History of the Building 

In 1979, Swansea City Council offered the derelict, former Oscar Chess car showroom in South Dock area of the city - an area which had been ear-marked for major development - to the Association of Artist & Designers in Wales to use as artists' studios. The ground floor of the building was occupied and converted by The Dylan Thomas Little Theatre and the quayside area outside, which Swansea Studios overlooks, subsequently re-named Dylan Thomas Square.

For decades both venues existed on short term leases, although the Theatre has recently obtained a 25-year lease and funding to refurbish their section of the building.

The Association of Artists & Designers in Wales  

The AADW are an important part of Swansea Studios history. Formed in 1974 by six artists in Cardiff, the group sought to create a national organisation to represent artists of all disciplines. The organisation's aims were to promote serious criticism and discussion; to protect and advance standards; to advise and assist members and public bodies and to co-operate with other organisations who were similarly involved; to create more and better opportunities for practise and study, and, more specifically, to establish active branches of the Association throughout Wales. It was funded by the Welsh Arts Council, membership subscriptions and rent from its studios. By 1981, there were eleven AADW branches throughout  Wales, with the central office situated in Cardiff. In 1992 the decision was made to wind down the AADW activities, before being formally dissolved in 1998.

The Swansea branch of the AADW was formed in 1976 and had around 55 members. It's activities were centred on two buildings, both in Gloucester Place. In 1977, they were granted a licence by Swansea City Council to occupy the near derelict St Nicholas Church, which they refurbished and converted into a gallery/workshop space called Swansea Arts Workshop Gallery, (renamed Mission Gallery in 1998). In 1979, AADW members commenced work on the Oscar Chess building across the road. The former office and garage space was in an even worse state of repair than the gallery but, by the October of that year, 11 self-contained studios had been created. The tenants of these studios were AADW members and, initially, a print workshop and a dark room were provided for communal use. These however are no longer in use and have also been converted into self contained studios.

Although the gallery and studios are now independent of each other and exist as seperate organisations, they still have close links, planning future collborations and joint projects together. Several of the studio artists have had exhibitions at Mission Gallery, have run education/outreach projects or worked there in some capacity. Many are included in Mission Gallery's forthcoming programme of exhibitions and events.