Craft and ceramics centre

There has been a lot of misinformation around the future of the Craft and Ceramics Centre at Rufford and we would like to put the record straight.  Below are a range of question and answers that we hope you find useful.

Q   Is Rufford Gallery and Ceramics Centre Closing?

A    The Gallery and Ceramics Centre is not closing. We are making some changes to the operating model but the Gallery and Ceramic Centre will continue to provide a wide range of opportunities for local people and visitors.

Q  Will the ceramics centre sell ceramics?

A    The main ceramic shop downstairs will continue as usual and we will continue to sell work by local, regional and nationally acclaimed artists.

Q  Will the permanent collection still be displayed?

A    The collection of ceramics which belongs to the County Council will continue to be displayed at Rufford in the ceramic centre. We also plan to improve the interpretation of the collection.

Q  Will the gallery will be a space for hire by community groups?

A    The gallery space will still be available for nationally and internationally recognised artists and we look forward to supporting them in the staging of exhibitions.  The quality of the experience is of major importance to us and we will not be lowering our existing standards. The gallery space will remain a gallery space and as such will not be available on general hire to community groups.  As is the case now requests to use the space will be quality controlled to keep the visitor experience at the highest levels.  

Q  Have internationally renowned artists pulled out of exhibitions that were to be staged at Rufford next year?

A    We are not aware of Artists pulling out of exhibitions, rather we are receiving a flow of enquiries from nationally acclaimed ceramic artists about mounting exhibitions under the new operating model.

Q  Will support for the workshop programs be withdrawn?

A    We have no plans to withdraw support and we are planning to expand the workshop and educational programme at the Centre to give more local people (especially schools and local community groups) access to the excellent facilities and beautiful surroundings. Rufford is a welcoming venue for people to experience arts for the first time and we hope to encourage even more people to visit and take part.

Q  Will the ceramics centre be turned into classrooms?

A    We plan to improve the ceramics centre and make better use of some areas that are currently under utilised. We do believe it is important to give our young people a chance to experience the work at Rufford and as such we need appropriate spaces. These young people are the next generation of artists and collectors and Rufford is well placed to offer them their first experiences. We agree with David Binch, of the Oakwood Gallery who states in the TimesOnline article “I was lucky to have been inspired by a teacher at school, but it's not taught in our schools any more and for many Rufford has opened the world of ceramics for them, both in understanding them and the process of making, and in appreciating the best.”

The workshop programme will continue to offer a wide range of opportunities for young and old alike.

Q  Will the artist residency programme funding be stopped? If so surely artists will not be able to afford to take up residencies.

A    Artists have been paying a fee for the residency programme since the beginning of 07. We have continued to receive applications from artists who appreciate the support and facilities they enjoy at Rufford.

The programme was developed in 1998 with support from the lottery and in the ensuing years the programme was supported by a succession of external funding bids, most recently £12,000 per annum from European Regional Development Funding (ERDF), which ceased in June 07. Thanks to these external funds, artists did not pay anything towards the ceramics centre for their residency.

We are working hard to retain Rufford as a venue for high quality work but at the same time have to make best use of Nottinghamshire tax payers money and do not think that it is unreasonable that artists (from all over the country and world) should pay something towards their residency at the Centre - just as a craft stall holder would pay for a pitch at a Christmas market or a business would pay for an exhibition stand at a conference.

Q  Will Earth and Fire, the internationally recognised ceramics selling fair continue?

A    Earth and Fire 2008 will take place at its usual time, the last weekend in June. All stalls have been booked and, as usual, we have a waiting list of artists who wish to attend. The popularity of the event does present the site with challenges in terms of parking and traffic control. We constantly review the event and have worked to overcome any issues. It is an important event in the county’s calendar and we will continue to work hard to secure it for the future.

Q  When are the changes taking place?

A    Any Staff changes will take place over the next 3-4 months. We are working with the existing gallery manager to make sure we have a smooth transition into new operating models. We plan for the improvements to the ceramic centre to take place over the next three months to be ready for Spring.

In Summary

The County Council is a major contributor to and provider of Arts based services across Nottinghamshire and has been for more than 20 years.  We are proud of what we have achieved to date and want to continue to invest in this area.

Over the past 10 years the County Council has been very successful in securing external funding, specifically from Europe in the form of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and grants from the Arts Council.  However, all of the external funding streams will have come to an end by March 2008.  In view of the scale of the budget change it was imperative that we reviewed the entire operation of the service.

To secure the future of arts across the county we needed to find new ways of operating to retain and in some cases develop the arts opportunities in Nottinghamshire - doing some things differently and being clear about the resources at our disposal.

The reputation of the programme at Rufford has been hard earned and we are committed to retaining it.  The current financial model however is not sustainable and we have proposed therefore that new partnerships are formed for the use of the gallery spaces, which put more onus on the artists. This does not mean we are closing the gallery, rather we are planning to involve more local artists and communities in the gallery. To support this new model the County Council Arts Service's new staffing structure will have a new post to support the creative industries and develop specific exhibition skills.