Quantcast
Channel: The Grid » Interview
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 8

Interview with Lawrence Sillars Chief Curator at the Baltic

0
0

Laurence Sillars is Chief Curator at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art. The Baltic, located in the North East, provides an international calendar of contemporary visual art. The Grid quizzes Sillars on the Turner Prize, the financial constraints faced by a public institution and what his role as Chief Curator entails.

Q&A by Katie Thomas and Gabrielle Barkess-Kerr

KT: What did it mean for the Baltic to hold the Turner Prize? Was the main benefit the fact that it raised the profile of the Baltic and provided for the Center an international stage?

LS: Good question. There are a number of different answers; it was a fantastic opportunity for the Baltic. It was the first non-Tate venue to present the prize and for it to occur on the anniversary of the Baltic’s tenth birthday really solidified the Center’s position as an important establishment for art both in Britain and internationally. It was a phenomenal success. We had 149,000 visitors over the 12-week period. In London the Turner Prize attracts around 70,000; in Tate Liverpool where the prize first escaped from London in 2009 it received 90,000 visitors, so it’s astonishing we received so many. Such a response really solidified its position within the contemporary art debate in this country. In terms of income, the Baltic is always free, so we didn’t benefit from ticket sales but there was a great surge of traffic into the building. The restaurant and the shop definitely felt the benefits, as did all the hotels in the region. It really made a difference.

The Baltic photo credit: Katie Thomas

The Baltic
Photo Credit: Katie Thomas

GBK: Do you ever find that as a public institution you are restricted by financial constraints?

LS: Yes, all the time. At the Baltic we work really closely with artists and whenever possible we try and commission new work and that’s the hardest thing to keep on track in a budgetary sense. Someone’s ideas may be big but we’ve only got so much money, so ideas have to be reduced, reshaped and reorganized. Within the economy of exhibitions there are various different ways of working from country to country and some exhibitions are just too expensive for us to take. There was a Jenny Holzer exhibition that we took from the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and the budget for that was about a quarter of a million. American institutions now charge a huge amount for fees, they call it a loan fee and it’s kind of an invisible thing that you’re paying for. You’re paying for the privilege of taking it really. We were recently offered an exhibition work by Michael Borremans, a painter, and the loan fee for that was $100,000. That’s before you’ve done anything with it, so yes there can be things that stop you.

KT:How do you handle budgets and finances for exhibitions?

LS: I have a set budget for my program every year and I have to stick to that. Even if I have secured a £50,000 sponsorship for an exhibition it doesn’t mean I have another £50,000 to spend. It would be budget relieving. We always have fundraising targets each year and they change annually. If we get sponsorship for a show it doesn’t mean I’ve got more money unfortunately.

sillars

Lawrence Sillars

GBK: In your specific role as curator what proportion of your time is spent with patrons and sponsors?

LS: Comparatively, not so much. If the Baltic was situated in America, such responsibilities would probably take up half my time. At the moment it’s 5% or less. There are a couple of events a month that we do with patrons, maybe a lunch or a private tour, or we’ll do a drinks reception with an artist before the main private view. We’re really increasing that activity though, there’s a huge amount of pressure locally from the central government to draw in private support and individual giving. So that’s a real area of activity for the Baltic.

KT: Where does the Baltic stand in relation to the proposed arts funding cuts?

LS: There are some mutual systems of support but economically we get our funding from the Arts Council and the Gateshead’s Local Authority as private income. I think there will be greater pressure to pull resources. A number of local authorities are combining work forces actually so I think this particular example will happen. It is possible that Gateshead might get us to share a HR department or a finance department with the Sage next door and reduce staff in that way. Yes, we’re feeling the effect of the cuts, we know that our Arts Council funding is going to go down bit by bit over the next 2 years and then there’ll be another comprehensive spending review and anything could happen… from a 50% cut which would mean Baltic would close, to a 2% cut… it’s completely unknown. Gateshead have just cut our funding by £90,000 a year. The average exhibition on the ground floor gallery costs maybe £25,000 so think what a £90,000 cut would mean in that context.

The Baltic Photo Credit: Katie Thomas

The Baltic
Photo Credit: Katie Thomas

GBK: You spent some time yourself at the Arts Council Collection, has this experience proven useful when you want to loan something?

LS: We have borrowed from the Arts Council Collection; it’s one of a number of important collections and it’s good to have knowledge of it. It’s a very good system of support within this country, people lending to each other. The Baltic is part of a network of organizations that fall under a certain umbrella which theoretically gives us a privileged access to a number of collections. It was a really good experience working at the Arts Council Collection. It makes you think about objects, their histories, exhibitions and everything in a different way. It was quite a deliberate strategy of mine, to gain experience with a collecting organization.

K.T



Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 8

Latest Images

Trending Articles





Latest Images