In the past year, philanthropists have donated vast sums to London’s National Gallery and Courtauld Gallery, while the straitened government purse has brought about revived fundraising efforts from institutions including the British Museum and Tate.
The jewellery scion and publisher Charles Asprey has been more imaginative. He has gifted 53 contemporary works to the Pier Arts Centre, which sits in the herring fishing town of Stromness on the Orkney Islands, off the remote tip of Scotland. Asprey describes its location as “closer to Oslo than London”.
The art, including works by Wolfgang Tillmans, Martin Puryear and the British-Belgian collaboration Atelier E.B now joins Margaret Gardiner’s collection of Modern British artists, boasting Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson, with which the coastal museum was founded in 1979.
“It is time to reactivate our regions. We don’t have a Frac system as they do in France [a network of 23 state and council funds across the country], there isn’t enough from the Arts Council England or Creative Scotland, but there is genius and excellence in local areas,” Asprey says.
Keeping art in the country, to be seen by locals and visitors, is key he says—and has a halo effect throughout. The exhibition Hepworth in Colour (until 6 September) at the Courtauld includes two drawings on loan from the Pier Arts Centre.
Finding #NotLondon institutions takes effort on the part of a donor. As Asprey puts it: “There’s not enough knowledge in the system. So many regional museums are spending their money on keeping the lights on, so the idea of spending it on marketing to attract Londoners… It’s hard.”
The UK tax authority provides an incentive to donate works during a lifetime, in the form of the Cultural Gifts Scheme that Asprey has used, which slices 30% of an item’s value off individual tax bills. The impact on the public purse is officially described as “negligible”, and beneficiaries also need to commit to using their credit for ongoing support—so certainly not negligible to the institution they choose.
The joy of philanthropy
Kari Adams, an associate curator at the Pier Arts Centre, describes Asprey’s gift as its “most significant act of philanthropy since 1979” and says that pairing the collections has been “the most joyful moment of my career”. Asprey’s ongoing support includes funding an artist’s residency and creating an acquisition budget.
The Cultural Gifts Scheme applies to London museums too, of course, but, Asprey notes, the “elephant in the room” is that “part of the reason for helping regional museums acquire great work is because our more famous London venues are basically full”.
His timing is on point. The UK’s latest prime minister, Andy Burnham, has a mission to decentralise power (and funds) away from the country’s capital. Applying his logic to museums could extend beyond great works of art and help create jobs for the culturally expert and curious across the country. Additional economic benefits to local businesses such as restaurants, hotels and taxi firms should follow suit.
It might even go some way towards tackling the growing inequalities of the visual arts, now mostly accessed by privileged Londoners and wealthy tourists, and help shake off culture’s consequential “liberal elite” label. This, in turn, could help make the case for institutions across the country to become more of a national, political priority.
Asprey’s vision is more grounded. “When friends come into this country, and ask for recommendations, one day, when I’m an old man, I would like to be able to say there are ten stops you need to make from the Isle of Wight to Orkney. It’s coming, but I can’t do that at the moment.”