ARTS NEWSThe Art Fund is to fill some of thefunding shortfall in regionalmuseums to allow them tocontinue to add to their collectionswith a major stepping up of itscontribution. Director StephenDeuchar announced that thecommitment was to increase from £4.5m a year to £7m by2014, rising by more than 10% ayear. "We need to deliver moremoney to more museums acrossthe country," Deuchar said, andalso announced that WolfsonFoundation had committed £1.5m to support the initiative."We must ensure that museumsremain able to collect, display and interpret great works of art,for a wide public, whatever thefinancial pressures of themoment," he said.Deuchar also announced a newscheme to train curators. Workingwith the National Gallery, the fundwill offer two-year traineeships,initially with two regionalmuseums, beginning inSeptember. Tate Director SirNicholas Serota welcomed theinitiative, emphasising theimportance of "maintaining andgrowing expertise and thecollections". There is also to be aNational Art Pass to replace thecurrent Art Fund membershipcard, giving free entry to 208museums and historic houses andemphasising that membership -£35 a year paid by direct debit -supports the expansion ofcollections. With the new cardgoes a new Art Fund slogan,"Never Without Art". Art Fund's £7m purchase pledgeNo 1 Royal Crescent is to be reunited with its servants quarters to createan extension to the historic house museum it has become, thanks to a£1.4m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Built between 1767 and1774 to the designs of John Wood the Younger, the Royal Crescent isconsidered one of the finest achievements of 18th-century urbanarchitecture. The grant will enable the Bath Preservation Trust to reconnectthe buildings to increase museum and exhibition space, allowing for neweducation and archive facilities, and also allow the narrative of theGeorgian townhouse to be told from both upstairs and downstairsperspectives. Caroline Kay, Chief Executive of the Trust, said: "Thisfantastic endorsement by the Heritage Lottery Fund makes possible atransformational project for the Trust and Bath, and allows us to workwith confidence to take our plans forward over the next two years." Therewill be many opportunities for volunteers during the course of the projectand beyond. Please email admin@bptrust.org.uk for more details. Turner Contemporary opensMargate's £17.5m art gallery,Turner Contemporary, has openedin a beachside building designedby the award-winning architect, SirDavid Chipperfield. The gallery,built on the site of the guesthousewhere JMW Turner used to stayon visits throughout his life, isdevoted to mirroring Turner'sreputation through the work ofcontemporary artists. With fundingfrom Kent County Council, theregional development agency,SEEDA, and the Arts Council, it ishoped that the new gallery willrevive the fortune of the fadingseaside town. It succeeds aprevious scheme to build anoffshore gallery, abandoned whenprojected costs soared to overBath's No1 Royal Crescent preservedBelow: No.1 and No.1a Bath Royal Crescent12NADFAS REVIEW / SUMMER 2011www.nadfas.org.ukMaria Balshaw takes over Manchester GalleryDr Maria Balshaw, Director of the Manchester University-fundedWhitworth Art Gallery, is to also become Director of Manchester CityGallery in a new model sharing of responsibility. Dr Balshaw took up dual control in April this year following theretirement of Moira Stevenson as Head of Galleries at the MCG. Virginia Tandy, who stepped up to the new post of Director of Culture for Manchester after overseeing the refurbishment of the city gallery as Director, has resigned. Dr Balshaw has recently won a major Heritage Lottery Fund Award for a £12m extension of the Whitworth Gallery into the city-runadjacent park. © Bath preservation trust / John Holmes

www.nadfas.org.ukNADFAS REVIEW / SUMMER 2011 13ARTS NEWSDuffield's £8mfor museumsDame Vivien Duffield has given£8.2m from the Clore DuffieldFoundation to create new creativelearning spaces for children in 11organisations across England.These are: Donmar WarehouseLondon, £500k;Holburne Museum,Bath, £125k; Kensington Palace,London, £500k; Kettle's Yard,Cambridge, £250k; Museum ofLiverpool, £200k; National Theatre,£2.5m; Porthcurno TelegraphMuseum, Cornwall, £125kRoyal Shakespeare Company,Stratford-upon-Avon, £1m; TateBritain, £2.5m; Turner Contemporary,Margate, £250k; Whitworth Gallery,Manchester, £250k.It brings the total given by Clorefor learning spaces since 2000,when the foundation was formed,to £23.6m."I believe that children andyoung people deserve the bestopportunities to benefit from thetransforming power of our worldclass organisations," Dame Viviensaid at the announcement at theNational Theatre. "I am delightedthat we have been able to supportsuch outstanding projects createdby some of the best architects."Wales'sinspiration Cardiff's £6.5m National Museumof Art is to open on 9 July, givingthe first comprehensive survey ofWales's national collection of visualcreativity mixing fine and appliedart, the historic and thecontemporary. Six contemporaryart galleries, where before therewas only one, will be the biggestspace of its kind in Wales, butthere will also be Old Masterpaintings from as early as the 16thcentury, while Pablo Picasso'sstriking Still Life with Poron(1948)was the first oil painting by theartist to enter a Welsh publiccollection, in 2009. DavidAnderson, Director of the NationalMuseum, said the country'scollection of works by Welsh artistsand international names isoutstanding. "For the first time thenation has galleries of aninternational standard that tell theunique story of Welsh art and howthe country had evolved," he said."Our mission is to inspire thecreativity of future generations.These galleries are a vital part ofthat strategy."The Museum of London has announced 11 voluntary redundancies,including three senior curators, to meet a 10% cut, or £1m, from itsbudget for this year. The Curators of pre-history, Roman London andphotography are to go, but a new post of Senior Curator of pre-historyand Roman London is being created. Two Collections Car Experts andsix Gallery Hosts are also to go. The redundancies were seen to benecessary because of cuts from the museum's funders, the Corporationof London and the Greater London Authority.Museum of London cuts 11 jobsChancellor George Osborne has homed in on philanthropy as theprincipal area for arts encouragement, with tax rule changes in his springBudget. These consist of:A simplification of Gift Aid so that returns can be made online for eachdonation, and a ceiling of benefit limits rising from £500 to £2,500. With anew scheme whereby Gift Aid can be claimed on small donations,Osborne said 100,000 charities could benefit by £240m.A cut in inheritance tax from 40% to 36%.Consultations to start later this year on making gifts of art during thedonor's lifetime eligible for acceptance in lieu of tax. Osborne said the measures were in support of Culture Secretary JeremyHunt's 10-point philanthropy plan announced in December.Gift Aid improved£50m. Turner had been inspired bythe northern light at Margate, still afascination for artists - some ofwhom have been commissionedfor the first Turner Contemporary."We think we understand hiswork but I'm not sure that we do;artists imagine all the time andsometimes what is fact and what isfiction becomes very blurred," saidVictoria Pomery, the gallery'sDirector. "So we're asking artists toplay around with their imaginations,pick up a bit of Turner perhaps,but not necessarily. "It's a celebration of being aware of the wonder of the naturalworld, but also standing inamazement staring at this naturalphenomenon. Building a gallery inMargate, you're aware of this sort of wonder and awe here; it's the potential of the place togive people a sense of it too that is so exciting."Left: The Turner ContemporaryArt Gallery in Margate wasdesigned by award-winningarchitect David Chipperfield