About Our Space

Address: BlueJam Art Space, Mostyn Hall, Friargate, Penrith, Cumbria, CA11 7XR. (We’re the old white building with red doors, diagonally opposite the carpark for M&S).

Facilities: We have a kitchen with tea and coffee making facilities (please bring your own tea/coffee – or if you prefer there is a nominal charge to use ours) and a microwave and fridge. There are toilets on the ground floor. We have wifi throughout the space.

Equipment: We have ample chairs, tables and cushions, as well as a projector and flip chart which can be booked separately. We also have a huge array of musical instruments and recording equipment, including a gamelan, keyboards and drums – please enquire for more information. We are able to provide music stands. 

Parking: There is limited parking behind the space for one or two cars. We are a one minute walk from the nearest public car park.

Disabled access: We have a ramp to access the large downstairs room (there is one step into the building). The stairs to the first floor are wide and shallow. Unfortunately it is an old building and therefore there are currently no disabled toilet facilities. 

Availability

We currently have good availability for the majority of our spaces, including in the evenings and at weekends. You can book a room either as a one-off or on a more ongoing basis (e.g. once a week for peripatetic teachers, or a shared artist workspace on a monthly basis etc). 

ROOMS

Alongside smaller practice rooms, the following rooms are available for hire:

– Front Room (Ground Floor)

This is the largest room at the Space. We currently use it for performances, orchestra practices, choir and instrumental rehearsals. It is regularly booked for workshops, conferences, meetings, rehearsals and concerts.

It has a lighting rig, PA, good keyboard, drum kit and backline ready set up.

It is carpeted with white walls and blackout curtains are available. It is accessible through the front door with a wheelchair ramp into a wide entrance hall with tables and comfy chairs.

– Jam Room (Ground Floor)

This room is conveniently situated opposite the kitchen and is divided into an open storage area for our colourful samba drums and a small meeting or teaching room.

Groups enjoy meeting here either for discussion or music practice. It is also used as a sewing space.
It can seat up to 15 people with tables to the side and in the middle. It has a nice Korg keyboard and small PA. There is facility to provide two large craft/sewing tables or a projector and screen.

– Dragon Gallery (First Floor)

The dragon gallery gets the afternoon sun and is our messy room – set out with 4 long tables with room to seat max 20 artists. We have two big buckets for water and lots of water containers, basic art supplies, a large easel and drawing boards. You can leave wet paintings to dry in the adjoining room.

It is big enough for life drawing sessions and tutored groups. We have regular art and craft workshops here and are looking for groups of artists to book it for our Figure It Out events – up to 6 artists pay £5 each for a two hour session.

It can also be used for informal meetings.

– Gamelan Room (First Floor)

This light and airy room houses our slendro bronze gamelan, Dwi Gambira Sari, and a permanent exhibition by Lizzie Davey and a rotating showcase exhibition.

The gamelan takes up all the space but we have successfully hosted birthday party bookings which use the Gamelan room and Gallery to have a creative session – often followed by a visit to the local pub or many restaurants in Penrith. Parties can use the car park for the evening.

Bookings for Performances

BlueJam Arts offers a friendly and supported venue for musicians of all genres, but especially those less likely to fill a large hall. So if you are an experimental, jazz, improvising, electronic, emerging artist, we’d love to work with you to put on a gig. We are also developing our own series of “Front Room Gigs” in 2024, which include folk, spoken word and electronic performances alongside Open Mic opportunities for singer/songwriters.

For unfunded events we can hire out our Front Room as a performance space with tech and front of house support, for £95. We can help with accommodation and promotion of the gig, though we expect you to promote your gig too.

We can also pipe the music up to our art gallery for people who for various reasons would like the freedom to dip in and out of the concert and also respond creatively to the sounds using our art materials. This also increases the number of people who can attend.

PRICES

One-to-One tuition – £6 per hour

Included:
– Access to a teaching room with a keyboard, music stands and chairs
– Use of the kitchen facilities
– Free parking if available

Small group (3 or 4) – £10 per hour

Included:
– Access to a teaching room with music stands and chairs
– Use of kitchen facilities
– Free parking if available

Meeting, Seminar or Rehearsal – £15 per hour

Included:
– Access to your requested room, the entrance hall and poetry garden to sit outside
– PA, drumkit and amps, keyboards, music stands, projector, flipcharts
– Tables and chairs – 6′ & 4′ folding tables, variable height; folding, bucket and padded chairs
– Access to the kitchen facilities – kettles, thermoses, crockery, cutlery, microwave and toaster
– Free parking if available

Recording Studio

Josh Jackson works from a studio in the Space – get in touch if you would like to book a session with him or are working on a project and need an engineer.