Pump House Gallery to Close in December

In a cost cutting exercise Wandsworth Council is closing the Pump House Gallery as a dedicated contemporary art space in December, to reopen it as a multi art form facility run by the Wandsworth Arts Team. The current gallery manager Sandra Ross has been made redundant and one other member of the team.

The Council has issued the following statement:  "The council is currently having to look at every aspect of its spending in the light of the national budget deficit and the funding constraints on local government.

The Pump House Gallery is a major asset to the borough with huge potential. We have therefore decided to transfer its management to our arts and events teams who have many new ideas about how this important facility can be opened up more to local people with a broader programme of arts activities.

This does mean that the gallery will not continue to operate solely as a contemporary art gallery, although new and exciting exhibitions will continue to be part of the future varied programme.

The council is a passionate supporter of the arts and will continue to promote both the gallery and other major events such as the annual Arts Festival, which draws on the enthusiastic participation of the borough's arts community. The fact that one particular space will be used differently in the future does not diminish our support for arts in the borough in any way."

There is a broader ideological issue lurking here as to the type of art that the local authority is prepared to support when times get tough.

Image: Glenn Sorensen , 2009  Days , oil on canvas, 50 x 40cm, Courtesy of Corvi-Mora, London, The Sugar Cane Allegory Glenn Sorensenuntil   1 August 2010