ENCOURAGING ART

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 731, 2 August 1929, Page 10

ENCOURAGING ART

UNIVERSITY ASKS CITY TO JOIN BIG SCHEME PLAN INVOLVES illl.Mo The Auckland University Col lege's proposal to establish , faculty of fine arts and a new art gallery was brought before the City Council last evening by Sir George Fowlds. president of the college counci', in a letter setting forth a tentative scheme. The City Council was invited to meet the college authorities in conference. and the Library Committee will consider the proposal. gIR GEORGE said that for some considerable time the college had had under consideration the instituting of a faculty of fine arts, which would include the existing schools of architecture and music, and the found ing of a chair of fine arts, taking in the senior work of the Elam School of Art. Tentative proposals had been drawn up involving a capital sum of £II,OOO. part to be spent on buildings, and part left as an endowment to provide income for annual upkeep The proposals suggested the use of the old Grammar School site. The Minister of Education in 1926 had set down in writing the opinion of himself and his department as being that by the use of this site for a facultv of fine arts, the interests of higher education in Auckland would be greatly advantaged. “The very much stronger and wider appeal of the larger proposals now suggested is immediately apparent and the very evident tangible benefits’ to the City Council in the matter of site and in other directions need not be emphasised,” Sir George continues “What will make even stronger appeal to the council will be the prospect of consolidating, under the control and patronage of council and university both education in fine arts and the activities of citizens in all the major cultural and aesthetic directions, thereby setting on the road to fruition the council’s efforts for many years past in the matter of the education of the public in respect of appreciation of art.”

CO-OPERATIVE SCHEME

SIR GEORGE FOWLD S STATEMENT HOME FOR ART “The original proposition has been under consideration for many years,” said Sir George Fowlds to a Sun man. "Negotiations have been going on with representatives of various cultural and art organisations of the City. The original idea was that the Arts Society would be one of the bodies uniting in this co-operative movement.” The aim was to provide a home in conjunction with the University, where Auckland's cultural and art societies would have a joint meeting place and co-operate tc form a common civic centre under the patronage and control of the City Council and the University. “The fact that it is growing urgently important to have a new Art Gallery building for the City has induced the University authorities to approach the City Council with tho idea of carrying out a still larger scheme of co-operation,” said Sir George. “This larger scheme will, of course, require a still larger site than would have been necessary for the original scheme. But even for the smaller scheme it has always been hoped that the old Grammar School site would have been available for that purpose. That site would certainly be ideal for the scheme now contemplated.” The next step would be to secure the co-operation of the Auckland Grammar School Board to make the site available. "I am sure, in view of the importance and magnitude of the proposal, their co-operation may, be relied upon,” Sir George continued. “The complete idea, then, would be to provide housing for the School of Fine Arts, the School of Architecture and the School of Music, and thus provide adequate premises for all such cultural and aesthetic societies of the City. The great advantage of the proposition will be that the accommodation provided will be made much better, and more frequent use will be made of it than if provision was made for independent organisations only. “The achievement of such an objective would bind the University and the civic life of the City more closely together, and would result in Auckland taking a step practically unique in this particular direction.” In conclusion Sir George paid a ! tribute to the City Council. “The Auckland City Council has j already given a lead to other city | councils in the line of courses of lec- ; tures on government and finance, and ! such an action as I have outlined would redound to the credit of the I City government,” he said.