ArtSway, a key component of southern England’s visual arts community, has announced it will close on 31 July 2012. The purpose built gallery space has failed to find sustainable alternative sources of income following the loss of funding from Arts Council England.
Since opening in 1997 the gallery has achieved international acclaim for its ever changing programme of exhibitions, artist residencies, educational workshops and off-site projects in partnership with local organisations. It also hosted a pavilion at the Venice Biennale between 2005 and 2011.
ArtSway is currently supporting Towner, Eastbourne, in its Art Fund International Project. A member of Forest Arts Forum, the consortium of cultural delivery organisations in the New Forest, Artsway is also a member of Turning Point South East, the regional visual arts consortium developing visual arts in South East England.
Thankfully, the artists studios currently hosted by Artsway will continue for the foreseeable future, although it is unclear whether their residency programme will be maintained.
Peter Jones, Chair of the Trustees, said: “The Trustees would like to thank all who have helped and supported ArtSway through its years of successful operation. Our thanks also go to the hardworking and dedicated staff who have kept the ArtSway programme of activity alive and relevant through some very difficult times.”
The ArtSway ‘brand’ will be retained by the Trustees while future possibilities continue to be explored. The historical legacy of the gallery will also be preserved, with an online archive due in the future.
AIR Council member Annabel Tilley responded to the news, stating: “The closure of ArtSway will be a great loss not just to the local community which benefitted greatly from their eclectic programme of exhibitions, talks, workshops and other events but also to the wider arts community. They were highly ambitious and set incredibly high standards.”
ArtSway joins a growing number of practice-led arts organisations whose unsuccessful NPO applications have had a critical impact on operations. As Dany Louise points out in her report Realising the value, the professional and social value these organisations offer to artists and their local communities is being dramatically scaled back. There is a lessening of opportunity for early career and emerging artists, with consequent negative effects on career development and the ability to earn a living.
AIR Council’s Rosalind Davis commented: “In the last round of ACE cuts, one hoped that ambitious high impact artist-focused organisations such as ArtSway, which have limited revenue, would be supported. This really hasn’t been the case and the impact on artists is devastating.”
Joseph Young, Vice Chair of AIR, added: “The 2011 Arts Council NPO reorganisation means we are likely to see further closures of small galleries who directly commission artists’ work. It is unclear yet whether larger organisations, who on the whole did better out of the funding restructure, will be prepared to take up the slack and develop artists’ practice with tangible and concrete outcomes.”
The long term effects on the visual arts ecology are incredibly worrying, with artists, once again, bearing the brunt of the costs. ACE have been vocal about supporting disinvested organisations but, as the closure of ArtSway illustrates, they are simply not doing enough.
Read Artsway’s full press release here
Read Dany Louise’s report here
Join the conversation on Twitter using the tag #artscuts
