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found 24 stories.
Comment
BrownhillsBob 8 Dec 10
Next time Walsall Council leader Mike ‘Blofeld’ Bird or his two-hundred thousand pounds per year Chief Executive Paul Sheehan appear in the media preaching about hard times, corporate governance and their worth to the citizens of Walsall, reflect on this.
The story linked below is an abridged version of a story in the Walsall Express & Star, of Wednesday, 8th December 2010. Whilst charmless Councillor Bird grimly warns us of the need to close our libraries, leisure centres and limit access to social care, the authority he leads has failed to wrap up a simple commercial contract worth a lot of money, whilst misplacing valuable works of art from a nationally important collection…
News
Express & Star 8 Dec 10
A coffee chain that opened a branch in The New Art Gallery Walsall got away without paying rent and utilities for years as council bosses never finalised the contract.
Costa Coffee opened in the gallery in August 2007 but the deal was left unsigned. As result, the chain made no rental or utilities payments to Walsall Council for more than two years…
News
Express & Star 26 Oct 10
New Art Gallery Walsall gets £65k cut
Millions of pounds in funding were slashed from arts projects across the West Midlands today.
The government-funded Arts Council announced 6.9 per cent spending cuts to the majority of arts organisation in 2011/12.
The cuts come after the Arts Council had almost 30 per cent of its budget slashed in the Government’s spending review – forcing it to save £457 million over four years…
Comment
The Plastic Hippo 14 May 10
Those good people at Advantage West Midlands have commissioned a poll to find the most popular tourist attractions in the region. As with all polls, there is a built-in margin of error and this error can be the only explanation as to why the West Midland Safari Park in Bewdley was voted the top attraction instead of the Norfolk Place Engineer’s Canteen in Walsall.
Birmingham might have its Thinktank, Sealife Centre and Kraft World – sorry – Cadbury World, Kidderminster and Bridgenorth might have the Severn Valley Railway, Staffordshire can boast Alton Towers and Drayton Manor, Dudley has a zoo and a living museum and Ironbridge has, well, an iron bridge but these are mere sideshows when compared to the magnificent spectacle of the Walsall Illuminations…
Business
Museums Association 29 Apr 10
A survey conducted by the Art Fund of 276 UK museums has found that half of those surveyed were unable to allocate any money at all to collecting, while 30 per cent are struggling to make acquisitions due to a shortage of specialist staff.
Stephen Snoddy, the director of The New Art Gallery Walsall, was one of the voices calling for changes to the tax system: “[The pressure on acquisition budgets] has always been difficult and it’s going to get worse. The government could help by giving tax breaks to people who want to make gifts in their lifetime. They do it in the US and I don’t see why they can’t do it here.”
Comment
Charlotte Higgins Guardian 28 Apr 10
Culture is peripheral to politics in Britain. MPs, who readily parade their favourite football team or pop group, will only support the arts in private.
A crisp, purposeful day in Walsall town centre, and the market is doing brisk business. There’s a queue for the Black Country pies; a fug of frying hangs over the Mr Sizzle van and its £1 meals.
It’s not my patch of the Midlands: I come from the Potteries in north Staffordshire, the county whose southernmost tip Walsall inhabited before it was scooped into the West Midlands. But I recognise this town with an almost painful snag of familiarity: the respectability, the proud municipality, the friendliness; all tinged with a sense of struggle…
News
Express & Star 23 Apr 10
More than 30,000 people will parade through the streets of Sandwell and Birmingham as part of this year’s annual Vaisakhi celebrations on Sunday. Two huge processions will make their way to Handsworth Park for an afternoon of community celebrations, one starting at the Guru Nanak Gurdwara in Smethwick High Street and the other at Ramgarhia Sikh Temple in Graham Street.
In all, 100,000 people from across the Black Country and Birmingham are set to attend the celebrations in the park, making it one of the largest festivals of its kind in the world.
Meanwhile visitors from all cultural backgrounds are invited to a free Vaisakhi event at the New Art Gallery Walsall on Sunday between 11am and 4pm to celebrate the creation of the Sikh religion and India’s harvest time…
News
TheYamYam 15 Apr 10
6pm to 9pm, free event
Peter Jenkinson, the New Art Gallery Walsall’s first Director, makes a welcome return tonight (Thursday) to talk with Jo Digger, Head of Collections, about how the gallery came into existence and all the people who made it possible.
Peter Jenkinson, the then Head of Museums and Galleries, was appointed as project director to lead the new development and was instrumental in the leadership and development of The New Art Gallery Walsall. The talk will also present the perfect opportunity for visitors to hear about how the design, planning and scheduling of the Gallery were developed and how the construction of The New Art Gallery Walsall formed part of a wider regeneration strategy for the borough of Walsall.
Jo Digger, Head of Collections, says “Thousands of people helped to build The New Art Gallery Walsall but Peter was absolutely central to the creation of the gallery. Without him it would never have happened. It is wonderful to welcome him back to Walsall to help celebrate the fantastic achievements of the last 10 years”.
After ten years of planning and three years of construction, The New Art Gallery opened its doors to the public on 16 February 2000. It is one of the most successful projects that emerged from National Lottery funding, built on time and within budget. The building was designed by Caruso St John, following an international architectural competition, and has since received widespread acclaim. Peter and his team worked closely with the architects to develop the design and refine ideas whilst retaining elements of the architects’ original proposal.
As The New Art Gallery Walsall celebrates its 10th birthday, attendances are at an all-time high, with total attendances approaching 1.6 million. Attendances over the last year have amounted to 197,000. This year, for the week ending on Sunday 1st November, the gallery recorded an attendance of 9,289, the highest since the opening weeks.
Throughout the years, visitors have enjoyed a wide range of contemporary, modern and historic art exhibitions and associated workshops and events. The Garman Ryan Collection provides the core of the Gallery’s resources. Collected by Sir Jacob Epstein’s widow, Kathleen Garman and her friend, sculptor Sally Ryan, the collection boasts an eclectic range of works which span across time and across continents. Epstein and his family are well-represented. Works by van Gogh, Picasso, Braque, Matisse, Degas and Géricault sit alongside works by lesser known artists from Europe and beyond.
The temporary exhibition programme focuses on contemporary art and seeks to support the work of living artists and to build and extend audiences for contemporary art. Solo shows by artists such as Hew Locke, Conrad Shawcross, Gavin Turk, Joana Vasconcelos and Christopher Le Brun have been complemented by thematic group shows such as Fairy Tale, In Memoria, Re-Imagining Asia, Pot Luck, Outsiders and the gallery’s inaugural exhibition, Blue. These exhibitions have taken place in the beautiful and spacious third and fourth floor galleries.
Walsall’s permanent art collection continues to grow with new contemporary artworks by artists of international status purchased through Art Fund International. Further important historic works have also been acquired through private donations and the Art Fund.
The event is part of the celebrations for the 2010 Contemporary Art Society Centenary Year.
News
The YamYam 1 Apr 10
Walsall’s New Art Gallery is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year as attendances reach an all-time high. Peter Jenkinson, the gallery’s first Director, returns on April 12 and April 15 to share his memories on how years of design and planning culminated into the iconic building standing in the town centre today.
Peter will talk with Jo Digger, Head of Collections, about how the gallery came into existence and all the people who made it possible. Peter, the then Head of Museums and Galleries, was appointed as project director to lead the new development and was instrumental in the leadership and development of The New Art Gallery Walsall.
The talk will also present the perfect opportunity for visitors to hear about how the design, planning and scheduling of the Gallery were developed and how the construction of the gallery formed part of a wider regeneration strategy for the borough of Walsall.
Funded by National Lottery and Walsall Council and designed by architects Caruso St John, the building was finished on time and within budget and has received widespread acclaim. As the gallery celebrates its 10th birthday, attendances are at an all-time high, with total attendances approaching 1.6 million.
The talk is free, no need to book, just turn up on the night. Refreshments will be available.
The event is part of the celebrations for the 2010 Contemporary Art Society Centenary Year.
Features
Graham Young B'ham Post 29 Mar 10
Walsall probably wasn’t the most obvious place to build a £21 million art gallery in celebration of the New Millennium. But, since it’s at the heart of such a heavily populated region, why not?
Her Majesty The Queen clearly recognised as much herself by agreeing to open the 37m tall building on May 5, 2000. Almost ten years later, I can see two swans slipping and sliding their way across the neighbouring frozen canal… almost if they’d been invited by royal appointment…