Jan 29 - Royal Academy of Arts Meeting

The Ministry of Culture, as part of its development programme, recently travelled to London for meetings with the Royal Academy of Art. The Ministry was represented by the Agency’s Chief Culture Officer, Yvette Zarb and Head of Events, Seamus Byrne.

At the meetings, various projects were discussed that would see the Ministry and the Royal Academy working together to extend strategic support to the Fine Arts in Gibraltar. The aim is to widen the scope for artistic and cultural activities as well as exporting Gibraltar’s culture to other countries.

The Ministry is looking to support all Gibraltarian artists who wish to take part in the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition. In the first instance, artists would need to submit digital images of their artwork. Out of the approximate 12,000 works that the RA expects will be entered, only 4,000 will then qualify for the second round. Any local artist who qualifies will then have to send the original artwork to the UK. The Ministry of Culture is committed to support these artists by helping with the cost of transporting the artworks to the UK. Full information on how to take part in the Summer Exhibition can be viewed on: www.royalacademy.org.uk/summerexhibition. Closing date for participation is Friday 14th February 2014.

Other exciting projects were also discussed, including the possibility of having members of the Royal Academy exhibiting their work locally and the continued collaboration of the Royal Academy with the Ministry’s Gibraltar International Art Exhibition.

Further to these meetings the Ministry also attended the official opening of the Christian Hook exhibition at the Clarendon Fine Art Gallery in Mayfair. Christian Hook was the winner of the Clarendon Art Prize that was organised in 2013 by the Clarendon Gallery assisted by Gibraltar House and the Ministry of Culture.