No sooner had the Watts Gallery atCompton near Guildford reopenedfollowing its £11m restoration thana new appeal, led by the sculptorAntony Gormley, was launched tosave his house and studio nearby.Gormley has given the fund the£160,000 proceeds from one ofhis sculptures sold at Christie's.Limnerslease, the house andstudio Watts and his wife Marybuilt in the Arts and Crafts styleand which has been in privateownership since 1938, is now forsale and the Watts Gallery Trustneeds £9m to buy and restore it. "GF Watts was a visionary whobelieved in art's potential to transformlives and the power of the artist asa singular independent voice thatcan speak for all," Gormley said. Watts Gallery Director PerditaHunt said the acquisition of thehouse and studio would enable herto complete the mission of turningCompton into an internationalcentre for the study of Victorianart, social history and craft, offeringinspiration to more contemporaryartists. Lady Angela Nevill,Chairman of the LimnersleaseProject Appeal Committee, added:"It is heartening and inspiring thata leading artist of today supportsthe preservation and rescue of thehome and studio of a leading artistof the past. The LimnersleaseProject will save a unique part ofour heritage, complete an artists'village in Compton, and bringinnovation and ideas to artists andart enthusiasts of tomorrow."?? Left: Antony Gormley with GFWatts's sculpture, PhysicalEnergy, in Kensington Gardens12NADFAS REVIEW / AUTUMN 2011www.nadfas.org.ukARTS NEWSArts NewsArts and heritage updates from around the country. Compiled by Simon TaitWatts Gallery innew £9m appealBritain's finest todesign 2012 posters Some of Britain's leading artists areto design posters for next year'sOlympic and Paralympic Games.Fiona Banner, Michael Craig-Martin,Martin Creed, Tracey Emin, AntheaHamilton, Howard Hodgkin, GaryHume, Sarah Morris, Chris Ofilli,Bridget Riley, Bob and RobertaSmith and Rachel Whiteread haveall been commissioned as part ofthe Cultural Olympiad.Since 1912, each Olympic city has commissioned at least one artist to design posters, and in the past they have includedDavid Hockney, Andy Warhol and RB Kitaij. V&A's new DirectorannouncedProfessor Martin Roth (pictured),Director of Dresden's statecollections, succeeds Sir MarkJones as Director of the Victoriaand Albert Museum in September.Sir Mark, whose majorachievement at the V&A has beenthe creation of the Medieval andRenaissance galleries, is leaving tobecome Master of St CrossCollege, Oxford. Roth's main taskwill be overseeing the museum'snew Exhibition Road extension.

Sir Terence Conran, who foundedthe Design Museum 30 years ago,is to give £17.5m for its move tothe former Commonwealth Institutebuilding in Kensington. He haspromised a cash gift of £7.5m andthe value of the lease of thepresent museum building at ShadThames, thought to be worth £10m.Deyan Sudjic, Director of theDesign Museum, said: "The gift tothe Design Museum is a hugelygenerous investment in the future.By making our ambition to move tothe former Commonwealth Institutemuch more achievable, he makespossible a project that will give themuseum three times as muchspace as it has now. The newARTS NEWSConran gives £17.5m to help Design Museum moveGovernmentlaunches cultureendowment fundCulture Secretary Jeremy Hunthas announced a new £55mEndowment Fund, to be chairedby former cabinet ministerMichael Portillo, to help arts andheritage organisations secure theirown future. Arts organisationswillbe able to bid for between£500,000 and £5m from the fundto match money already raised."Many cultural organisations are fragile," Hunt said. "They'reled by talented, passionatepeople who rightly think that greatart matters more than greatmoney. Yet without financialsecurity, fragility becomesvulnerability, and great art cansometimes wither on the vine."The £55m - £30m from thegovernment to be augmented by£25m from private giving expectedin the next four years - is part ofthe philanthropy fund announcedby Hunt last December that hasnow grown to £100m. Design Museum will be thedefinitive voice of contemporarydesign, reinforcing Britain's placeas one of the world's leadingcreative economies."Conran has given it £50m sincethe museum began as TheBoilerhouse in the V&A in 1981. Itopened in Shad Thames eightyears later. The Grade II* listed1960s Commonwealth Institutebuilding has been empty since2001. Planning permission for itsconversion was given last year andits refurbishment will be completedby 2014 at a total cost of £77m.Left: Deyan Sudjic, Sir TerenceConran and David Cameron Top:The former CommonwealthInstitute building in Kensingtonwww.nadfas.org.ukNADFAS REVIEW / AUTUMN 2011 13Folkestone has 19 more new worksof art on public display throughoutthe seaside town with its secondTriennial. With the theme title AMillion Miles from Home, curatorAndrea Schlieker has travelled theworld to find artists who couldrelate to Folkestone's geographicalposition on the edge of Britain, "agateway to the wider world but atthe same time isolated". Manyhave worked with local people.Cornelia Parker's bronze Mermaid,which will be a permanentadornment on the sands as anecho of Copenhagen's famouslandmark, was modelled onGeorgina Baker (pictured), a 38-year-old mother of two who haslived and worked all her life inFolkestone. The triennial closes on30 September.New focus for19 extra works for Folkestone's Triennial art showcaseEnglish Heritage A radical new programme of toppriorities to meet a cut in its grantof more than £50m over the nextfour years has been announced byEnglish Heritage, with a newNational Heritage Protection Plan,setting out how England'svulnerable historic environment willbe safeguarded up until 2015.While 400 EH staff are to losetheir jobs and grants and servicesare to be cut because of thegovernment's 35 per cent reductionin its subsidy, Chief ExecutiveSimon Thurley said particular areasof concern had been identified andwould be focused on. He also launched a new NationalHeritage List, an online databaseof the UK's 400,000 listed buildings.Images: © Luke Hayes