Heritage and Culture Network: Celebrating 250 years of Turner and Constable

John Constable

JMW Turner

The next EARC Heritage and Culture Network seminar on 22 January 2026 at 12noon will look at two major artists that were based in our region, and the 250th anniversaries of both.

The Eastern Arc region, from the Wash down to Sussex Bay, has historically been home to a large number of globally important artists and writers. These include near contemporaries JMW Turner and John Constable, whose 250th anniversaries are being celebrated in 2025 and 2026. Both had a significant role in shaping our understanding and appreciation of the regional landscape and the wider engagement with it, but also paved the way for the Romantics and Impressionists who were to follow.

This session will hear from Toby Parkin (Head of Learning and Participation, Turner Contemporary, Margate) and Emma Roodhouse (Collections & Learning Curator (Art), Colchester & Ipswich Museums) about the artists’ relationship to place, the role that their organisations have played in both celebrating and safeguarding their legacy, and how the profile of the artists has been—or has the potential to be—a catalyst for positively changing the economic and social outlook for the region.

Join us

To be part of the seminar, get in touch with us via info@easternarc.ac.uk.