esea contemporary

The Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art is a contemporary art gallery based in Manchester, England. It is located on Thomas Street in Manchester's Northern Quarter in part of the renovated Smithfield Market Hall.

Champion became the Director of the Centre when it moved to new premises on Edge Street in Manchester's Northern Quarter in 1997. This was period of great change in Centre's functions and focus. More opportunities became available due to both the policies of the new Labour government, who placed greater emphasis on the importance of culture, and the increased interest in Chinese culture due to the upcoming Handover of Hong Kong. By moving away from Chinatown, the Centre also became less focused on the local Chinese community; instead focusing more on contemporary art. It was also Champion's aim that the Centre would work towards becoming the UK agency for Chinese arts and culture. The Centre would operate as an agency from 1999 and the charity was renamed the Chinese Arts Centre Ltd in September 2000.

UK based artists remained the main focus of the Centre's exhibition programme during this period. Initially the Centre's programme largely featured solo shows of existing works by artists such as Adam Hongshan Wei and Anthony Key, or touring exhibitions, such as Nora Fok's Galaxies. When the venue was refurbished after a fire in 1998, the Centre began to commission new site specific works by UK-based artists of east Asian heritage to use the new space to its best advantage. Between 2000-2003, the New Commissions scheme, produced 8 exhibitions by emerging artists such as Suki Chan, Lisa Cheung, Gayle Chong Kwan, and Jiang Jiehong.

As part of its agency work, the Centre extended the scope of its educational workshops to a national audience and acted as a focal point for other businesses and art organisations who wanted to know more about Chinese culture. The Centre began to contribute to debates regarding Chinese arts by arranging conferences such as A New Vocabulary for Chinese Arts?, held in London in 1998, and Contemporary Chinese Art in the International Arena held at the British Museum in 2002.

The Centre also began to develop global contacts to introduce international artists to the UK audiences. In 1997 Champion undertook a research trip to China with the aim of introducing the Centre to an international audiences and developing partnerships with organisations in mainland China. As a result the Centre produced Representing the People (1999), its first major touring exhibition to feature works by artist from mainland China. Developed in collaboration with the Courtyard gallery, Beijing, the exhibition was seen by approximately 250,000 people, and has been seen as one of the first independent UK exhibition to present the work of artists from Mainland China. This was followed by a second touring show, Made in China (2001-2002) which showcased contemporary design from China.

In June 2001, the Centre was informed that it had been accepted on to the Arts Council of England's lottery programme and £2.1 million was reserved for the Centre to purchase and outfit a new building as well as fund the operations and marketing of the new venue.