Marilyn Scott looks at how Wokings new flagship gallery, The Lightbox, is encouraging art for leisure.
About a year ago, research conducted by the Corporation of London revealed that visiting an art gallery was a powerful method of destress-ing. The University of Westminsters Psychology Department investigated the physical and emotional effects on a team of City high-flyers of a midday visit to the Guildhall Art Gallery. After just 40 minutes viewing the participants showed a 45% reduction in their perceived stress levels. Saliva samples verified the drop in levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Furthermore the drop in 40 minutes was equivalent to five hours under normal circumstances. We can only conclude that a short break away from the stresses and strains of everyday living in a calming environment can really make a difference.
This survey was music to the ears of the team at The Lightbox, the new £7m gallery and museum opening in Woking this month. This major Surrey town now has a stunning landmark building, comprising two gallery spaces and a museum, all of which embrace the arts as leisure concept. The Lightbox offers major exhibitions backed with an events programme to suit different ages. With such a diverse cultural and ethnic community as Woking, various target groups families, the over 55s, as well as those seeking lunchtime sanctuary from the concrete shopping malls of the town centre were identified by an extensive market research initiative.
The consequence is a programme comprising workshops for all the family, childrens puppet events and activity sessions with professional artists and creators designed to unleash both youngsters creativity and their enjoyment on a Saturday morning. Funding from Mayford Decorative and Fine Arts Society and the National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies, helped enable a Young Curators programme aimed at 1318 year olds wanting to learn the art of animation. Their short series of films will be on show alongside sets from award-winning Aardman Studios in the opening exhibition, Animated Adventures, featuring Wallace and Gromit and the first public showing of original models from Shaun the Sheep. Even before it was built, The Lightbox, through its work with local schools, had become an accredited centre for the Arts Council Award, and is implementing ways of encouraging young people who have left school and no longer engage with the arts, into the gallery and museum by inviting them to join the board as a junior member. Each participant has undertaken at least eight hours of in-house training as well as in area-specific tasks caring for the collection, front of house, helping staff the interactives at the exhibition, as well as running the gift shop. They are learning new skills and making new friends an essential part of the leisure process, freeing them from everyday stress.
Fortunately a £1.6m Heritage Lottery fund grant, £3m support from Woking Borough Council, £300,000 from Arts Council England as well as more than £2m generated from grants, trusts, corporate and private individuals through a fund-raising campaign, means local people who founded the charity 14 years ago will see their dream and belief in the power of the arts fulfilled.
Marilyn Scott is Director of The Lightbox.
w: http://www.thelightbox.org.uk