Art Gene Limited

What Art Gene Limited does

Art Gene Limited is an artist-led charity registered in England (Charity No. 1135536, Company No. 4359454), founded in 2002 and operating from Bath Street, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, with a staff of approximately 10. Its purpose is to engage local communities in the re-visioning of the social, natural, and built environment of the Morecambe Bay area by convening specialists — artists, ecologists, archaeologists, architects, historians, and environmentalists — into place-based cultural projects. The organisation is led by co-founder and director Maddi Nicholson following the 2024 death of co-founder Stuart Bastik, and its work centres on community engagement methodologies such as Design Cafe rather than commercial product delivery.

The portfolio is organised around a core Digital U online exhibition platform for emerging and mid-career digital-media artists and a Seldom Seen™ sub-brand spanning a five-map illustrated series, free smartphone walking-tour apps (built with partner PAN Studio and distributed through Apple/Google stores), engraved site-specific furniture, and a cabinet-of-curiosities collection for the Piel Island Visitor Centre. Adjacent project lines include heritage interpretation such as Fort Walney, Uncovered and the One for Sorrow war memorial, design commissions like Roker Pods (Sunderland) and the Kid Pod outdoor classroom (Sacred Heart Primary School), and a rolling slate of digital programmes (Still Remote 2024, Torn Together 2025). Outputs are distributed through regional visitor information centres, partner venues, app stores, social channels (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo), and the Art Gene Gallery and Nan Tait Centre.

Revenue is generated through restricted grant funding from public bodies — chiefly the Heritage Lottery Fund, Arts Council England, CABE Sea-Change and the Sir John Fisher Foundation — together with local-authority commissions (Barrow Borough Council, Sunderland City Council), corporate and individual donations (including via PayPal and an online Charity Shop), and venue hire. Pricing is not publicly disclosed because the organisation is not a commercial vendor; customer concentration is structurally high across a small number of repeat grant-makers and local-authority partners, and geographic reach is concentrated in Cumbria and Lancashire with a documented extension into North-East England via the Roker Pods commission.

Name

Art Gene Limited

Legal name

Art Gene Ltd

Website

https://art-gene.co.uk

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Art Gene Limited is an artist-led charity in Barrow-in-Furness engaging communities in place-based cultural and heritage projects across the Morecambe Bay area, delivering digital exhibitions, illustrated maps, walking-tour apps, and site-specific installations funded primarily by public arts and heritage grants.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Arts and Heritage Services

NAICS

Independent Artists, Writers, and Performers (711510), Historical Sites (712120)

SIC

Services-Mailing, Reproduction, Commercial Art & Photography (7330)

akta.pro primary industry

Libraries, Archives & Special Collections (BPAGAHAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Crafts & Maker Arts (Ceramics, Textiles, Jewelry, Mixed Media) (EDAMAAAD), Visual Arts (Drawing, Painting, Illustration) (EDAAAGAA)

Keywords

• Community arts charity
• Heritage interpretation projects
• Digital exhibition platform
• Illustrated walking maps
• Place-based community engagement

Headquarters

HQ city

Barrow-in-Furness

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Grant Funding: Art Gene operates as a registered charity (1135536) and receives funding from arts councils, heritage funds, and government bodies for specific projects and initiatives.
2. Donations: The organization accepts donations through PayPal and other channels to support charitable activities.
3. Venue Hire and Services: Revenue generated through venue hire services and potentially charity shop sales.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Art Gene Limited is an artist-led charity that engages communities in the re-visioning of the social, natural, and built environment of Barrow-in-Furness and the Morecambe Bay area. It delivers place-based projects spanning heritage interpretation, ecological awareness, architectural design, and digital arts programming, including the Seldom Seen™ product line (maps, mobile apps, furniture, and collections), the Digital U online exhibition platform, and named installations such as Roker Pods and One for Sorrow.

Product overview

Art Gene Limited is an artist-led charity that operates primarily as a physical and digital arts programming organization, not a software or technology product company. Its offerings are organized around a core Digital U platform — an online exhibition space for artists working in digital media — supported by a portfolio of named projects and programmes. These include: the Seldom Seen™ product line (a smartphone app, a five-map series of illustrated maps, furniture installations, and a cabinet of curiosities for Piel Island); heritage projects such as Fort Walney, Uncovered and the One for Sorrow war memorial; architectural works including Roker Pods and Kid Pod outdoor classroom; community engagement through Design Cafe; and seasonal digital programmes such as Torn Together (2025), Still Remote (2024), and Interfacing (2020). There is no unified software platform or SaaS product — offerings are discrete art, heritage, and community projects.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Seldom Seen™: A trademarked series of maps and mobile apps exploring hidden assets, stories, histories and nature of the Morecambe Bay area. Includes walking audio tours covering Ulverston Canal Foot, Backbarrow, Hincaster, Heversham, Fort Walney and Sunderland Point.

Products and services

• Digital U Online exhibition space for emerging and mid-career artists working in digital media including film, animation, video, and sound. Programmes feature international, national, and local artists curated annually by a Digital Artist-Curator.
• Seldom Seen App Smartphone application providing guided walking audio tours exploring hidden assets, stories, histories, and nature of the Morecambe Bay area, covering Ulverston Canal Foot, Backbarrow, Hincaster, Heversham, Fort Walney, and Sunderland Point.
• Seldom Seen Series of Maps Series of five illustrated maps spanning from the Islands of Barrow to Cockerham, plotting hidden assets of the Morecambe Bay area including nature reserves, industrial heritage, and social history. Maps include The Islands of Barrow, Furness Peninsula, Cartmel Peninsula, Arnside-Silverdale Area, and Morecambe-Heysham Area.
• Seldom Seen Furniture Engraved table tops and pub furniture for the Ship Inn on Piel Island, featuring the Knights' of Piel Round Table and traditional up-cycled pub tables with Maddi Nicholson's drawings engraved into traffolyte-covered surfaces.
• Seldom Seen Collection Cabinet of curiosities designed by architect Charlie MacKeith for the Piel Island Visitor Centre, exploring the island's historic and present-day achievements from Britain's first rigid airship and submarine to nuclear submarine production and offshore wind farms.
• Fort Walney, Uncovered Heritage project uniting artists, archaeologists, and the community to explore, survey, excavate, record, and celebrate WW1 and WW2 practice trenches on North Walney National Nature Reserve, including a smartphone app and the One for Sorrow war memorial artwork.
• One for Sorrow War memorial artwork installed on the site of former WW1 and WW2 practice trenches on North Walney Nature Reserve, featuring camouflage-wrapped ceramic birds cast in iron, corten steel numbers engraved with the rhyme, and an Edwardian-style estate gate.
• Roker Pods Multi-functional, movable eco-pods designed for Roker, Sunderland, constructed with renewable timber using ship-building technologies, serving as education, shower, performance, café, information, and viewing spaces.
• Kid Pod Outdoor Classroom Outdoor classroom facility at Sacred Heart Primary School in Barrow-in-Furness featuring crawl tubes with slides, spherical dens, a geodesic glass house, water play, and planted areas.
• Design Cafe Community engagement methodology encompassing meetings, design events, talks, walks, and food, providing opportunities for the whole community to get involved. Concept Cafe extends this by engaging multi-disciplinary partnerships including community representatives, local businesses, and environmental bodies.
• Torn Together Digital programme running throughout Spring 2025, curated by Sophie Lindsey, sharing work from six artists and collaborations in a series of online exhibitions, events, and interventions exploring the contradictions and possibilities of uneasy togetherness.
• Still Remote 2024 digital programme curated by Sophie Lindsey, sharing work from three artists and Prism Arts, exploring long-distance collaboration, being on hold, and making with support as a reflection of digital history and remote living.
• Charity Shop Online charity shop operated via Shopify, supporting Art Gene's charitable activities through resale of donated goods.
• Venue Hire Physical gallery spaces in Barrow-in-Furness, including the Art Gene Gallery and Nan Tait Centre, offered for venue hire, hosting exhibitions and permanent installations.

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• Morecambe Bay PartnershipcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2016Key strategic partner for the Seldom Seen mapping project. Morecambe Bay Partnership worked with Art Gene on developing walking tours, maps, and community engagement across the Morecambe Bay area, including the Morecambe Bay Cycleway project.
• Natural EnglandcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2014Key partner on the Fort Walney, Uncovered project ensuring ecological sensitivity in delivery on the North Walney National Nature Reserve. Steve Benn from Natural England played a key role in project delivery.
• National TrustsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupporter of the Seldom Seen Series of Maps and Apps, contributing to the conservation and interpretation of heritage sites in the Morecambe Bay area.
• RSPBsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner organization supporting the Seldom Seen mapping initiative and heritage interpretation projects.
• Cumbria Wildlife TrustsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner organization supporting conservation and community engagement through the Seldom Seen project.
• Sunderland City CouncilcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerClient for the Roker Pods project. The council commissioned Art Gene to design multi-functional eco-pods for the Roker coastline revitalisation.
• BAE SystemssupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommissioned SLR Consulting to undertake a Walkover Survey as part of Fort Walney project baseline studies.
• PAN StudiocoreTechnology or IntegrationDigital development partner for the Seldom Seen app series. PAN Studio collaborated with Art Gene to create the smartphone application featuring guided walks with audio and video content.
• Prism ArtssupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with neuro-inclusive artist collective based in Carlisle, showcasing their work through the Still Remote digital programme.
• MillimetresupportingImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerConstruction partner for Roker Pods project. Brighton-based Millimetre constructed the eco-pods using ship-building technologies and sustainable materials.
• Urbed ArchitectssupportingImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerAssociate architect Marianne Heaslip from Urbed Architects Manchester worked with Art Gene to develop Roker Pods concept designs through to RIBA stage D.
• Barrow Borough CouncilcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-term partner on regeneration projects including the Barrow-by-Design concept and Piel Island Visitor Centre. Commissioned Art Gene for Sea Change funded projects.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Create: National creative-arts charity working with communities, particularly those facing barriers to engagement. Comparable in education and community-engagement remit and UK small-charity funding model.
• Metal Culture: Artist-led cultural organisation delivering community-engaged, place-based arts programmes across coastal and post-industrial UK towns. Highly comparable to Art Gene in mission, operating model, and reliance on public-sector arts funding.
• Prism Arts: Carlisle-based neuro-inclusive artist collective that is a named programme partner of Art Gene (Still Remote). Comparable in NW England base, small-charity scale, and focus on artist development and accessibility.
• Heart of Glass: St Helens-based artist-led agency commissioning collaborative arts projects with communities. Comparable to Art Gene in combining artist residencies, community engagement, and partnership-based delivery in NW England.
• SPUD (Space, Place and Urban Design): Arts/architecture charity using creative design to re-imagine places and built environments. Closely comparable to Art Gene's blend of architecture, design, and community-led placemaking.
• Situations: UK-wide programme commissioning artists to make ambitious public artworks in unexpected places. Comparable to Art Gene in commissioning place-based cultural interventions with public-sector partners.
• Invisible Dust: UK arts and environment organisation commissioning artists to respond to ecological and climate-change themes. Comparable to Art Gene's heritage/ecology partnerships (Natural England, RSPB) and place-based environmental projects.
• Super Slow Way: Lancashire-based place-based arts programme working along the Leeds & Liverpool Canal corridor. Comparable in geography, place-based methodology, and dependence on Arts Council England funding.

Broad incumbents

• National Trust: Large UK heritage conservation charity and Art Gene partner for the Seldom Seen maps/apps. Comparable in heritage-interpretation remit but operates at much greater scale, with national reach and resources.

Regional players

• Cumbria Wildlife Trust: Cumbria-focused conservation charity and Art Gene partner on Seldom Seen heritage interpretation. Comparable in regional NW England focus and combined ecology/heritage remit, though conservation rather than arts-led.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Art_Gene
• YouTubevimeo.com/artgene
• Facebookfacebook.com/ArtGeneLtd
• Instagraminstagram.com/art__gene
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/art-gene-limited

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Art Gene Limited