The New Art Gallery in Walsall, in the West Midlands, could face closure if cost-cutting proposals by the local authority go ahead. The £21m Caruso St John-designed gallery heralded a boom in regional UK art institutions when it opened in 2000, in partnership with Arts Council England. The building is the permanent home of the prestigious Garman Ryan collection, donated to Walsall by the widow of the British sculptor Jacob Epstein in 1973. The gift of 365 works includes pieces by Degas, Van Gogh, Modigliani and Lucian Freud. Walsall Council, which is under pressure to save £85m across the borough by 2020, is planning to reduce the gallery’s current subsidy of around £900,000 a year by more than £500,000 over the next four years, according to a council report released last month. While there are no plans to make redundancies among the gallery’s staff of 24, the report warns that the free-admission institution “will have to operate on a more commercial basis and become self-sustaining… or may close”. A decision on the final budget is due next February.
