Monday 24 June 2013

A sneak peek at...Fabric in the Building!

Our second exhibition, Fabric in the Building, is hanging in The Bank for you to feast your eyes upon! We'll be giving you a quick peek at some of the artworks we're featuring until July 7th.


If you've walked past, or viewed from afar the stunning Green Girl glimmering in the window, here she is in her beautiful glory. Even on the rather overcast day in which this photo was taken, it's a beautiful piece of glass. And on the days when the sun does make an appearance, the colours shine! 

This piece was created at Phoenix Glassworks, based in Denham, Suffolk. Specialising in stained glass panels, this piece is an example of their fantastic crafts.


This beautiful sea scape is one of our artworks from Ely-based artist Melanie Missin. Another one of these hangs in the main hall, this one is next to the coffee station. 


These impressive hangings are placed next to the stage. The main hall allows us to exhibit these vast pieces and show them the way they are intended to be seen. 


This stunning dress forms part of the Strongroom exhibit downstairs, which also includes a short film on the projector. 


And finally...

Some crochet flowers have snuck themselves into our table vases! They make a gorgeous addition to our usual table displays, adding a lovely fabric touch to each. 


This is just a sample of our exhibition - so if you have yet to view this beautiful showcase, why not come along and see for yourself!

The Bank

Wednesday 19 June 2013

Our Concerts: Brooke Sharkey & Dove and Boweevil

Once a month, The Bank finds itself transformed into a cafe-style concert venue. Using our fantastic acoustics and stunning surroundings, we have held some wonderful performances over the past few months.

Our opening performance by folk singer Brooke Sharkey was a huge success. Filling The Bank with French-English gyspy and blues influenced songs, our opening night couldn't have been better. 


In May, we played host to Dove and Boweevil, who brought an electric show to The Bank with their fantastic blues sound. 


If you're liking what you hear (and who wouldn't?), we have several more concerts upcoming - these are currently listed on our Music Events page. Come and check it out!


The Bank
(videos courtesey of Ian Harvey)

Tuesday 18 June 2013

Introducing: The Bank

About Us

The Bank is the trading name of Eyes Open CIC, a community interest company dedicated to bringing arts to the town of Eye and it's surrounding areas. The Bank acts as a space for creativity, performance and inspiration for a wide range of arts including - fine art, sculpture, music, theatre and literature/literary arts. During the day time, we run the centre as a cafe and exhibition space for the public. Art classes also run throughout the day. Every month we run regular concerts and performance events, featuring artists such as Brooke Sharkey, Dove and Boweevil and Vagaband.

Every six weeks, we run themed exhibitions. We feature artworks from local, national and international artists.

We also have our own recording studio and digital projection space in the old Strongroom, which is available for public use. We also hold film screenings in the studio, often as part of our exhibits.

In addition to this, we have our upstairs treatment rooms, which can be booked out for use.

The cafe is open six days a week, offering our delicious Bank Breakfasts and lunches, as well as our very own Bank Coffee Blend (made exclusively for us), tasty tea selection and creamy hot chocolate. We also sell an array of gorgeous cakes and biscuits. We have many gluten and dairy free options, and hot drinks can be made with dairy alternatives on request.

Our Story

The Bank, as it is today, grew out of a group idea (which later became Eyes Open CIC). Drawing together the expertise of four different individuals, the aim was to create a community space with different arts uses. The first thing was to find a building that would best suit the requirements. We eventually settled on a derelict building, the former bank in the centre of Eye. Once a huge part of the community, it had since closed and not reopened for five years. Whilst it would need a vast amount of work, it was agreed that it did have some huge potential.


In the old counters and screens, we saw the potential for somewhere the community could be proud of, and a place artists would be honoured to exhibit and perform in. In a period of a few weeks (and with the help of our fantastic volunteers), The Bank was turned from this...

To this...



We gave the building a new lease of life and the community a new space to enjoy and create art.

The Future

We will be holding further events, including our exciting Under 18 Art Awards and Art is the Word. As a community space, we welcome suggestions, comments, artworks and collaborations.

Above all, we'd like to thank the local community,visitors to The Bank and the artists/collaborators for their continued support of this fantastic project. And to new visitors, a very warm welcome awaits, with beautiful art and inspiring surroundings!

The Bank aims to become an intergral part of the community and add to the growing arts scene in East Anglia as a whole.

Thank you for reading and supporting us, and you'll see some more updates very soon - including more features on our fantastic performances and exhibits. Be sure to check back soon!

The Bank