Dundee Contemporary Arts

The DCA opened on 19 March 1999, but the idea of establishing a visual arts centre in Dundee had been discussed by many concerned parties from the mid-1980s. In particular, there was a desire to both nurture the students and graduates of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design (now a school of the University of Dundee and one of the leading art colleges in the UK) and to build upon the work of those involved with the (now closed) Seagate Gallery and Dundee Printmakers' Workshop. Additionally, it was hoped that the project would replace and improve upon the only arthouse cinema in Dundee—the part-time Steps Theatre, which closed when DCA, with its two-screen (and full-time) cinema,…