A couple of weeks ago, we were delighted to welcome our Friends for afternoon tea; we greeted them with a delicious selection of home-made scones and cakes made by the Cafe, and refreshed them with a very good cuppa.
The Friends are a group of craft-loving folk who support New Brewery Arts through an annual donation; many of them also give their time to volunteer at exhibitions and share an interest in the welfare and future of New Brewery Arts.
CEO Beth Alden welcomed the Friends and reviewed the past year’s highlights, including the Grayson Perry exhibition in June. Julie Cope’s Grand Tour – The Story of a Life attracted a very large audience (many of whom hadn’t previously known much about what we do here) who enjoyed the exhibition and contributed generously to our exhibition donation box. Now our challenge is to make all the rest of the exhibitions as popular!
Beth said, “Because we have no regular Arts Council England or Cotswold District Council funding, the subscriptions of Friends and donations given make a real difference, keeping our exhibitions at the lowest possible cost, and offering a wide range of workshops and courses”.
Beth also gave the Friends an insight into the exhibitions for 2018 including the highlighted Lucienne Day: Living Design exhibition.
This will be our major exhibition, taking place between 17 March and 20 May; it offers an insight into the career of one of Britain’s best known and most influential post-war designers.
We’ll be organising workshops around this so keep an eye out!
Look out, too, for Methods of Making (contemporary furniture), Raw Talent (the work of our tutors and students), a display of Suffragette Banners to mark the 100th anniversary of women's right to vote, and John Barleycorn Must Die (the craft of corn dollies and folklore).