Goldsmiths adopts philanthropic funding model to address cuts

Goldsmiths has introduced an “innovative philanthropic model” in the face of UK-wide funding cuts, establishing an endowment fund after being gifted £6m in cash and art works.

The bequest to Goldsmiths, University of London from Peter L. Kellner includes £2m in cash and an art collection with an estimated value of £4m.

Kellner, a former investment banker who has previously supported educational and artistic causes in the UK and US, is the first major donor to the fund.

Goldsmiths said the fund, which will rely on works of art and art collections as well as cash, will “help sustain its financial future”.

Bequests to the endowment fund must allow the art school the flexibility to sell some or all of the gifted works “after an agreed period”.

Kellner’s art collection includes works by Antony Gormley, Phillip Guston and the Italian painter and sculptor Lucio Fontana.

Kellner said: “This new philanthropy is a vital way of turning private art collections into a public good, creating sustainable support for future generations of artists.”

Funding crisis

Goldsmiths said the endowment fund has been created “as a way of sustaining arts education through a funding crisis which stretches back more than a decade”.

The art department, alumni of which include Damien Hirst, Sarah Lucas and artist and director Steve McQueen, cited the financial impact of the previous government’s decision to remove the arts from the list of ‘strategically important’ subjects within the university curriculum.

The move resulted in a drop in funding for arts and creative courses in higher education, with Goldsmiths losing more than £2m from its annual central government grant.

Universities, including Goldsmiths, have been implementing a range of cuts including staff redundancies, due to financial shortfalls and a drop in revenue from foreign students.

In a recent keynote speech at the British Academy’s inaugural SHAPE conference, Academy president Julia Black said the arts was “bearing the brunt” of cuts to the university sector.
 
Professor Richard Noble, head of art at Goldsmiths, said the university is meeting the challenge of underfunding “by finding innovative ways to sustain itself and its commitment to supporting young people to choose a life in the creative arts”.

He described the Kellner bequest as “a multifaceted asset for the university”.

Noble continued: “It will form part of the value of the university endowment but also be used as a teaching and research resource by staff and students, a resource for the university gallery and the public in general.

“We hope this extraordinary gift will encourage other collectors and philanthropists to support our endowment fund, which is essential to sustaining Goldsmiths as a leading arts education institution into the future.”