Art / coronavirus
RWA to reopen in August
RWA has announced it will reopen at the beginning of August.
The art gallery shut in early March 2020, only days after opening major exhibition Wilhelmina Barns-Graham and the Artists of St Ives.
The charity has now announced it will reopen on Saturday, August 1 and will extend the exhibition to September 19, 2020.
Initially opening on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 11am to 3pm, two slots can be pre-booked online for each day.
Despite emergency funding from Arts Council England, which allowed the RWA to offer the Drawing School programme online and produce exhibition videos, and running the Secret Postcard Auction online and raising £107,000, the gallery is still in a precarious position.
“We need to raise at least £850,000 each year, including from admission tickets and our Drawing School, just to maintain this beautiful building and use it to enable everyone to experience great art here in Bristol,” says director Alison Bevan.
“Despite these successes, with less than 1.5 per cent of our costs covered from the public purse and negligible reserves, our financial situation is still precarious and the future of the RWA in jeopardy.”
Wilhelmina Barns-Graham and the Artists of St Ives has been extended until September 19, 2020. Photo: RWA
The gallery has had to make significant changes to its programme of exhibitions as well. The major exhibition Streets Ahead: Bristol Street Art 2020, originally planned for June 2020, has been postponed until 2022.
Additionally, the RWA Annual Open 168 will now be taking place from November 14, 2020 to March 7, 2021 with submissions open from July 31.
Main photo: Alice Hendy
Read more: RWA moves its exhibitions and events online
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