The Tate has recently announced a series of gifts to its collection from British artists. As the director of the Contemporary Art Society (CAS), I watch this move with interest.
The CAS was founded in 1909 in order to help the Tate purchase works by young artists. Then the CAS raised funds from its members; today, the CAS raises and earns funds from a variety of sources to acquire works for 100 collections throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The most important result of the Tate announcement was the amount of press coverage that it created. There are not truckloads of art arriving at its delivery bay, as only some of the artists have agreed to give works in the near future. Their promises served more to highlight the Tate's need for purchase funds and to call on the Treasury to implement the Goodison Review on tax reform.
The Tate's campaign also affects regional museums. Any gifts to the national collection are to the benefit of us all. The Tate promises to display its collection regularly in Liverpool and St Ives, and a partnership with some regional museums allows them a fast-track to borrow groups of works from the national collection.
The future of collections, especially of contemporary art, has become a hot topic and I am grateful that the Museums Association, the National Art Collections Fund and others are focusing on the subject. It may seem churlish to add 'about time too', but on behalf of all those impoverished collections outside London I'll take the risk.
How does the Tate's new appeal affect the CAS's future strategy? Are the CAS and the Tate swapping tactics? The Tate is depending on the kindness of artists and its patrons for gifts and relies less on government funding than any other national museum or gallery in the UK (according to a recent National Audit Office report).
During 2005, the CAS will be offering more than 200 works to its member museums but we can only hope for the kind of press coverage that the Tate has recently gained. The CAS, a private charity, has received about £4m from the lottery to create two Collection Schemes in Scotland and England for the benefit of 25 collections of fine art and craft.
Curators are given funds for purchases as well as travel and research, guided by staff at the CAS. The lottery grant received through the Arts Council England runs out this month (December) and will not be renewed.
Museums receive grant-aid for purchases but only some can raise a percentage of the purchase price. Even more rare are curators who are allowed to develop links with artists, and dealers that enable them to make good decisions at the right time, when work is affordable.
The CAS has recently focused on making good this failure through training and by helping curators to develop international links. The CAS gets private and public funding but not enough to provide works for all the collections that seek them nor to act as a training agency for curators for the future.
In 2005, when the lottery funds run out and we have emptied our stores of art and money, I want to know what the museum profession wants the CAS to do and how museums and galleries plan to help themselves and their contemporary collections.
I wish the Tate well with its advocacy, which it undertakes better than any other organisation. But its success threatens to cast a long shadow over other museums as neither they nor the CAS can compete with the prestige of the Tate and the attraction this holds for private collectors.
The national collection of contemporary art does not receive sufficient government funds and so it has had to turn to individual artists for help. Nearly 100 years ago, in the same position or worse, the Tate turned to a group of private collectors who created the CAS. The CAS still strives to help artists directly and also to support 100 collections from Orkney to Plymouth. What next?
Gill Hedley is the director of the Contemporary Arts Society
The CAS was founded in 1909 in order to help the Tate purchase works by young artists. Then the CAS raised funds from its members; today, the CAS raises and earns funds from a variety of sources to acquire works for 100 collections throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The most important result of the Tate announcement was the amount of press coverage that it created. There are not truckloads of art arriving at its delivery bay, as only some of the artists have agreed to give works in the near future. Their promises served more to highlight the Tate's need for purchase funds and to call on the Treasury to implement the Goodison Review on tax reform.
The Tate's campaign also affects regional museums. Any gifts to the national collection are to the benefit of us all. The Tate promises to display its collection regularly in Liverpool and St Ives, and a partnership with some regional museums allows them a fast-track to borrow groups of works from the national collection.
The future of collections, especially of contemporary art, has become a hot topic and I am grateful that the Museums Association, the National Art Collections Fund and others are focusing on the subject. It may seem churlish to add 'about time too', but on behalf of all those impoverished collections outside London I'll take the risk.
How does the Tate's new appeal affect the CAS's future strategy? Are the CAS and the Tate swapping tactics? The Tate is depending on the kindness of artists and its patrons for gifts and relies less on government funding than any other national museum or gallery in the UK (according to a recent National Audit Office report).
During 2005, the CAS will be offering more than 200 works to its member museums but we can only hope for the kind of press coverage that the Tate has recently gained. The CAS, a private charity, has received about £4m from the lottery to create two Collection Schemes in Scotland and England for the benefit of 25 collections of fine art and craft.
Curators are given funds for purchases as well as travel and research, guided by staff at the CAS. The lottery grant received through the Arts Council England runs out this month (December) and will not be renewed.
Museums receive grant-aid for purchases but only some can raise a percentage of the purchase price. Even more rare are curators who are allowed to develop links with artists, and dealers that enable them to make good decisions at the right time, when work is affordable.
The CAS has recently focused on making good this failure through training and by helping curators to develop international links. The CAS gets private and public funding but not enough to provide works for all the collections that seek them nor to act as a training agency for curators for the future.
In 2005, when the lottery funds run out and we have emptied our stores of art and money, I want to know what the museum profession wants the CAS to do and how museums and galleries plan to help themselves and their contemporary collections.
I wish the Tate well with its advocacy, which it undertakes better than any other organisation. But its success threatens to cast a long shadow over other museums as neither they nor the CAS can compete with the prestige of the Tate and the attraction this holds for private collectors.
The national collection of contemporary art does not receive sufficient government funds and so it has had to turn to individual artists for help. Nearly 100 years ago, in the same position or worse, the Tate turned to a group of private collectors who created the CAS. The CAS still strives to help artists directly and also to support 100 collections from Orkney to Plymouth. What next?
Gill Hedley is the director of the Contemporary Arts Society
