University stakeholders and artists call for University of Brighton to reconsider the decision to close the gallery and make its staff redundant.
Kevin Biderman
A letter signed by over 150 people is calling on senior management at the University of Brighton (UoB) to reopen its Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA) after the facility’s permanent closure on Friday (30 June).
The letter, signed by scores of university stakeholders, artists and a former Turner Prize winner, curator and nominee, criticises the decision to close the gallery and make all staff redundant.
“The closure of the CCA is seen locally, nationally and internationally as a great loss to the city and the arts, with many institutions and individuals expressing their disbelief and despair at the decision,” the letter states.
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“Prospective students and their parents will think twice about applying to an art school that cannot see the importance of such a progressive resource.”
Plans to close the gallery were first announced in May, with the university citing frozen tuition fees, rising inflation and soaring energy costs.
The letter acknowledges the financial constraints placed on the university but goes on to question why the closure went ahead without discussion.
“Surely it would be worthwhile to explore options such as reducing programme costs, rather than wholesale closure,” it states.
“Additionally, the way this has been carried out allows no time for preparing the legacy of the work done and much valuable research will be lost.”
The closure means a 30-piece show by Turner Prize winner Helen Cammock, who was awarded an Honorary degree from the university last year, scheduled to take place over the summer, will no longer go ahead.
The gallery is to be used as a teaching space instead for the foreseeable future.
Widespread contribution
The letter highlights some of the work and collaboration the gallery has undertaken in the four years since it opened and highlights its contribution to supporting equality, diversity and inclusion work at the university.
It says the CCA was playing a “vital role” in positive inclusion and representation of People of Colour through the artists featured in its programmes and the events it organised.
Mylinh Nguyen and Louise Colbourne, Inclusive Practice Co-leads for the university’s School of Art and Media, say the gallery supported their work in diversifying and de-colonising the art and design curriculum with students, which in turn had helped to address attainment gaps between the different ethnicities of their students.
“The closure of this resource is of great concern to the students that we work with on this scheme,” they added.
The letter continues by stating university leaders do not realise the loss to research, knowledge exchange and community engagement at the university caused by the closure.
It calls on the university to share plans on how it will provide a public facing venue for research, knowledge exchange and community engagement if the closure is not reconsidered.
“The impact on those marginalised groups that the CCA has successfully engaged with will be lost, and there will no longer be a point of access between the city and University,” the letter says.
“As a resource and investment, it seems short sighted to end this work at a point when it has only been going for four years and has clearly been so phenomenally successful in meeting some of UoB’s key goals.”
Strikes over redundancies
The CCA’s closure follows a university restructure by the senior management team which is leading to more than 110 jobs cuts.
Members of the University and College Union (UCU) have started an indefinite strike against the redundancies today (3 July).
Art and Media Senior Lecturer and UCU representative Dr Kevin Biderman said: “The university will be shut down until all compulsory redundancies are off the table.
“Students planning to come here in September and October need to realise the academic year will not begin unless our talented colleagues remain in place.”
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