Agenda item

The Committee thanked the Head of the Gallery and Amphitheatre for organising a visit to the Art Gallery prior to the meeting and viewed a presentation on the Guildhall Art Gallery including an overview of its history and collections, exhibition schedule, loan programme, education programme, and social impact.

The meeting heard that footfall has not yet recovered since the pandemic, though numbers are increasing, and that the Gallery operates within the Destination City matrix structure for staffing.

Members commented that the Gallery appeared to be operating with a small workforce (with no intern position available from autumn 2024) and strongly recommended that the Gallery’s resources be carefully examined to ensure that the right service could be delivered that did justice to and maximised the value the Art Gallery as a cultural asset.

A Member asked for clarification on an apparent proposal to cancel a temporary exhibition originally scheduled for autumn 2024. It was noted that exhibition schedules and proposals at the Gallery are not generally presented to the Committee and that programming decisions are made in line with budgetary restrictions.  

A Member asked for further information on the budget allocation to the Gallery, and asked why staffing levels appeared to be low. The meeting heard that the reduction in staffing levels was attributable to decisions arising from the CoLC’s Target Operating Model, with funding allocated across disparate areas.

Members commented that more detailed information on what budget was allocated to which cultural asset would be helpful, with a greater input at Committee level on how those resources were allocated with a greater level of ownership of budgetary allocation on the part of the Committee.  

A member commented that general awareness of the Art Gallery’s existence appeared to be low.

On the proposed 3 to 5 year forward plan referenced in the presentation, a Member asked for an outline of how that might be articulated, its timeframe, and how the Committee might support that plan. The meeting heard that discussions among Members and the Gallery would be welcome as a way of taking that forward, potentially within the confines of a broader piece of work around the cultural strategy. 

Members noted that much of the work on statues project (explanatory plaques) is resourced by the Gallery.