Publications

Capital projects in jeopardy

By: a-n

Does the £100 million ’black hole’ in the DCMS budget affecting agreed development, including of Tate, British Museum and other major cultural buildings, herald a seed-change in arts infrastructure for the future?

With this government department blamed for "hopeless management", the news will impact on all planned ventures at time when funding from other sources is far and few between. Projects at risk include the £215m extension to Tate Modern, to which government had promised £50m. Meanwhile, plans for a £15.5m new home for The Photographers Gallery in London were abandoned last month. The gallery was unable to raise the remainder of the budget to match a £3.5m lottery award in 2005. Instead, they will remodel the existing space at Ramillies Street. This gallery is not the only one to encounter fundraising difficulties. In Newcastle, total costs for the Waygood Gallery and Studios development have risen to £10.5m from an original estimate of £4.7m, and the opening date put back to 2010 or 2011. The council may now have to sell off parts of the building in a bid to recover some of its costs. It could be that a café, restaurant or performance venue could be incorporated into the complex. With funding from charitable trusts dropping, building-based visual arts organisations revenue funded by Arts Council England may be looking to the Sustain fund to fill the gaps in their earned...

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