National Galleries of Scotland

Art - not something that often attracts 'community' fundraising.  This might be because it's not seen as being as important to as many people as, say, health charities, such as Cancer Research.  Or it might be because it's seen as something that only the wealthy support - are "The Arts" deserving of my small contribution, and would it actually achieve anything?

 

I think that the groundswell of support for Peacock Visual Arts showed that it can be relevant to a wide range of people, and that the right idea, right motivations can capture people's imaginations and engage them, where the relevance is understood.  I suspect Peacock would have been doing a lot more of this kind of fundraising as their project developed, Ironically, now that their amazing project has been binned, they'll likely be working to keep people engaged in supporting them in this way (if they can afford to).

 

This post isn't about them though, it's about the National Galleries of Scotland, who've just launched a fantastic campaign.  I'm not involved with it, but it is essentially an idea I had in mind for PVA - or someone else - to use.  The initial concept was sparked for me by my experience in Kanazawa as part of Araki’s*  "Faces of Ishikawa" project, exhibited at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art (or Marubi, as it's known). 

 

Even though I'm not involved in this campaign, I think that if they capitalise on it properly, it will be a huge success.  To me, success will depend on how well they promote the concept.  I'm also wondering how well it will travel.  While it aims to be a portrait of the nation, and reflect the many faces of the whole of Scotland, I do wonder if this, like so many things, will end up being too Central belt focussed.

 

*Oh yes, Araki photographed me years before Lady Gaga

 

 

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