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A Serious Assault on Excellence |
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The conservation community around the world has reacted with shock and anger to the news that the Textile Conservation Centre at Southampton University is to close in 2009. Despite its enviable track record, Southampton University has announced the closure of the centre in 2009 for financial reasons. The Winchester School of Art, of which the Textile Conservation Centre is a part, is in deficit and the policy of the University requires every School to be self-funding and to make a significant contribution to the central running costs of the University.
When the Centre moved to Southampton University in 1998 it brought £1.7m of externally-raised funding with it. In 2002 the Centre secured the then largest-ever grant awarded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council; £0.95m to establish a research centre for Textile Conservation and Textile Studies. The Centre enjoys an excellent international reputation, attracting many students from outside the UK and sending 97% of its graduates into conservation employment.
Icon has been supporting the efforts of the Textile Conservation Centre both to find a solution within Southampton University and to try and identify a potential new home. Since it is now clear that no possibility remains of the Centre staying as part of Southampton University, Icon will continue to support the work of the Centre’s staff in seeking an alternative home before 2009.
Icon Chair Simon Cane ACR commented ‘Losing the Textile Conservation Centre will mean a gaping hole in the provision of specialist conservation training in the UK and internationally, since so few specialist centres exist. The need for textile conservation is clear – at the moment the Victoria and Albert Museum is running a high-profile exhibition called ‘The Golden Age of Couture, Paris and London 1947-1957.’ Princess Diana’s gowns have just gone on display at Kensington Palace. The public want access to these fragile and perishable collections and unless they are stored, cared for and conserved properly, there will be nothing to see. If there are no skilled and trained conservators to do the work, public access will suffer.’
Icon Chief Executive Alastair McCapra added ‘The Textile Conservation Centre, like most of our graduate conservation programmes, has a high proportion of international students. It not only serves our home needs, it trains conservators who return to their home countries and help raise standards there. It not only contributes to our invisible exports, it plays an important role in our cultural diplomacy, which the government says is a high priority. Whatever the internal issues in Southampton University, the closure of the Centre will seriously hinder our ability to preserve our own heritage and will be a major own-goal for the UK on the international stage.’
The Times carried an article by Simon Tait on the proposed closure on Monday 3 December. Read it here online, together with the follow-up correspondence.
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