Georgia Hemmings, Staff Reporter
SEVERE FINANCIAL constraints and inadequate sponsorship have forced the National Gallery of Jamaica (NGJ) to delay its Curator's Eye exhibition.
The inaugural show, set originally for early December, has been rescheduled to Sunday January 18, 2004 at the Ocean Mall gallery in downtown Kingston, starting at 11:00 a.m.
The show is expected to become a major event on the gallery's calendar of activities, having replaced the Annual National Exhibition (now known as the Biennial National Exhibition). Held every two years, the first biennial was staged from December 2002 to March 2003.
Since a shift to a biennial left room for a different exhibition at the end of a non-biennial year, the organisers decided to inaugurate a new series called the Curator's Eye. It was envisaged that the new series would be co-ordinated by a single curator, someone with an "informed eye" who would present what he/she saw as vital or interesting in Jamaican art.
"Thus the curator would determine the view point or concept of the exhibition," Earl Case, NGJ's director of finance and administration told The Sunday Gleaner recently.
But staging the exhibition requires funding in excess of $1.5 million, money which the cash-strapped gallery does not have, and which cannot be supported from the paltry budget it receives annually from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture. Seventy per cent of current budget is used for salaries for a staff of about 28.
So the gallery has sought to raise the required amount through sponsorshiop and donations. But solicitation has had mixed results.
"In the main, we've not received any help from many of the companies we've approached," Mr. Case explained. "These companies have explained that they do not have the money for funding, a reflection of the general cash crunch taking place in the economy."
Others have assisted, supportive of the gallery's primary goal to promote the appreciation of fine arts among Jamaicans. Among them are Burger King, Urban Development Corporation, Air Jamaica, WINDALCO, Baron Hall, Grace, Kennedy and Company Limited, Protective Services Limited, Lenn Happ supermarkets, Le Bon, Mandeville Hotel The Gleaner Company Limited, and the Bank of Nova Scotia (Jamaica) Limited.
"The assistance we've received has been a mix of cash and kind," Mr. Case said. "And we are deeply grateful for all the help."
Artists have submitted works for what Mr. Case describes as a "controversial" show, and planning continues to meet the January deadline. In the meantimne, however, the gallery is appealing for more assistance from companies and individuals, and "not just financial," Mr. Case said.
