Walsall art gallery funding cuts 'will cost more than they save'
Controversial council plans to pull funding from The New Art Gallery Walsall will cost more money than keeping it open, venue bosses have claimed.
Walsall Museums & Galleries Development Trust has written to the council warning if it removes its annual subsidy, as proposed, the venue would be forced to shut by March 2018.
They said the council had failed to take into account the costs of maintaining the empty building and collection. The council would also have to pay back a grant from Arts Council England worth £15.75 million.
The letter from Trust chairman David Carver said: "Leaving aside any cultural and wider economic loss from the closure of the gallery, the negative impact upon the council finances from the closure will be significantly greater than the savings the council is seeking to achieve.
"The plain fact is that it would cost the council more to maintain the building and art collection if closed than it would do for the council to fund the gallery. The options in rebalancing the budget did not even address this fact."
The council provides a net subsidy of £470,000 to the gallery and spends nearly the same amount – around £430,000 – in further costs.
The authority has said removing funding would generate a net saving of as much as £390,000 by 2019/2020. But the trust has said a further maintenance grant worth half a million pounds received in 2013 could also be clawed back.
Trust bosses have put forward an alternative funding plan, which they said would deliver a 'significant' saving to the council while allowing the venue to stay open.
Council leader Sean Coughlan said: "The proposal is not to close the gallery. There are no secret council plans to mislead anyone either. The proposal for the gallery is to see a gradual reduction in the financial support the council gives to its operational costs.
"This reduction would allow the gallery two years to review its entire operation – to reduce costs and generate new income. If it is unable to do so by year three of the budget (2019/20), then yes, it may have to close."
"And, as a local authority, we must be clear and inform the public that this is a risk."
