Learning Events

Norwich Death Café at Sainsbury Centre

Meet in the Modern Life Café at 2pm, and at 3.30pm join us for a special tour of the collection which will highlight one special object related to death each week.

Death Café is a worldwide movement that brings people together to drink tea, eat cake and discuss death. Our aim is to normalise these conversations and in so doing help us all to enjoy our (finite) lives.

This is a free event and all guests get their first cuppa on the house.

To find out more about what to expect at a Death Cafe go to www.deathcafe.com

Please Note: Death Cafe events are offered as an informal space for talking about death with a view to normalising these conversations. As such they are not offered with the intention of providing bereavement support.

The Norwich Death Cafe team are happy to signpost on to other organisations locally offering this kind of support where needed.

Contact norwichdeathcafe@gmail.com for further details.

Death Cafés are held throughout the year at the Sainsbury Centre’s Modern Life Café. Tickets are free, but booking is essential. Please make your selection below for the date you wish to attend.

Venue: Sainsbury Centre Modern Life Café, UEA, Norfolk Road, Norwich NR4 7TJ

Young Artists' Studio (12-16)

29 - 31 July 10:30 - 16:00 Can the Seas Survive Us? 

During this 3-day workshop, you'll develop your own project with support from three Sainsbury Centre associate artists: Marnie Hardy; Ian Brownlie and Rose Feather. Use a range of techniques including drawing and digital photography to create works on paper in response to our Can the Seas Survive Us? Exhibition season. Experiment and develop your ideas alongside other young artists. Learn book-binding techniques to finish your work ready to display in the Living Area. Suitable for ages 12-16. Book in advance on our website. 

Buy ONE family ticket which includes gallery entry for three days, three studio workshops and all materials. 

You will recieve an automated email with a link to a short questionaire, which must be completed to attend this unaccompanied workshop. 

Tickets cost £45 per person attending.

Bursary places are available for families on a low income. Email Rach: Rachel.Anstey@uea.ac.uk 

£45: 1 person ticket

£90: 2 person ticket

£135: 3 person ticket

£180: 4 person ticket

Mini Studio: Term-time workshops for parents, carers, and preschool children. Take part in relaxed guided exploration followed by multisensory play with a Sainsbury Centre artist. Book from the beginning of each month on our website and pay what you can. Dates:

10 June 1030 - 1200 Waves with Abby Page

Buy ONE family ticket which includes gallery entry, Mini Studio activities and a snack for everyone.

Tickets cost £10 per child, up to a maximum of £25 per family. 

Babies with an older sibling do not require a ticket.

Bursary places are available for families on a low income.  Email Rach:  Rachel.Anstey@uea.ac.uk 

£10: 1 child ticket

£20: 2 children ticket

£25: 3+ children ticket

Mini Studio: Term-time workshops for parents, carers, and preschool children. Take part in relaxed guided exploration followed by multisensory play with a Sainsbury Centre artist. Book from the beginning of each month on our website and pay what you can. Dates:

8 July 1030 - 1200 Watery World with Dot Howard

Buy ONE family ticket which includes gallery entry, Mini Studio activities and a snack for everyone.

Tickets cost £10 per child, up to a maximum of £25 per family. 

Babies with an older sibling do not require a ticket.

Bursary places are available for families on a low income.  Email Rach:  Rachel.Anstey@uea.ac.uk 

£10: 1 child ticket

£20: 2 children ticket

£25: 3+ children ticket

Museum Late: Hydromancy 

Thursday 12 June

6-8pm.

This event is free, but booking is essential.

An evening of contemporary performance, music, poetry and film that explores our relationship to the sea. Curated by artist Harun Morrison.

Please note that only one ticket can be purchased per transaction. An error message appears when two tickets get added at once. If you clear your shopping basket, you will be able to purchase another ticket. 

Shared Seas: Coastal Encounters

Part of the "Can the Seas Survive Us?" Programme

Date: Wednesday 4 June 2025

Time: 9:00am - 12:30 noon

Location: East End Gallery, Sainsbury Centre

Pay if and what you can. Ticket prices: £5, £15, £20

For Bursary places, please contact Ken Paranada: j.paranada@uea.ac.uk 

What role must museums play in the climate crisis?

This urgent public gathering marks the opening event of Shared Seas: Coastal Encounters — a two-part programme hosted at the Sainsbury Centre, reawakening the radical ethos upon which the Centre was founded. Conceived in the 1970s as a rule-breaking experiment in what a museum could be, the Centre now reimagines its role as a civic force for climate action, justice, and collective care.

As the 1.5°C threshold becomes a lived reality, museums stand at a crossroads. No longer neutral repositories of the past, they must step into the foreground — to convene, to challenge, and to lead.

Shared Seas: Coastal Encounters - Sainsbury Centre

Friday 13 June  

10:30am  

Free, booking essential  

Meet at gallery reception  

Harun Morrison has invited a range of people including activists, writers, artworkers, theorists, architects, chefs, natural historians and horticulturalists to propose questions relating to environmental justice that can stimulate conversation. A selection of these questions will form the basis of this discursive workshop. Participants will be invited to work in small groups of 3 - 4 people, followed by a freeform closing discussion over 1hr 45 mins including a short break. 

The workshop is suitable for people 16 +.  

Banner for the Planet

12 July

1300-1500

Sainsbury Centre Dialogue Space (East End Gallery)

Join Parents for Future and the Sainsbury Centre Learning team for collaborative mindful craft-making and discussion. How can we turn climate anxiety into climate action, creating a hopeful world for our children? 

This FREE event is aimed at parents, grandparents and carers, but children are welcome. Let us know you are coming by signing up here.

Banner for the Planet

16 August

1300-1500

Sainsbury Centre Dialogue Space (East End Gallery)

Join Parents for Future and the Sainsbury Centre Learning team for collaborative mindful craft-making and discussion. How can we turn climate anxiety into climate action, creating a hopeful world for our children? 

This FREE event is aimed at parents, grandparents and carers, but children are welcome. Let us know you are coming by signing up here.

Banner for the Planet

14 June

1300-1500

Sainsbury Centre Dialogue Space (East End Gallery)

Join Parents for Future and the Sainsbury Centre Learning team for collaborative mindful craft-making and discussion. How can we turn climate anxiety into climate action, creating a hopeful world for our children? 

This FREE event is aimed at parents, grandparents and carers, but children are welcome. Let us know you are coming by signing up here.

Yuki Kihara’s Darwin in Paradise Camp
Special ‘Dialogue’ Tour with refreshments

Tour with Volunteer Guide, Jenni Brace
Dialogue with Kate Dunton, Head of Learning

How can we come together to think differently about the oceans that connect us, and what we can do to care for them?

This is the question we invite you to explore with us through a tour of our current exhibition ‘Darwin in Paradise Camp: Yuki Kihara’. This will be followed by tea, coffee and cakes and a gentle ‘Talanoa’ inspired dialogue. Talanoa has its origins in the Pacific. It provides a friendly and welcoming space to share our stories, thoughts and ideas in an open and inclusive environment.

FREE for Sainsbury Centre Members
Friday 30 May
2.30 - 4pm
Meet by the main gallery reception

Do you feel heard concerning the climate and nature crisis? Would you like to feel more empowered in your response to it?  Here’s a chance to share your concerns in a supportive atmosphere.  The Sainsbury Centre and Norwich Quakers are offering a non-judgmental listening meeting as a stepping stone to potential action. 

About Norwich Quakers

Quakers are a faith group, committed to working together for equality and peace. They have been meeting in Norwich since the 1670s. Quakers believe strongly in the need for urgent action to respond to the current climate and biodiversity crisis.  Quakers in Britain are working to challenge this system and advocate for economic values rooted in equality, justice and sustainability.

Wednesday 4 June, 10.30 – 12.00

Meet: Gallery Reception

FREE

All welcome!

Do you feel heard concerning the climate and nature crisis? Would you like to feel more empowered in your response to it? Here’s a chance to share your concerns in a supportive atmosphere. The Sainsbury Centre and Norwich Quakers are offering a non-judgmental listening meeting as a stepping stone to potential action. 

About Norwich Quakers

Quakers are a faith group, committed to working together for equality and peace. They have been meeting in Norwich since the 1670s. Quakers believe strongly in the need for urgent action to respond to the current climate and biodiversity crisis.  Quakers in Britain are working to challenge this system and advocate for economic values rooted in equality, justice and sustainability.

Wednesday 25 June, 10.30 – 12.00

Meet: Gallery Reception

FREE

All welcome!