£700 increase in cost of Gilstrap exhibitions

The cost of hiring the exhibitions gallery at The Gilstrap Centre, Newark, is to increase from £20 to £725 for a seven week slot — a rise of 3,525%.

Artist Jennie Prest, of Newark, said the new price was more than she could ever hope to achieve from selling all of her paintings put together.

“The council’s new charges have ensured no local artist or art club will be able to exhibit there again,” she said.

Newark and Sherwood District Council was criticised about the low cost of hiring the exhibition room during public meetings to discuss proposals to sell the building to Nottinghamshire County Council for use as register office.

Many people said that if the charges were increased it could help offset some of the Gilstrap’s operating costs.

Jennie Prest said she was expecting the rate to increase but was astonished by how much.

She said: “Surely the council could have increased the cost to around £100 and tried to promote its use far more.

“I believe this is an under-handed way for the council to ensure that the Gilstrap is under used, and therefore would need to be sold.

“The benchmarking exercise they have undertaken seems to be one for professional or commercial artists exhibiting their work, rather than amateurs such as myself.”

The new charges will be introduced from April 1.

At present, it costs £20 whether the exhibitor wants to use the gallery for one week or up to seven.

The new scale of charges starts at £75 for daily use up to the maximum of £725 for seven weeks. There is a reduction for charity use.

Amateur artist Mrs Margaretta Padgett, of Balderton, said: “It is quite spiteful and vindictive for the council to come back at us like this.

“They want to make it impossible for people to exhibit so they can do what they like with the building.”

Mr Neil Allsopp, chairman of the council’s general purposes committee, said the decision to increase prices at The Gilstrap Centre was as a direct result of the public consultation process.

The feedback from the public consultation was taken to his committee where delegated authority was given to council officers to set new fees and charges.

Mr Allsopp said: “If The Gilstrap Centre continued to offer these unsustainable charges, the council and the general purposes committee as trustees would again be criticised for not providing an opportunity for the centre to operate at less of a loss and the potential of the centre not being under threat due to its unsustainable financial situation.

“A new schedule of charges was prepared based on other galleries and similar facility charges around Nottinghamshire.

“The prices being introduced at the Gilstrap are now in line with, or in some cases still below, charges from galleries or facilities of a similar nature in the county.”

Mr Allsopp said artists would no longer have to pay commission on any pieces sold.

He said opening times of the Gilstrap Centre would be considered as part of a business plan about its commercial viability.

A working party has been set up to consider the future of the centre.

Mrs Alex Peace-Gadsby, who is spearheading the campaign against the sale of the Gilstrap, said: “The working party does not meet for the first time until April 3, so I wasn’t aware of the changes to the exhibition pricing structure.

“I do not know what market research the council has or has not done to reach this figure.

“Certainly £20 for six weeks historically was set far too low to be commercial but it is important to be sure that the replacement fees are competitive and do not price the Gilstrap out of the market so the gallery then sits empty.”