The Tate gallery located in the west Cornwall town of St Ives has been awarded £2.5m in funds from the Heritage lottery Commission. The grant has been allocated to extend and renovate its current building.
Future development plans also include the creation of a two-storey learning centre for visitors and a purpose built permanent exhibition space to house a gallery to represent the British post war artists who flourished in the vicinity of the gallery. A spokesman for the Tate said when it opened in 1993; ” its aim was to celebrate the history and legacy of the St Ives Modernists”.
Mark Osterfield, executive director of Tate St Ives, said: “Thanks to the Heritage Lottery Fund this fantastic project is significantly closer to being realised. It is a really exciting moment for all of us at Tate St Ives, after many years of working with both our project partners and the community of St Ives to shape a project which delivers to all stakeholders.”
The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) sustains and transforms a wide range of heritage through innovative investment in projects with a lasting impact on people and places. As the largest dedicated funder of the UK’s heritage, with around £375million a year to invest in new projects and a considerable body of knowledge, we are also a leading advocate for the value of heritage to modern life. From museums, parks and historic places to archaeology, natural environment and cultural traditions, we invest in every part of our heritage. Since 1994, HLF has supported almost 35,000 projects allocating more than £5.3billion across the UK.
A further decision of funding from Arts Council England is pending, for this gallery, which attracts an average of 240,000 visitors each year. Work is set to start in Autumn 2013 with a completion date sometime in 2015, if the funding round is realised.
Photo: Jake Robinson © ArtLyst 2013