Ormeau Baths Gallery closed after arts council stops funds
Northern Ireland’s arts community was taken aback when Belfast’s Ormeau Baths Gallery closed its doors without warning at the end …
Northern Ireland's arts community was taken aback when Belfast's Ormeau Baths Gallery closed its doors without warning at the end of February after the Arts Council of Northern Ireland withdrew funding.
The gallery is the only public gallery dedicated to contemporary art in Northern Ireland and the arts council had been the main source of funding since it opened in 1995.
For some time, the gallery management had been at loggerheads with the arts council, which provided an annual grant of £272,000. Relations between the council and the gallery's board deteriorated after administrative errors involving lottery funding were discovered in 2004. An independent audit cleared the gallery of fraud accusations.
Hugh Mulholland, the gallery director, said the gallery put new measures in place following the investigation in 2004, but alleged that the arts council had been unsupportive of his role as director. The board stepped down in December, but asked that its successor be responsible for a staff review and corporate plan.
A spokesman for the arts council said that the decision to close the doors so suddenly had been taken by the gallery itself, notwithstanding the offer of a period of time to allow a 'soft landing'.
The open acrimony has ruffled the arts fraternity in Northern Ireland. The outgoing management of the gallery has accused the arts council of alienating the arts sector. But an arts council spokesman said there was no evidence of such alienation. 'We have been concerned only with operational issues and not artistic issues.'
However, the outlook for the gallery is not all bleak. The arts council is looking at ways to reopen the gallery under new management. Roisín McDonough, the chief executive of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, said: 'We are working to ensure that the interests of the visual arts sector in Northern Ireland will continue to be served.'
She added that the arts council remained committed to maintaining gallery provision in Belfast, and said: 'I would like to reassure everyone that we are confident that the gallery space will reopen under new management in the near future.'
Don Anderson
The gallery is the only public gallery dedicated to contemporary art in Northern Ireland and the arts council had been the main source of funding since it opened in 1995.
For some time, the gallery management had been at loggerheads with the arts council, which provided an annual grant of £272,000. Relations between the council and the gallery's board deteriorated after administrative errors involving lottery funding were discovered in 2004. An independent audit cleared the gallery of fraud accusations.
Hugh Mulholland, the gallery director, said the gallery put new measures in place following the investigation in 2004, but alleged that the arts council had been unsupportive of his role as director. The board stepped down in December, but asked that its successor be responsible for a staff review and corporate plan.
A spokesman for the arts council said that the decision to close the doors so suddenly had been taken by the gallery itself, notwithstanding the offer of a period of time to allow a 'soft landing'.
The open acrimony has ruffled the arts fraternity in Northern Ireland. The outgoing management of the gallery has accused the arts council of alienating the arts sector. But an arts council spokesman said there was no evidence of such alienation. 'We have been concerned only with operational issues and not artistic issues.'
However, the outlook for the gallery is not all bleak. The arts council is looking at ways to reopen the gallery under new management. Roisín McDonough, the chief executive of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, said: 'We are working to ensure that the interests of the visual arts sector in Northern Ireland will continue to be served.'
She added that the arts council remained committed to maintaining gallery provision in Belfast, and said: 'I would like to reassure everyone that we are confident that the gallery space will reopen under new management in the near future.'
Don Anderson