If the Castlemaine Art Museum had asked for financial support or expert advice, it may never have needed to close its doors, residents and arts leaders have said.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Board directors’ decision to shut the gallery from August 11 has shocked many members and fans of the regional gallery, saying they felt blindsided by the move.
Castlemaine resident and former member Zoe Edquist said she believed the gallery was in good financial health before the closure announcement and was disappointed a request for help was not forthcoming.
"I would've definitely put in as much as I could've afforded," she said.
Ms Edquist has a personal connection with the Castlemaine gallery: a work by her great uncle, landscape artist Lawrence Kermond, is part of its collection.
It was inside the art deco building on Lyttleton Street a passion for drawing was awoken in a young Ms Edquist.
"I remember coming in here as a kid with my grandma and really enjoying it.”
The Public Gallery Association of Victoria were not consulted either and efforts by its president, Sue Roff, to contact board directors had so far gone unanswered.
Ms Roff said she was disappointed by the board’s choice, saying her peak body was made up of experienced professionals who could have offered advice. Karen Quinlan, who has overseen the renaissance of Bendigo Art Gallery, is a member of the PGAV board of management, as are the directors of regional galleries in Gippsland, Ararat and Benalla.
Castlemaine Art Museum chairwoman Jan Savage said she made no secret of the gallery’s asset-rich, cash-poor status in annual reports and monthly newsletters.
While discussions between stakeholders occurred throughout 2017, she said the board chose not to go public for fear it would affect employee morale.
It was recurrent funding that was needed for the gallery to get back on its feet, Ms Savage said.
Chris Hosking was another community member perplexed by directors’ decision to “weather the storm on their own”.
He said the decision spoke to the board’s disconnection from the community; only some of its eight members were residents of the Castlemaine region.
“I hope the board can draw the community in to solve the problem,” he said.
The path to closure
The shock closure of Castlemaine’s art gallery is the latest in a series of developments at the 104-year-old institution since it last year decided to become an incorporated organisation.
Until last July, the Castlemaine Art Museum and nearby Buda were controlled by an unincorporated trust. But a review of its governance model in 2015 recommended the organisation be incorporated, a move it hoped would make possible more government grants and philanthropic funding.
“It is unlikely that there are any other independently operated, publicly funded galleries in Australia which remain unincorporated,” Neil Anderson, the consultant appointed to run the review, wrote in his report.
But the change in structure meant parting ways with one of its major sources of revenue, the Stoneman Foundation.
The philanthropic fund founded after the death of grocery entrepreneur SR Stoneman in 2002 was directed by the late man’s will to only contribute to the Castlemaine gallery “so long as its remains an unincorporated association”.
The disclaimer was described by the gallery’s legal adviser at the time as “very curious and unexplained” and “unfair to the gallery because it may force it to remain unincorporated when this is not a proper situation noting that gifts or trusts in wills cannot generally be made to an unincorporated association”.
But the exclusion would have to be challenged in the Supreme Court and so the gallery proceeded with its incorporation.
The change in governance was applauded by Public Art Gallery of Victoria president Sue Roff, who said remaining unincorporated would have ruled out Castlemaine from Creative Victoria funding and other philanthropic donations. What was irresponsible, she said, was not securing alternative funding since parting ways with the Stoneman Foundation.
“Victoria has the largest body of philanthropic trusts in Australia and a number are very supportive of cultural activity, especially in regional Victoria,” she said.
She also wondered whether an increase in gallery entrance fees to $10 per person scared off potential visitors.
‘Most others, you can go in for nothing - its almost the definition of a public gallery now,” she said.
Castlemaine Art Museum chairwoman Jan Savage said while the gallery was successful in securing for-purpose grants towards the costs of its climate control and lighting, it was not able to attract new, philanthropic funding. She also said the increase came in admission fees two years ago was an effort to offset growing expenses.
“We would love not to have an admission fee and we've to-ed and fro-ed about it across the board table.”
Pondering their next move
Castlemaine Art Museum members are divided ahead of a meeting on Wednesday, with some plotting to overthrow the board and others thinking the museum's closure is irreversible.
Life member Louise Smith said she was confused about how the decision could be made without first consulting the gallery’s community of loyal supporters.
She believed there would be support among those in attendance to push out the sitting board and replace them with a group of concerned residents.
The current board, the organisation’s first, was appointed last year when the gallery became an incorporated organisation.
But time was against any plan to topple the directors, Ms Smith said, with staff already told they would not have jobs from August 11.
Christopher Whitehead, a 35-year resident of Castlemaine, believed the “damage [was] already done”.
The trouble is, it can't be backtracked now there are people without jobs," he said.
At least two informal meetings of concerned residents have been held in Castlemaine since the gallery announced last Friday financial woes would force its doors to close.
Gallery chairwoman Jan Savage expected “feisty” discussion at meeting inside Castlemaine’s town hall, but hoped the board could explain their decision and lay out their plans to re-open in 2019.