Episode 17 - The Spanish Gallery

If you’ve been listening to previous episodes of Arts First you’ll know we are greatly concerned the future of our museums.Our discussion of Tate Director Maria Balshaw’s book ‘Gathering of Strangers’ is probably a good example of the worrying trajectory of our museum establishment and their increasing preoccupation with placing social, political, environmental issues above the fundamentals of art, curation and conservation.Also JJ Charlesworth’s discussion with author Prof Frank Furedi about his book the ‘The War on the Past’ was very useful for understanding why our museums and historic collections have come to be seen as ‘problematic’ (to put it mildly) by progressive art establishment, campaigners, politicians etc.However we are always on the lookout for ‘green shoots’, novel approaches, people bucking trends, bravely doing their own thing and following their passion. We look for that in artists of course but also in new and experimental institutions.So when regular contributor Prof Kevin Yuill told us about a very unusual and exciting gallery in Bishop Auckland we naturally asked him to find out more, and to see if he could persuade its founder, Jonathan Ruffer to tell us about the project in his own words. And we were absolutely thrilled that Jonathan agreed to talk to Kevin.You can find out more about the Spanish Gallery and the Auckland Project here:The Auckland Project // The Spanish GalleryJonathan Ruffer is an art collector, City investor, philanthropist and former barrister. In 2012, he purchased Jacob and His Twelve Sons, a series of paintings by Spanish Master Francisco de Zurbarán, as well as the 900-year-old Auckland Castle in Bishop Auckland, where they had been housed for more than 250 years.Out of this he founded the Auckland Project to transform ‘Auckland Castle into an arts, faith and heritage destination’. This includes restoration of the Castle itself, as well as the establishment of the Spanish Gallery and a string of other local projects including the Mining Art Gallery, and Faith Museum.Kevin Yuill is former professor of history at the University of Sunderland. He is currently CEO of Humanists Against Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia. His books include Assisted Suicide: the liberal, humanist case against legalization. Get full access to Arts First at artsfirst.substack.com/subscribe

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