April 2nd 2008
Dear Supporter,
The Future of Gwynedd Museum, Bangor : An Update
We are very, very grateful to all of you who have written to Gwynedd Council , to MPs and AMs and to the Vice-Chancellor of Bangor University; to those who have signed petitions and got others to sign them; to those who have spread the news of their concern through the web. We know that the recipients have been impressed, and we hope also alarmed, by the level of support and concern that has been expressed.
Many of you will have received replies from Gwynedd and from the University. Both of them mentioned the establishment of a Tripartite Committee, with representatives from Gwynedd Council, the University and the Friends of the Museum. This Committee met on March 12th and we have put an account of the meeting on our website www.savegwyneddmuseum.org.uk.
The main outcome was that Gwynedd Council announced that they would postpone their cuts until the next financial year so that the Museum could stay open until March 2009, instead of closing in September 2008. They also reiterated their offer of January 28th to continue managing the Museum as before if the University would make a firm agreement to provide a full 50% of the costs.
We were encouraged by the attitude of the county council but we have to say that we were disappointed by the reluctance of the university to make any move. Professor Merfyn Jones, the Vice Chancellor had said in his reply to enquirers “Clearly there is no easy solution, but we will work with Gwynedd and the Friends of the Museum and Art Gallery to seek alternatives, which in addition to exploring new sources of funding, will include the possibility of exhibiting material at the new Arts and Innovation Centre and the university itself.” The University’s representative at the Tripartite Committee, Ms Meri Huws , a Pro Vice Chancellor, said that “ the university has no plans to run a museum”; that the new Arts Centre would have only “a small display space” and there would be “no curated exhibitions.” Our suggestion that the brief for this new Centre might be re-considered in the light of the new developments was not well received.
We get the impression that the university has made no serious or realistic plans in the five months since it was told of the emergency at the museum and those at the top seem not to have discussed it, even amongst themselves. We would therefore ask you to write to the university, saying that you understand that Gwynedd has made an offer and a move in the right direction, and urging them to make some move themselves. In terms of their overall budget, the sums required to restore the status quo - the easiest and cheapest solution - are small.
Yours sincerely,
Frances Lynch Llewellyn
Hon Secretary: Friends of Gwynedd Museum and Art Gallery