ArtSway to close after ACE cuts
Gallery fails to find alternative long-term funding
Visual arts organisation ArtSway, which was one of the organisations refused Arts Council England (ACE) national portfolio status last year, is to close its Hampshire gallery at the end of July.
As an arts council regularly funded organisation, ArtSway was given £112,000 in 2011-12, but received no regular ACE money this April following the introduction of the national portfolio system. The gallery opened in the village of Sway in the New Forest in 1997.
A statement on the organisation’s website said: “During the last year, since notification that the organisation was not included in ACE’s national portfolio from April 2012 onwards, staff and trustees have explored other potential long-term sources of funding, uses of the gallery and the most cost-effective ways of delivering educational services.
“In addition to these efforts the organisation has undergone two separate organisational reviews, completed by external consultants supported by ACE.
“Regrettably, a sustainable solution has not been found and the trustees, mindful of financial and reputational risk, as well as their duty of care to the staff, have taken the decision that the operation in Sway must cease.”
Former ArtSway director Mark Segal, who left the gallery in November last year, told Museums Journal at the time of the arts council’s decision that he was shocked it would not be a national portfolio organisation.
Some of the other organisations that failed to get national portfolio status last year have fared better than ArtsSway.
The Globe Gallery in Newcastle and Castlefield Gallery in Manchester both lost out but remain open. The Globe lost £92,000 a year and Castlefield £44,000 after failing to get National Portfolio funding.
But the Folly Trust, a digital arts development agency based in Lancaster, closed in August 2011 after its national portfolio application was turned down.
As an arts council regularly funded organisation, ArtSway was given £112,000 in 2011-12, but received no regular ACE money this April following the introduction of the national portfolio system. The gallery opened in the village of Sway in the New Forest in 1997.
A statement on the organisation’s website said: “During the last year, since notification that the organisation was not included in ACE’s national portfolio from April 2012 onwards, staff and trustees have explored other potential long-term sources of funding, uses of the gallery and the most cost-effective ways of delivering educational services.
“In addition to these efforts the organisation has undergone two separate organisational reviews, completed by external consultants supported by ACE.
“Regrettably, a sustainable solution has not been found and the trustees, mindful of financial and reputational risk, as well as their duty of care to the staff, have taken the decision that the operation in Sway must cease.”
Former ArtSway director Mark Segal, who left the gallery in November last year, told Museums Journal at the time of the arts council’s decision that he was shocked it would not be a national portfolio organisation.
Some of the other organisations that failed to get national portfolio status last year have fared better than ArtsSway.
The Globe Gallery in Newcastle and Castlefield Gallery in Manchester both lost out but remain open. The Globe lost £92,000 a year and Castlefield £44,000 after failing to get National Portfolio funding.
But the Folly Trust, a digital arts development agency based in Lancaster, closed in August 2011 after its national portfolio application was turned down.