Tuesday 2 December 2014

The Quilt Museum will be closing next year

I copied the following press release from the Through Our Hands blog - it has only just appeared in The Quilter magazine, and I know that many other Guild members haven't yet received their copy.  There is nothing about it on the official Quilt Museum website yet (3.30p.m., 2/12/14).  Nothing on the Quilters' Guild of the British Isles website's news page either. Not sure how the news was on another blog first, rather than either official site?


PRESS RELEASE – 2 DECEMBER, 2014
QUILT MUSEUM AND GALLERY TO CLOSE ITS DOORS IN OCTOBER, 2015

The Quilters’ Guild has today announced that the Quilt Museum and Gallery in York is to close at the end of October, 2015. The Quilt Museum and Gallery has been working very hard to achieve challenging targets for income from visitors and business ventures but, sadly, these targets have not been achievable.

The Quilters’ Guild has provided financial support to The Quilt Museum through its own reserves and fundraising activities but these funds cannot provide the Quilt Museum and Gallery with a sustainable future in the long term.

Guild President, Vivien Finch said “The decision to close the Quilt Museum and Gallery is profoundly disappointing, but we can take comfort in the knowledge that since it opened we have welcomed over 75,000 people to over 50 exhibitions and introduced many visitors to the joy of quilts and quilting. In addition, we have taught sewing skills to over 8,000 children and adults.”

“The number of paying visitors has ranged between 10,000 and 12,500 per year and we now know that this is a considerable achievement for a small “niche” museum, commented Museum Manager, Fiona Diaper.

The Quilt Museum and Gallery will remain open until 31 October, 2015, and visitors will be able to enjoy the exhibitions planned for 2015 including a major exhibition with Kaffe Fassett entitled Ancestral Gifts, showing new quilts created by Kaffe in response to quilts in The Quilters’ Guild Collection.

The Quilters’ Guild will continue to care for its Collection of historic and contemporary quilts and are concentrating their efforts on finding a location where the public can gain access to quilts by pre-organised visits. They are also exploring a wide range of opportunities for items from the Collection to be exhibited in other locations.

********
Royalties from the sale of the 1718 Coverlet book should be a big help with moving costs I expect.

UPDATE - info appeared on both the Guild and Museum sites almost as soon as I'd blogged this.

2 comments:

Liz said...

This is really sad news Susan. I love visiting the museum as I expect do many others and even though I live in Norfolk have managed to visit most of the exhibitions - I've only missed 2 or 3 out of the many they have had since they opened. It is one place where you can always be sure of visiting an exciting and easily accessible exhibition showcasing some of the Guild's wonderful collection of quilts along with many others. I for one will miss it greatly.

Annabel said...

Hello Susan, (Annabel here!) We received the press release from the QG and posted it within about 5 minutes! I just happened to be on the website when it came through, and thought it was important news, so didn't hang about. Not sure why it wasn't on the other websites you mention though.