WELCOME – IPSWICH ARTS ASSOCIATION

Ipswich Arts Association has over 50 member organisations, which means also hundreds of individuals directly and indirectly associated with its activities. 

Ipswich Arts Association acts as an umbrella organisation – its aim to help promote the work
of both members and the arts in general from across the region

The website is one of a number of ways in which IAA aims to keep in touch not only with these members but also with the wider community. It provides an excellent way for societies to publicise their events as well as a diary of proposed events which has long proved invaluable to those keen to avoid clashes with other events of the same kind or in the same locality.
Find details of our members forthcoming events here: IAA Events Page 

If you would like help and/or advice about the arts it may be Ipswich Arts Association can provide that? Please contact us in the first instance through the email address, on our Contact Us page, or come along / join in with one of our General Meetings, held twice each year.

IAA welcomes groups individuals and  organisations from all areas of the arts – bands, choirs, dance, drama, ensembles, literature, poetry, the visual arts etc..
Both General Meetings (open to all) and Executive Meetings are being held in person or via Zoom as appropriate.

General Meetings are announced on the website homepage and you are cordially invited to book a place. Contact the Secretary of IAA.  secretary@ipswich-arts.org.uk

Details on how to join the IAA can be found by clicking the button below;

Click on an image to open pdf of each brochure.
Town Lectures & Concerts and The Ipswich Charter Hangings also have their own dedicated pages on the website.

History – Ipswich Arts Association

Founded in the mid nineteen eighties Ipswich Arts Association was from the beginning an organisation with the purpose of promoting the arts in Ipswich and the surrounding area.
It comprises a board of trustees made up of elected and co-opted members and is registered as a not
for profit charitable organisation.

Over the years IAA have implemented many initiatives to help with it’s aims:
A ‘concert calendar’ was introduced to help avoid clashes of similar themed events, forerunner
of the events listings now found on this website
A published magazine was launched – ‘Images’ – highlighting events and activities from all
areas of the arts.
Regular public meetings to raise and to discuss issues of those in the arts sector.
Being part of Ipswich Music Day by organising the IAA ‘Classical Stages’.
Launching of the IAA website, where members can advertise their events for free.
Introducing the highly successful monthly Town Lectures and Concerts series, now in their 26th year.
Commissioning The Ipswich Charter Hangings, to commemorate in 2000 the 800 years since the granting of a royal charter, by King John to the town of Ipswich.

Change is always with us and technology has certainly made an impact, there is no longer an almost daily trip to a small office at the Town Hall to check for messages for Ipswich Arts Association left on an answerphone! With the internet came websites, which in turn now work in conjunction with social media and online messaging. Comment and images in an instant.
Ipswich Arts Association will continue to look at both traditional and new ways to work with and to promote the work of its members.

Chris Green
Sadly in January 2025 we lost Chris Green, founder and chair of IAA .
Chris had suffered with his health in recent years, but his passing was still a shock to us all.
He leaves a huge legacy in his achievements with Ipswich Arts Association, Trianon Music Group,
Anglia Singers, and the many other groups and individuals he helped to succeed.

Chair Ipswich Arts Association. Emeritus Professor Christopher Green OBE (1942 – 2025)

Chris – rehearsing, conducting and with Trianon at Snape.

In May this year, as part of the IAA Town lectures and Concerts series, Janet Dann kindly stepped in to give a lecture about Chris Green – ‘The Gift of Music – a life and a legacy’
A transcription of the lecture along with the photos is available as a pdf. CLICK HERE or on the image to open.