporary free art festival, and held a curatorial role at The Whitworth (University of Manchester).
Following undergraduate studies, Amy commenced her early career as the recipient of a Weston Jerwood Creative Bursary – joining The Hepworth Wakefield as Curatorial Assistant and progressing to Assistant Curator. At The Hepworth Wakefield Amy worked on several large-scale exhibitions including the inaugural Hepworth Prize for Sculpture, Anthea Hamilton Reimagines Kettle’s Yard, and Disobedient Bodies: JW Anderson Curates The Hepworth Wakefield. Following this, Amy held several collections-based roles at Science Museum Group and has curated several projects as an independent curator.
Amy holds an MA in Art Gallery and Museum Studies from the University of Manchester.
Dr Yuen Fong Ling
Independent Artist-curator.
Dr Yuen Fong Ling is an independent artist-curator based at Yorkshire Art Space, Sheffield. He has a multi-disciplinary approach to socially engaged and performance-based art, working across but not limited to photography, drawing, video, and sculpture. He has a long track record of operating as both an artist and curator, often occupying the space in between. He was the Director of Exhibitions at Castlefield Gallery from 1999 – 2005.
Yuen Fong-Ling’s recent projects explore the construction of identity through the interpretation and production of others, where historical narrative and the artist’s body and biography, (as gay, male, working class, British born, of Hong Kong heritage) playfully intersect.
Ling is currently developing “The Fold” part of “Collections in Dialogue” Commission 2027 at Leeds Art Gallery, Henry Moore Institute and The British Library, telling his family’s migration story from Hong Kong to UK in 1960s, through the artist book and sculpture collections, and is at the start of a research and development process working with the University of Salford Art Collection and Castlefield Gallery. Recently he has exhibited as part of “RE/ASSEMBLE” People’s History Museum, Manchester, curated by IAP:MCR responding to the Stop Clause 28 March in Manchester 1988. Ling was lead artist and curator for “We are the Monument”, Grave Gallery 2024-25, part of UAL’s Decolonising Art Institute’s “20/20 Project” examining the motif of the empty plinth in Sheffield Museums Collection to consider the removal of the Colston Statue, Bristol in 2020.
Yuen was a Senior Lecturer in Fine Art, Researcher and Postgraduate Research Tutor at Sheffield Gallam University for 16 years until 2023. He graduated from BA Fashion/Textiles Liverpool John Moores University 1994, MFA at Glasgow School of Art 2007 and completed his PhD by Practice, “A Body of Relations: Reconfiguring the Life Class”, University of Lincoln in 2016.
Matthew Pendergast
Head of Programmes, Castlefield Gallery
Learn more about Matthew via Castlefield Gallery’s website: Matthew Pendergast – Castlefield Gallery
The year-round programme of Associates events and 1-2-1s and the many conversations we have with you create effective ongoing feedback loops. However, occasionally we ask you to join us to take a moment to pause, and to reflect and refresh, so together we can listen more deeply. We look forward to gathering and learning with you! We continuously look for opportunities to develop and extend the Castlefield Gallery Associates offer, and are always listening. Get in touch any time via associates@castlefieldgallery.co.uk
