Wolstenholme Creative Space (abbreviated as WCS) was an independent not-for-profit contemporary art gallery, music venue and artists' studio complex housed in the last surviving Georgian buildings in Wolstenholme Square, Liverpool.
It developed in late 2009 from an earlier artist-run space, when the space's coordinators, Priya Sharma and Caroline Smith, assumed responsibility for the premises under the Wolstenholme Creative Space name and became its directors.
WCS worked with external artists, collectives and organisations, while also producing its own programme of exhibitions and events. Its programme focused on emerging artists across a range of art forms, often drawing on DIY practices and responding creatively to the building and its deteriorated condition.
The organisation also provided affordable studio space for more than 30 artists. In 2011, rents were reported to be "as little as £35 per month", with the studios spread across "several dilapidated floors".
Wolstenholme Creative Space held a significant place within Liverpool's alternative arts scene. In 2012, The Double Negative described WCS, together with Red Wire and The Royal Standard, as three key artist-led spaces established after 2005, largely by graduates of Liverpool John Moores University.
Around Wolstenholme Square, WCS formed part of a wider artistic shift alongside The Kazimier and MelloMello, as disused buildings were repurposed for music, performance and visual art.
Its connection to Liverpool's independent music scene was further reinforced by Bido Lito! describing WCS as a "second home" for bands, artists and independent promoters.
Having operated for "a little over three years", the Wolstenholme venue closed at the end of 2012 after the building was "deemed structurally unsound".
The loss of WCS and other artistic spaces around Wolstenholme Square drew criticism in The Skinny, Liverpool Echo, The Post, and from Gabrielle de la Puente of The White Pube.