Newcastle's Side Gallery approaches fundraising target to avoid permanent closure
Side Gallery had to close their doors after 45 years after losing out on vital funding.
Last updated 17th Apr 2023
Tens of thousands of pounds have been raised to help the Side gallery reopen its doors. After 45 years, the announcement was made that after critical funding cuts and the cost of living crisis, they could no longer stay open to the public.
Now, a campaign is underway to get them to the £60,000 target so they can work towards avoiding permanent closure.
The Amber Film & Photography Collective came together in 1968, focussing on documenting working class and marginalised communities in the North East. They opened the gallery in 1977 to exhibit their work and went on to welcome more from across the world with the aim of highlighting social change and concerns, as well as educate.
Bryan Dixon, the co-director of Amber tells us, "In just the last year we’ve had some amazing exhibitions from our archive, from Estonia, from Mexico, and the latest one from all over Europe."
"We try use the gallery as a way to inform people, to raise awareness of particular issues and to allow our audience to become advocates and have agency in supporting and bringing about social change."
The group was notified in November it would no longer receive Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation funding.
Bryan says they had a very short period of time to try recoup that money: "...which was the largest single grant we received by a country mile. We’ve been unable to do so, so we had to make the cost cutting decisions to close the gallery and focus our efforts on raising enough money to reopen again."
"The Arts Council has been really supportive of us over the years, particularly over the Covid recovery period. We continue to work with them and look for alternative funds that might be available."
"The Arts has a key role to play in society. It is struggling in the same as we’re all struggling across the board."
In 2011, Amber’s films and collective member Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen’s photographs were inscribed in the UNESCO Memory of the World register as ‘of outstanding national value and importance to the United Kingdom’.
The gallery has gained global support with visitors sharing their memories on social media, as well as donations coming in from across the globe. It’s been described as a vital heartbeat for documentary in the UK, and a jewel of Newcastle.
They’re now looking to secure alternative funding, and reach their target of £60,000 so they can reopen next September.
"We are still optimistic and we are still fighting to save the gallery."
You can find the fundraiser here to #SaveSide.
Side Gallery
