Protesters call for Newport art exhibitions to stay (From South Wales Argus)
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Protesters call for Newport art exhibitions to stay
11:40am Friday 22nd February 2013 in Gwent news
By Will Bain
PROTEST: The demonstration against Newport City Council’s decision to axe temporary exhibitions at the city’s museum and art gallery
CAMPAIGNERS fighting to save temporary art exhibitions at the museum and art gallery held a colourful protest in Newport yesterday.
Around 60 protesters armed with colourful banners and joined by two giant puppets, normally seen parading at the Maindee festival, gathered in John Frost Square to persuade the Newport City Council to reverse its decision to axe temporary exhibitions.
The crowd chanted “arts for all” and “save our arts”
with one banner proclaiming “No gallery. No Museum. No Library. No Ship. No Idea.”
But the council has stressed those services will not be cut, saying that at most services will be moved to the Newport Centre and Riverfront.
Professional artist Neil McNally, one of the organisers of the protest, said: “I think it’s been a good turnout for a weekday.
“Arts are obviously important to a city, at the very least they are bringing people into Newport, which considering there are barely in shops left not, much else is doing.”
Art blogger Emma Geliot agreed: “Exhibitions are one of the few things bringing people into the city centre.
“Elsewhere in the UK the arts are being used as part of their regeneration plans but here they are being neglected.
“The gallery has been a meeting point for people and it brings money in. If you think the museum and gallery last year attracted around 28,000 visitors, they wouldn’t have to spend a lot to cover the cost of this cut in investment into the city.
“It just makes me want to weep at the moment.”
Simon Fenoulhet, senior lecturer in fine art at the University of Wales, Newport, said: “We often tell our stories through pictures.
The collection the museum has built up is a really interesting survey of how the Gwent valleys has changed.
“We understand there are difficult choices to be made and I wouldn’t want to be a councillor at this time, but we don’t think this is a very civilised decision.”
Comments(3)
godobe
says...
3:44pm Fri 22 Feb 13
Sad that they are wasting their time as it says in the article "the council has stressed those services will not be cut, saying that at most services will be moved to the Newport Centre and Riverfront". Never mind.
rhm100
says...
11:09pm Fri 22 Feb 13
Proposals by the council to replace these temporary contemporary shows with works from their collection, however good they are, turns public perception of the arts into being things of the past. This flies in the face of a wealth of evidence that shows the arts and culture as one of the few growth sectors, economically and socially, in contemporary society.
If the council are so proud of their plans for the reorganisation of their arts provision as their statement would suggest, why have they not proudly publicised them, or even allowed basic information be made available to the public during an alleged period of consultation?
Protesting against the plans is not simply a campaign against the cuts, and cuts they are, but also against the underhand way discussion of the plans have been kept from public scrutiny. If they are doing this with the arts, what else are these publicly elected servants not letting their electorate know about.
Please don't take the Council's comments at face value - the cuts remove vital expertise and have knock on effects: Not least that plans for moving Museum and Gallery to the Newport Centre will be at the expense of live music, one of the few positive stories to come out of Newport in recent history.
smokintheweed says...
12:14pm Fri 22 Feb 13