Latest News - Oct-Dec 2007
6 December 2007
Watts Gallery Wins South East Region Pride of Place Vote
Watts Gallery has been voted the place people feel most proud of in the South East in an online poll. We received 43% of the vote within the Guildford region and the highest number of votes within the South East.
Perdita Hunt, Director of Watts Gallery said:
"This vote is a heartfelt confirmation of the high esteem Watts Gallery is held in by the people of Surrey and the South East. At this crucial time for the Gallery with just over £500,000 left to raise by Spring 2008 to release the £4.3 million Heritage Lottery Fund to save the Gallery it means that the public are truly behind us. We urge anyone who hasn't yet visited to come and see what we are all about and those who have, who have voted for us in this pole, to consider joining our Friends group and continue to show their support."
The Pride of Place poll is part of the Government’s ‘Connect to your Council’ campaign, which aims to encourage citizens to access their local authority services online.
Read the story on the BBC News website
26 November 2007
Watts Gallery in the Observer
Yesterday's Observer newspaper had a feature on Watts Gallery by Lynn Barber...
"A friend took me to the Watts Gallery in Surrey to see an exhibition of photographs of Victorian artists, which was fascinating. But what was amazing was the gallery. Why isn't it better known? Loads of people - including me - rave about the Gustave Moreau museum in Paris or Leighton House in Kensington, but the Watts is every inch as weird and wonderful as these."
Click here to read the full article in the Observer by Lynn Barber.
November 2007
Hope Appeal Latest
The Watts Gallery Hope Project is making good progress. We have submitted our Stage D scheme to Guildford Borough Council for planning permission. Following a third public consultation in October, we hopefully have addressed most concerns. Plans are progressing for touring the collection to London and then, hopefully, to the United States. Invitations to tender have been sent out to painting conservators, and we will be seeking quotes from conservators of drawings and sculpture. We are also assessing different locations for storage. In fundraising we are now £1.8m away from our target. If with the sale of two pictures (see below) we raise £1m, this leaves us with an £800,000 shortfall. We have to prove that we can raise this amount when we apply to the Heritage Lottery Fund for Stage 2 funding in February. We are immensely grateful for the support we are receiving from Trusts and Foundations and from individuals supporting us as Patrons, or Adopters or as Friends.
22 October 2007
Museums Association Decision
On Monday 22 October in Glasgow, there was a historic decision. The members of the Museums Association (a membership body made up of gallery and museum staff) voted for a change in its ethical code to enable museums and galleries, in particular circumstances (there are five clear conditions), to sell works from their non-core collection for the benefit of the long-term care of the core collection. Watts Gallery has often been cited in the discussions on this change, and it is encouraging that there is support from the museum community for our proposal to dispose of two works: The Triumph of Love by Burne-Jones and Jasmine by Albert Moore. Over the next two months the Gallery will offer these works to public collections and failing an appropriate sale, will take them to auction