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As BPH hinted at the beginning of February there are changes coming at Impressions Gallery. The Gallery is to relocate pending finding a permanent space and its long-time director Anne McNeill is stepping down. Impressions Gallery will take up temporary residence in the former Bradford Club, an iconic and well-loved historic building in the city centre, when Impressions lease in Centenary Square ends in March. This marks the next chapter in the gallery’s long and successful history from 1972, as it continues developing plans for its new permanent home in Bradford.

The move coincides with a planned change in leadership, as Director Anne McNeill prepares to step down after 26 years in the role. Impressions Gallery has an established relationship with the Bradford Club, having presented pop-up exhibitions and events in the building in recent years. This relocation will enable the charity to continue its artistic programme in 2026 and 2027.

The upcoming programme, with a focus on sustainability, includes the national touring exhibition Clare Hewitt’s Everything in the forest is the forest at MAC, Birmingham (April to August 2026); offsite exhibitions launching autumn 2026; the development of the community-sourced digital archive Bradford Family Album; and outreach work with local communities and young people. Impressions base at the former Bradford Club will also act as a welcoming hub for photographers in the region to connect with each other, and receive guidance and support at regular events and drop-ins.

“Impressions Gallery has a strong track record of working beyond conventional gallery spaces,” says Anne McNeill, “returning to the former Bradford Club as a temporary home builds on our existing connection to the space, while allowing us to continue our work and think ambitiously about a permanent future in the city.”

Director Anne McNeill will step down from her role in March 2026, concluding 26 years at the gallery. During her tenure, McNeill has led Impressions through a period of sustained artistic and organisational development, cementing Impressions’ national and international profile in photography and visual culture. This includes the gallery’s bold move from York to Bradford in 2005, and the realisation of major international exhibitions for Bradford’s Year as UK City of Culture. McNeill will remain in post until the end of March 2026, working alongside the experienced and committed team to support the transition.

Anne McNeill, Director says: “After 26 years, now feels like the right moment to hand over the reins and make space for new leadership and fresh ideas as Impressions enters the next chapter in its long and successful history. It has been an absolute privilege to lead Impressions, firstly in York, then moving the organisation to Bradford in 2005 and opening the first purpose-built photography gallery in the UK, through to our role in helping Bradford to secure its title as UK City of Culture 2025. I have loved working with such dedicated colleagues and talented artists. I’m immensely proud of what the team has achieved together; nurturing talent, building communities, championing photographers and diverse voices that reflect the richness of society. As for me, I am looking forward to exploring new creative challenges, while remaining a passionate advocate for photography and for Bradford.”

Julian Rodriguez, Co-Chair of Impressions Gallery, said: “We sincerely thank Anne for her visionary and committed leadership and the immense contribution she has made to Impressions Gallery and the wider international photography sector. As Impressions move into this next chapter, we remain focused on delivering an ambitious programme and playing an active role in Bradford’s cultural landscape as it continues to strengthen and grow”.

Impressions Gallery Board of Trustees will begin the process of appointing a new Director in spring 2026. Further announcements about the organisation's relocation and longer-term plans for a permanent home will be made later this year.

Impressions in Residence, The Bradford Club, 1 Piece Hall Yard, Bradford BD1 1PJ
t: 01274 737843
w: www.impressions-gallery.com
Instagram: @ImpGalleryPhoto

In the last twenty years, Impressions has staged 65 exhibitions in its Bradford gallery space, showing the work of 207 a!tists and commissioning 37 new bodies of photographic work, which have then toured the UK and beyond. Last year Nationhood: Memory and Hope, a powerful and poignant photography exhibition celebrating the diversity of the UK by acclaimed Ethiopian photographer Aïda Muluneh and seven rising UK photographers became the first ever UK City of Culture project to take place in all four nations of the UK. Read more about Impressions Gallery's history and Anne McNeill.

Images: (top) Bradford Club; (lower) Anne McNeill. Courtesy Impressions Gallery. 

Bradford's Impressions Gallery has posted a notice on its website announcing that it 'is now closed to visitors as we prepare to leave Centenary Square when our lease ends in March. We are relocating to another city-centre venue while we work towards developing a new permanent home in Bradford. Following an incredible year, we are busy working behind the scenes and will be announcing our plans and programme for 2026 soon.'

BPH understands that more information will be made available as soon as some minor details around its new home are resolved.  

Join Impressions' mailing list on its website or follow it on Instagram @ImpGalleryPhoto Look out for updates there and on BPH shortly.

BPH adds historical background to Impressions Gallery and its long standing Director Anne McNeill below: 

Impressions Gallery, was founded in York in 1972 by Val Williams and Andrew Sproxton, just a year after London's Photographers' Gallery. It was one of Europe's first specialist photography galleries and started in a room above a shop at 39a Shambles. It moved to York's Colliergate in 1976 where it remained until 1992 then moving to the city's Castlegate. Anne McNeill took over as director in 2000. At the invitation of Bradford City Council the Gallery moved from York to the city opening in August 2007 as part of a strategic decision to align with Bradford's urban regeneration, and proximity to the National Media Museum. It shared a a new purpose-built space - the first purpose built public funded photography gallery in the UK - with Bradford 1 Gallery in Centenary Square. With the later move of Bradford's library into the same building it lost part of its space. The musuem, now the National Science and Media Museum, has housed Impressions Gallery's archive since 2013.

At the time of its tenth anniversary in Bradford the Gallery claimed visitors of 55,000. In 2024 the Gallery reported attracting15,500 annual visits which it expected to double to more than 36,000 by the end of 2025 during Bradford's year as City of Culture. In the year to 31 March 2025 it recorded 27,338 gallery visitors and reached over one million through its outdoor, digital and touring programmes. For many years it has had a significant programme of touring exhibitions and close links to the United Kingdom's regional photography galleries. and the tours reached 28,111 in the year to 31 March 2025. It is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation receiving £206,000 in 2024/25.

Impressions director Anne McNeill has played a central role in British photography as a curator, editor and writer in a career spanning nearly four decades. She began in the darkrooms at Camerawork in 1984, became founding Director of Photoworks in 1995, and was the Artistic Director of Photo 98, the UK Year of Photography. Since 2000, Anne has directed Impressions Gallery, a charity that helps people understand the world through photography and acts as an agent for change. She received the 2022 Royal Photographic Society Curatorship Award.