Share offer page now live on Crowdfunder! Invest today at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/twoqueens
Join the people-powered campaign to keep creativity alive in Leicester
Two Queens, the independent art gallery and studios at the heart of Leicester’s Cultural Quarter, needs you.
We’re a grass-roots champion for freedom of artistic expression and we create access to art that enriches and brings meaning to the lives of people in our community. Art that can be both courageous and challenging, whilst also serving a therapeutic purpose for our wellbeing. Art that is created by and for the community in Leicester and beyond.
As an artist-run space that has endured for over 12 years, Two Queens has become part of the artistic fabric of Leicester, as well as holding significant national influence within the wider Contemporary Art community. Two Queens pushes boundaries, stimulates thought, challenges the status quo and provokes discussion. It moves us forward through new creativity and progressive ideas and brings fresh, bold vibrancy and vitality to its local community.
But without your support, all of this is at risk.
In March 2025 our lease at 2 Queen Street will expire. Our landlords will be selling the building and we have no right to remain as tenants. So, this Summer, we urgently need your support to help us buy the building, ensuring Two Queens can continue its work in the long term. If we owned the building we would also be able to improve it and make it a better public space that meets everyone’s needs. To buy it, we are working to raise money through grant funding and through investment from you, our community, inviting those who care about our work to come together and save an important cultural asset at risk.
Access to art should belong to all of us.
For Two Queens to continue, we need people-power. We need people like you, who believe in the arts, to come together and invest as a community in the future of Two Queens.
Through our Community Share Offer you can take a share in the ownership of Two Queens. Owner Packages start at £50, with options to spread the cost of investment from £5 a month.
As an owner you will be proudly helping to keep the doors open and the studio thriving. You will be enriching lives through art, for years to come.
Full details for this share offer can be found in the share offer document and business plan at the bottom of this page. These documents set out our plans, explain what a community share offer is, and contain more detail on Two Queens’ operations and financial performance. Please read both documents before deciding whether investment is right for you.
Because access to art should belong to all of us, Two Queens invites members of our community to invest and help us secure our long-term future.
–
FAQ’s
How much do we need to raise?
Our building has been recently valued by a Chartered Surveyor at £390,000 and we are in negotiations with the owners as preferred bidders. We plan to raise this amount through a combination of Community Shares investment and Grant funding.
Through this share offer, we need to raise a minimum of £100,000 for the purchase of 2 Queen Street to go ahead, but our ideal is to raise £158,500 as this makes us more financially sustainable. If possible, we would like to raise up to £313,000 as this would enable us to begin a first phase of capital improvements to our premises, making it a more accessible and sustainable public space.
We are inviting share investments from a minimum of £50 up to a maximum of £15,800, with options for those on low incomes to spread the cost of investment from as little as £5 a month (see below for more details on subscriptions).
Why Community Shares?
As a community benefit society, Two Queens is able to raise equity capital from its Members – both individuals and organisations – in the form of withdrawable share capital. This form of capital is extremely flexible and is a tried and tested way to fund the purchase and development of all sorts of community assets and co-operative businesses.
Community shares are withdrawable shares in the Society. That means you can withdraw your initial investment and any interest that might have accrued, but only if the organisation is in a financial position for you to do so. These shares are known as community shares because the primary benefit of holding shares is social not financial: the goal is more about the community than it is about making a monetary gain. The real payback from becoming a shareholder Member is creating a thriving community and saving an important cultural asset.
Community shares are not like ordinary shares, because:
- no matter how many shares a Member holds, they get only one vote. That means that no-one can buy a large number of shares and take control;
- shares are withdrawable, but not tradeable;
- community shares do not enjoy capital growth.
We’re aiming to pay 3% interest on shares from 2026/27 (subject to performance) to attract and retain investors. Share investments are a medium to long term investment. No withdrawals can be made until 2027/28, and at this point only 5% of the total member shareholding can be withdrawn each year.
Can I Spread the Cost of Investing?
We are able to offer a limited number of subscriptions for community members wishing to invest between £50 – £1000, who can apply to do so by paying in ten monthly instalments of £5 – £100. These subscriptions are aimed at those on low incomes, to ensure investment is accessible to as many people in our community as possible.
These subscriptions will be set up and managed outside of Crowdfunder, using Paypal Subscriptions. If you wish to pay by subscription please complete the google form at
https://forms.gle/WkBEmdKoRrXZfyzg7
We will then contact you with a link to complete your subscription, once we know that our share offer has reached its minimum investment level. If the share offer fails, all subscription arrangements will be cancelled. Subscriptions will be allocated on a first come-first served basis – when this service reaches its limit we will stop taking subscription requests.
Should you fail to pay your instalments and not meet the minimum investment amount of £50 over the payment period, all monies will be refunded, minus any administrative costs incurred, (paypal fees of 2.9% on each transaction)
Can I just donate instead?
If investment isn’t for you, we also welcome donations at any time towards our ongoing public projects. Donations can be made via the link found on the ‘about’ page of our website here:
https://2queens.com/about/
or by emailing info@2queens.com to arrange.
What happens to my investment if the share offer fails?
This is an ‘all or nothing’ share offer project, meaning that if we do not reach our minimum target, all investments will be cancelled and refunded. Once we know the outcome of the share offer, we will work to raise remaining funds and draw down money once we know that the building purchase can go ahead. We will communicate with our investors and keep you informed throughout this process.
When do I become a Society Member/Receive my shares?
We will only receive the details of investors once we know the share offer project has succeeded. Until that point everyone who has applied for shares is a prospective society member, and full society memberships, share certificates and rewards will be issued once the project reaches that point.
–
For more information please see the documents below, and for any further enquiries email info@2queens.com
We encourage investments using Crowdfunder at https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/twoqueens however you can also do so using the application form below.
Please download and complete the form, and return to us either as an email attachment to info@2queens.com, or by post to 2 Queen Street, Leicester, LE1 1QW