Arts Council England (ACE) may sell some of the works in its modern and contemporary British art collection to allow it to acquire other pieces.
Liz Forgan, ACE’s chairwoman, recently told the parliamentary culture, media and sport committee: “I don’t think we should have a rule like a museum that we will never, ever, sell anything.”
ACE, the British Council and the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS), which oversees the Government Art Collection, have all subsequently agreed to review their collections, exploring “the potential for efficiencies, cost-savings and enhanced public benefit”, said an ACE spokeswoman.
The ACE collection includes more than 7,500 works and the British Council owns more than 8,500 British pieces dating from the 20th and 21st centuries.
A DCMS spokesman said there were no plans to sell works from the Government Art Collection, which holds more than 10,000 items.
Forgan acknowledged that museums were worried about deaccessioning but said: “If you want to keep a collection that is there for the purposes our collection is there for, the collection has to renew itself.”
Wendy Law, a visual-arts consultant, said it was interesting how far the stance on selling work from public collections had shifted: “It wasn’t long ago when arms were raised in horror at the suggestion. Arguably a more pragmatic approach, such as that put forward by ACE, is needed if investment in contemporary collections is to continue.”
At the committee hearing Forgan also talked about ACE’s involvement with the Public arts centre in West Bromwich. ACE provided £29.8m in funding for the project and a one-off £3m payment in 2009.
“We have undertaken work on the lessons to be derived from the Public, which will be published in the summer. "
She said that lessons had to be learnt from capital projects and that the Public “was not a spectacular success”.
Liz Forgan, ACE’s chairwoman, recently told the parliamentary culture, media and sport committee: “I don’t think we should have a rule like a museum that we will never, ever, sell anything.”
ACE, the British Council and the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS), which oversees the Government Art Collection, have all subsequently agreed to review their collections, exploring “the potential for efficiencies, cost-savings and enhanced public benefit”, said an ACE spokeswoman.
The ACE collection includes more than 7,500 works and the British Council owns more than 8,500 British pieces dating from the 20th and 21st centuries.
A DCMS spokesman said there were no plans to sell works from the Government Art Collection, which holds more than 10,000 items.
Forgan acknowledged that museums were worried about deaccessioning but said: “If you want to keep a collection that is there for the purposes our collection is there for, the collection has to renew itself.”
Wendy Law, a visual-arts consultant, said it was interesting how far the stance on selling work from public collections had shifted: “It wasn’t long ago when arms were raised in horror at the suggestion. Arguably a more pragmatic approach, such as that put forward by ACE, is needed if investment in contemporary collections is to continue.”
At the committee hearing Forgan also talked about ACE’s involvement with the Public arts centre in West Bromwich. ACE provided £29.8m in funding for the project and a one-off £3m payment in 2009.
“We have undertaken work on the lessons to be derived from the Public, which will be published in the summer. "
She said that lessons had to be learnt from capital projects and that the Public “was not a spectacular success”.