It’s literally a race against time to prevent the Cornish treasure known worldwide from becoming housing
There are now two rival bids to try and save the grade II listed Penzance School of Art building in Morrab Road, which is being sold by Truro and Penwith College (Image: Wikicommons)
A bid war is hotting up to save a town’s historic arts school – and it has artists from far and wide confused.
Last year Truro and Penwith College announced it would put the Grade-II listed Penzance School of Art in Morrab Road on the market as a way to generate much needed funds as it looked to plug a £4.2 million blackhole.
In June last year PZArts CIC was set up with a view to securing the long-term future of the historic Penzance School of Art, Art Museum/Library and Science School buildings in Cornwall through community ownership and sustainable regeneration.
The aim of the CIC is to “acquire and restore these important heritage buildings to return them to active public use as a centre for heritage arts and crafts, creative education, artist studios, exhibitions, enterprise and community activity”.
Tasha Scannell, co-founder of the group, said: “We believe that historic buildings thrive when they continue to serve their communities, creating opportunities for learning, employment, creativity and cultural life.
“Our vision is to create a nationally recognised centre for heritage arts, crafts and creative learning within one of Cornwall’s most historically significant educational buildings.”
The CIC said its project would help to bring together heritage arts and craft education, professional artist studios, public exhibitions, community workshops, creative enterprise, educational partnerships, events and cultural programming and public access to historically important buildings.
Ms Scannell added that the project aimed to to become financially sustainable while preserving the architectural and cultural significance of the site.
However with a looming deadline to raise the £450,000 needed to buy the building, a rival bid has also been launched – and that’s where the confusion has arisen.
justlife.art CIC launched an urgent fundraising drive in June
Rose Helen Phillips, justlife.art’s founding director, said: “We are in a literal race against time to save a sanctuary that birthed the Newlyn School and nurtured masters like Terry Frost from being lost to developers.
“This £450,000 target by August 15 is a massive mountain to climb, but with the global art community rallying behind our auction and crowdfunder, we can return this historic landmark to the artists and students it belongs to.”
Ms Scannell said the submission of an alternate bid prompted a deadline to be put in place and has added to the confusion.
She said: “It has altered the landscape of what we are navigating. Additionally, as the dual bid has put us in a competitive situation, we are unable to share detail about the viability work that we are doing – which we had hoped to be sharing with supporters – as the alternate bid may use information in their final offer bid.
“Our main concern is that we have been contacted by a number of supporters and artists who were under the impression that the locally displayed posters asking to raise £450,000 via Crowdfunder and the recently announced art auction event are in support of our project development as we are well established in our community. They are not.”
She added: “PZArts CIC is the not-for-profit organisation established specifically to acquire and secure the former Penzance School of Art, Library and Science School buildings for community benefit.
“We recognise that a separate bid for the buildings, by another group, may have caused confusion within the community.
“We remain fully committed to acquiring the site and continue to make positive progress towards that goal.
“PZArts CIC has the support of the Architectural Heritage Fund, and we are currently finalising a feasibility study to inform the next stage of the project.
“We are working within a formal process and framework, and we will provide regular updates on progress. We are deeply grateful for the financial support received from both the fund and the wider community, whose contributions have made this important work possible.”
Established in 1853, with the current building erected in 1880, the Penzance School of Art was the first art school established west of Bristol and the first in the UK built within a town.
https://www.facebook.com/PZArtsCIC/crowdfunder.co.uk/p/save-penzance-school-of-art-crowdfunder
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