Through a Marygate gate: looking towards the Minster over the Exhibition bowling green, 21 Dec 2010

Once upon a time, a long time ago … well, seven years ago, or more precisely, seven years and two months ago, 21 December 2010, I walked through an open gate on Marygate, and took the photo above, looking across a bowling green and car parking area, on land behind the art gallery and King’s Manor, towards the Minster.

This week, 21 February 2018, I walked through the same gate in the old abbey walls along Marygate, and again pointed my camera towards the Minster, across land much changed in the intervening years.

Through a Marygate gate: looking towards the Minster over the edible wood, 21 Feb 2018

So much has changed, here and everywhere, hasn’t it, in that time, in all those years. But let’s not think about the big ponderous things, let’s have a look at this small piece of land and wander across it, taking in some pleasing details, and with a few more ‘then and now views’ I’ve collected over the years. (There’s also a Google map to clarify where it is, if you’re not sure.)

So here’s another comparison, again many years apart. In January 2011, again from just inside the Marygate access gate, but this time looking to the right rather than the left.

Across the bowling green, from the Marygate entrance, 17 Jan 2011

We’re looking towards the corner where this piece of land and its bowling green met the boundary with the Museum Gardens and King’s Manor. Tempest Anderson Hall is visible on the far right.

And now, in early 2018:

To the edible wood, from the Marygate entrance, 21 Feb 2018

Now with an archway encouraging us in, through a beech hedge retained from when it bordered the bowling green. It’s now shaped in a more curving fashion and forms a boundary on two sides of an ‘edible wood’, planted in recent years. It’s an extension to the Museum Gardens, and links it to the art gallery, as you can walk through now from the side of the gallery, through the edible wood, and into the north-western corner of the Museum Gardens.

I’ve not really connected to this place since it was refashioned, and have only rarely wandered through, most recently when taking the photos a couple of months back for the piece about the festive attraction. I realised I should probably make more of an effort to get over my disconnection and lack of enthusiasm, so went back again this week to see if I could.

Clearly, there’s not a huge amount to see in any garden area in late winter, before spring growth and summer exuberance and autumn bountifulness. On the other hand, many of my visits here all those years back were in the winter months, so it makes sense to revisit again in the winter. In winter you can see the structure of it, the lie of the land.

Though this land has been planted as an edible wood, a sign at the entrance asks visitors to try not to eat bits of it.

Please don’t eat the edible wood

This may be some kind of legal thing to cover YMT if visitors injure/poison themselves inadvertently, or it might be because in previous years they ended up with invisible edibles after too many curious/hungry nibblers visited.

Around curved wide paths are planted various herbs, trees, shrubs, bulbs, and perennials, many of them unusual and interesting, or things we perhaps didn’t realise we can eat. I know however from my own experience of gardening and also foraging a bit in recent years that ‘edible’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘nice’.

Edible wood, 21 Feb 2018

Among the muted greens and browns and the faded purples of sage plants were a couple of  yellow ceramic tree trunks, parts of an outdoor installation originally placed on the grassed area immediately behind the gallery. Here they strike a rather jarring note, perhaps that’s deliberate.

A ceramic tree trunk painted bright yellow, stuck in a garden in winter (21 Feb 2018)

The jarring note was soothed away by the beautifully formed notes sung by this handsome little feathered visitor, as I wandered through.

Robin on sage plants, edible wood, 21 Feb 2018

There’s a bench here too, in memory of Katie Rough. Katie ‘loved feeding the squirrels and birds’.

Katie Rough memorial bench, 21 Feb 2018

Though it looks generally muted and winterish here, there are signs of spring growth, just emerging.

Signs of spring, 21 Feb 2018

And at the back of the art gallery itself, as we head for the alleyway alongside it, this stunning bit of planting.

Impressive winter planting, behind the art gallery, 21 Feb 2018

Pleasing vertical emphasis, and those vibrant dogwood stems. Splendidly handsome and cheering.

This sign on the corner as I left reminded me of something else I’ve been wanting to mention.

CCTV camera sign, by the art gallery, 21 Feb 2018

Not sure about the ‘personal safety’ part. Surely in this location it’s more about protecting property and monitoring behaviour. ‘Surveillance cameras in use’ would do.

The sign reminded me that I really should mention a current planning application for seven more surveillance cameras in the Museum Gardens. More details on this link. There appears to be a lack of interest in this, which seems odd to me, as several questions could/should be asked about this latest proposed addition to ‘our’ park. It’s not that long since YMT highlighted the cuts to their funding and gave this as justification for charging for entry to the art gallery, etc. Now there’s enough money available to pay for seven new cameras. Surely there’s a difference between a garden/park area and a city centre street. Surely a lot of people go to the Museum Gardens to try to get away from the stresses and cares, to be in a natural and therapeutic environment. Constant CCTV surveillance doesn’t seem to fit happily with this.

Perhaps they’ll all be trained on the ‘edible wood’, and the Press will start to carry photos of people caught on CCTV surreptitiously pocketing an artichoke.

Anyway, back to the plot … crossing the front of the art gallery I headed for the grounds of King’s Manor, to get a photo of the edible wood from the edge of the King’s Manor car park, following up on photos taken over the years (see below). But I must mention that on the way, just inside the railings, I noticed a wonderful scent. I realised it was a low hedge of sarcococca. It has a lovely scent at this time of the year from its small white flowers. If you’re in the area go have a sniff, and admire the view of the Minster too, and the buildings setting it off so well.

Scented sarcococca hedge, York Minster view, 21 Feb 2018

And so to another ‘then and now’ view. Here we’re on the other side of the site, looking back across to the Marygate gate, where we started this page.

Starting in 2013, with the bowling green:

View across the bowling green, later edible wood, 9 Feb 2013

Then a couple of years on, with the paths for the edible wood taking shape:

View across the former bowling green, edible wood development, 15 June 2015

And now, in early 2018:

View across the edible wood, 21 Feb 2018

Always interesting to see how garden areas are designed, and how they develop. Good too to have more green areas open to the public. But I feel it needs to be kept in mind that a bowling green was closed to make this edible wood – ‘bowlers who previously used the area have been moved to alternative facilities’ (source (PDF)) – and that it was rather controversial at the time. I remember that well.

It was interesting to read, while compiling this page, comments by the Yorkshire Gardens Trust, in a summary of their objections to the 2014 planning application (14/02246/FUL) for the landscaping work, in this report (PDF). The Trust expressed concerns about many aspects, including the curving paths and the dominant service road alongside, and concluded that ‘the proposals should be rejected because they are wrong for this site’ stating that ‘the former bowling green is an attractive green space and should be left as such.’

The edible wood is rather young and new, but it did look like it was flourishing in the summer last year when I took a photo of it from the art gallery balcony during the open day. More of us can now enjoy the area than was the case before, and the edibles aspect is an interesting idea.

At one time this area around the Art Gallery, Yorkshire Museum and Museum Gardens, and the Theatre Royal was referred to as the Cultural Quarter, and maybe still is, though thankfully I don’t see the phrase so often these days. There’s culture everywhere, all kinds of it, this ‘quarter’ is just some of the posher stuff.

Here in the ‘cultural quarter’ a bowling green was turned into an edible wood. So many levels to this story, and connected to the area of grass alongside. A revisit to that was going to be part of this page, but it’s too complicated. Maybe another time.

Instead I’ll end the page with a reader’s comment on a Press story on the opening of the edible wood, on 13 May 2015. ‘York City Blues’ suggested:

The Edible Wood is a back up plan to the food banks and a cheaper alternative to shopping at Aldi or Lidl.

. . . . .

If you’ve enjoyed this wintertime wander, virtual coffees are always welcome, thank you. I’m continuing to add to this resident’s record of York and its changes as often as I can. As some of the photos above perhaps make clear, I’ve been doing this for some years now. And have just remembered a wintertime city centre wander from Feb 2009 which may be of interest. It’s one of the older pages, and has a slightly different format, so the ‘related posts’ below won’t show it.

More information on how to support this site is on this link.

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Admiring from the outside: the back of the art gallery

Back in the news today — the increasingly complicated issue of the charges to enter the art gallery and museums managed by York Museums Trust. The longer it goes on the more tangled and confusing it gets. In the midst of the discussion and debate, I hope YorkCard holders have noticed the following on the YMT website:

York Museums Trust is honouring all York Cards bought until the 31st July, continuing to allow free access to the York Castle Museum and the Yorkshire Museum.

York Cards bought after 31 July 2015 will no longer be valid for free entry to York Museums Trust attractions.

(Under ‘Additional Information’ on this page on the YMT site)

As I’m one of those with a card bought earlier this year, before that apparently random cut-off date, I guess I should take advantage of this and visit (or rather, revisit) the museums in question before the situation changes again. The art gallery, on the other hand, I won’t be rushing to visit, as it’s not included in the above.

As mentioned in the Press report today, the issue of entry charges and the wider issues of YMT funding and agreements with the council are to be discussed at a meeting of the Executive next week. In preparation for that, proposals have been put forward which would see certain groups of people qualify for free entry.

The whole situation has been bizarre to witness, from the time it became clear that charges were to be introduced and that York residents would lose our ‘free’ (YorkCard funded) entry.

It’s got more weird and complicated now. Young carers and residents with mental health issues are two of the groups of people who may be given free entry, according to the latest proposals. I assume it’s based on the idea that contact with ‘the arts’ is therapeutic, and it’s clearly well-meant, but how is that going to be managed, I wonder. There are plenty of people dealing with mental health difficulties and young people caring for others who aren’t necessarily presenting themselves to the health and support services?

As an outsider looking on in an impartial kind of way it’s looking like the whole thing has become so sensitive and difficult that we’re going to end up with an elaborate and complicated system of free entry/reduced price entry that no one understands, and that people like me who may have visited the gallery and museums a few times a year just won’t bother to visit anymore.

Giving free entry to young people seems to be the norm in these situations, but the youngest visitors still need to be accompanied by a paying adult, so I’m not sure how that works. And though it’s well-meant, I’m not convinced it’s particularly beneficial. The phrase ‘wasted on the young’ comes to mind. It was as an adult, and in relatively recent times, that I began to properly appreciate the ‘cultural offer’ of the city’s art gallery. I imagine I’m not alone in that.

It has been interesting to see comments about the new YMT card, which is intended to bring in income to YMT while encouraging repeat visits, via a card bought annually. Many people consider it a bargain, pointing out how much it works out at per day/week. That’s fine, if you’re someone who isn’t having to think about every purchase you make, if you’re on a good salary. In that situation a YMT card is clearly a good investment. But there are many people in the city who aren’t in that situation. And perhaps they’re the kind of people who really appreciated being able to visit ‘our’ gallery a few times a year, maybe just on a whim, one lunch hour. They’re unlikely to do that now.

An idea

I keep thinking about two things in relation to this rather sad situation. One was a comment by Cllr Johnny Hayes on the YMT site, and the other is a scheme I remember flickr.com used to have, and maybe still do, where users of the site could make a gift of membership to other users. The ‘pro’ membership gave you more space for your photo uploads, removing the limits the free accounts had. It was about £12 a year, as I recall. So if you liked someone’s photos and wanted to support their work you could buy them a gift membership.

So, I’m wondering if perhaps YMT could introduce something similar. Instead of free entry being wrangled over with the council trying to get concessions for particular groups, when perhaps those ‘groups’ don’t want to be defined in that way anyway, and don’t particularly want to visit the art gallery in any case, because they’re too busy with more important things, or find their art and culture elsewhere (and let’s not forget, there’s plenty of art and culture outside these YMT buildings) — perhaps individuals who want to support free access to the gallery and museums could gift a YMT card to another person who is genuinely interested in visiting.

Just an idea which I thought I’d throw out there. There are clearly many people who want to see York residents being able to access the art gallery and museums for free, but only some of us are interested. YMT want their card to help build a ‘relationship’ with the residents. The relationship hasn’t got off to a good start, really, has it.

More information

There’s more information on the meeting on the City of York Council website, and the report for that meeting, from which the information used by the Press was taken, is also online, as a PDF.

As reported in the Press, under a headline which puts a surprisingly positive spin on the situation: 4,000 people to be given free entry to York Art Gallery under new proposals

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‘Stop looking at your phones and do something’. Art gallery, Feb 2013

Thinking about the imminent charges at the soon to be reopened art gallery has reminded me of the last time I was in there. Just before the art gallery closed for its major refurbishment, in February 2013, it opened its doors for people to make their own art and comment on its walls. At the time I included a page on the yarn bombing outside, but I also took these photos inside, not included then. Seems a good time to share them now.

‘The open day was all about the public taking ownership of the gallery as we handed it over to them for the day’, the Press reported, back then.

And outside, the yarn bombing event, which I did a page about at the time. And said that for me the work in the public space outside — Exhibition Square — was the highlight. A reminder that the crafty and arty creativity isn’t always behind the doors of our cultural institutions.

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Some days ago we were waiting for clarification on proposed entrance charges at the art gallery, as discussed on this site. The clarification came yesterday and was reported in the Press.

Source: Report (PDF) prepared for next week’s City of York Council meeting

The press release

Rather than relying on press reports it’s often enlightening to look at the original press release on the City of York Council website. In this case perhaps more irritating than enlightening, as it was a stunning example of putting a positive spin on something that doesn’t feel very positive at all. I’d got used to this kind of thing under the previous administration, and hoped the tone of these things might change. But no. I read it several times, and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, as they say.

It starts with the heading ‘proposals for greater commercial freedom’ — doesn’t that sound lovely and positive. Freedom, what could be wrong with freedom. YMT has ‘robust and exciting plans’, ooh, doesn’t that sound good. And of course it wouldn’t be complete without the word ‘innovate’ and the phrase ‘cultural offer’.

But what it’s actually about is an imminent decision to introduce admission charges which would mean that the city’s ‘cultural offer’ — or at least parts of it managed by YMT — will be inaccessible to many residents who have been able to visit previously for free (or, in the case of the museums, for the cost of a York Card).

There’s a larger debate to be had on art being ‘free’, and one kicked off on Twitter at the weekend. These things all need paying for by someone at some point.

The specific issue here is whether York residents should be expected to pay to enter the art gallery and the Castle Museum, and whether those charges are fair, and what the impact of them would be.

In other places: how Brighton does it

A while back I Googled to see how other galleries were doing in the current economic climate, and found that Brighton Museum and Galleries proposed charging entry fees for non-residents back in early 2014, despite the recognition that it was ‘a move that could see visitor numbers drop by 50%’. This was perhaps handled better than it has been here in York, as clear information on the situation was provided, and it introduced charges but still maintained free entry for residents. What has been happening in other cities with their museums and galleries? I don’t know, but it might be interesting to look or perhaps if you have experience from elsewhere you can add a comment.

The York Card

These things weren’t all completely free before. We bought a York Card to access the museums and other attractions. It was only a few pounds but it wasn’t free.

And also striking is the fact that many people think the York Card currently costs £2 or £3. It doesn’t. It now costs £5. Presumably the increase was brought in for the new financial year.

Perhaps many of us have York Cards but haven’t used them much? So perhaps we won’t really miss our ‘privilege’ of free access as much as we think?

But is it more the principle of the thing? That feeling that ‘our’ art gallery and ‘our city’s museums’ have been moved into a Trust, out of council ownership/management, and access to them is now being sold back to us?

The art gallery refurbishment funding

There are also different ideas around about how the recent renovation and refurbishment was paid for, and whether ‘we’ (residents) paid for it. The information is on this page on the YMT website:

The project will bring an investment of £8 million into York. We are very grateful to all our funders who have made this project possible:

National Lottery through Arts Council England – £3.5 million
Private Legacy – £2 million
City of York Council – £500,000
Anthony Shaw Trust – £400,000
Garfield Weston Foundation – £250,000
The Foyle Foundation – £150,000
Sir Siegmund Warburg’s Voluntary Settlement – £100,000
The Feoffees of St Michael’s of Spurriergate – £50,000
Shepherd Group – £50,000 over three years.

We are continuing to raise funds for the remaining £1 million costs.

I think this was written some time ago, so perhaps the remaining million has been found from somewhere. But there is, in there, a contribution from City of York Council. From where? Council tax? Some people think so. Which means residents have already paid a lot into this impressive-looking building full of new and exciting exhibits.

So what now?

The proposals regarding entrance charges will be decided upon at a council meeting next week. The report for that meeting (PDF) is on this link and worth reading for more clarification on the details of the various options discussed.

The Press reports that residents may still be able to get access free on a day or two a year, on the residents’ festival, for example. It seems rather begrudging, doesn’t it. I don’t think I’ll bother.

The press release yesterday emphasised that the support of local residents is needed for YMT to move its plans forward. Some residents will support it, and do already. There’s clearly a lot of enthusiasm and excitement about the art gallery’s reopening.

See the beautiful new displays at the @YorkArtGallery with a glass of prosecco in hand – http://t.co/bBIX0sZ5Lj — York Art Gallery (@YorkArtGallery) July 12, 2015

Perhaps an appropriate and creative response would be for angry residents to assemble in a sit-down protest outside, holding empty champagne glasses.

Or perhaps instead we shrug our shoulders, recognise that the city’s ‘cultural offer’ is mainly about providing a ‘visitor offer’, and that there’s plenty of art and culture and heritage elsewhere, outside the YMT museums and galleries, and support that instead, and make more of it.

Anyway, here’s a reminder, in pictures, of a day two years ago when the public briefly ‘took ownership’ of the gallery before it closed.

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Footnote

Thanks to Cllr Nigel Ayre for clarifying, via Twitter, that the ‘papers refer to lease of York Art Gallery and Castle Museum only’. I’ve corrected this in the text.

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The previous page brought us to the front of the art gallery, so I guess I’d better get around to writing a page I’ve been meaning to write for some weeks, but have been putting off.

The art gallery has been closed since early 2013, undergoing extensive building work. It reopens on 1 August. A while back we had a look at the rather nice tiles down the side of the building’s exterior. And looking at the exterior may be all I’ll be doing when it reopens, because, as reported in the Press some months ago, the gallery is introducing admission charges.

I think many of us assumed that York residents would continue to get free access even if visitors didn’t, perhaps with the York Card, which covers the museums also managed by York Museums Trust and formerly managed by City of York Council. It was originally, as I recall, available free for York residents, but in more recent years has cost a small fee, and is renewed annually. It was £2, I thought it was now £3, but have just discovered that it’s now £5. It allows free or reduced price admission to various museums and other attractions and facilities.

There has as yet been no answer on the question ‘Will York residents with a York Card get free access to the art gallery when it reopens?’ Which is a bit troubling, considering the reopening is only a couple of weeks away. Also troubling was seeing polite requests for clarification apparently ignored and unanswered, despite being repeated several times in an equally polite way.

@YorkMuseumTrust Hi, what’s the deal on York Card holders getting into the fab new @YorkArtGallery when it reopens please? Thanks

— Yorkshireman (@mythofthenorth) July 15, 2015

This is the latest:

@mythofthenorth Hi, please accept our apologise for not responding. We hope to be able to announce something soon. — York Art Gallery (@YorkArtGallery) July 17, 2015

So we can perhaps assume that there’s discussion going on behind the scenes with the council over whether York Museums Trust can afford to let York residents into the art gallery for free, as before.

It’s all a bit strange this, isn’t it. Galleries in most other cities don’t charge, as far as I’m aware. But friends I’ve spoken to aren’t surprised, with many people connecting it with the cutbacks to local services in general.

It could be said that anyone visiting the city as a tourist is likely to be wealthy enough to pay an entrance fee. Tourists arrive with money to spend and pay to access other museums and historic attractions. On the other hand, we, the residents, we’re not all well-off, and we have a different relationship to ‘our art gallery’. I thought it used to be about those long-established notions of ‘civic pride’, about a place cherishing and safeguarding its art and its culture and heritage on behalf of the people of that city, and for their benefit.

Sadly, the recent lack of clarity on the proposed charges, and the silence in response to questions, has accentuated a feeling I’ve had for some time, that this gallery is now so visitor/tourist-focused, so outward-looking and remote in its idea of ‘culture’, here in the ‘cultural quarter’, that it isn’t ‘ours’. If ‘ours’ means all the people of the city, not just the better-off ones. How many can justify paying either £20+ a year for a YMT card or £7.50 for one visit, I wonder.

There are concessions for younger residents and people receiving benefits – details on that link above. I’m not sure that someone on benefits will be able to justify even the half price YMT card? People who aren’t on benefits but instead on low incomes or with little available disposable income may also find it difficult to justify the cost.

Perhaps it doesn’t matter. Perhaps the people who won’t be able to afford it don’t want to visit anyway. I haven’t noticed a massive outcry on the matter, so perhaps it’s all fine and not worth my mentioning it, but I thought I would, as I think it’s important and a rather sad thing really.

It has to be put in context, of course. York Museums Trust has had to shoulder a massive cut in its funding. It was ‘set up as an independent trust in order to achieve a business turnaround of the museums and art gallery and to enhance the cultural provision within the city’ says a report on the city council’s website (PDF). Also available on the council website is a report from YMT (PDF) which refers to a cut in council funding from £1.5m to £600k from 2012 to 2015. This has, it states, forced the organisation to ‘rethink the business model’.

So, we’ve ended up with what looks like a greatly enhanced art gallery, but as things stand at present many people living in the city won’t be able to afford to enter it.

More

More on the art gallery reopening, York Museums Trust website

Readers of this site who haven’t seen them already may be interested in the Lowry paintings which will be displayed in the art gallery when it reopens. ‘A View of York (from Tang Hall Bridge)’ shows the Foss Islands area with its railway line.

Letter to The Press: York’s gallery should be free to all (May 2015)

More on the background to the changes, from The Press

The Press archives also revealed that back in 2000 there was a controversial proposal to charge non-residents a £2 entry fee

And a message from me …

Everyone’s after our money, aren’t they … but I do have to draw my readers’ attention to the fact that this website – also part of the city’s ‘cultural offer’ in its own small way – is an independent, one-person production, receiving no external funding, costing money to host and a lot of time to write. If you’d like to support this work and help pay the hosting costs you can do so via this link.
Thank you
Lisa @YorkStories

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On the sunlit side of the art gallery building, from the car park of King’s Manor, these tiles were particularly striking. It didn’t register at the time, but should have done, as they’re based on something very local previously featured on these pages, when we had a wander down the alleys, perusing the paving. The tiles are based on the stable paviours forming a distinctive and characterful surface in many back alleys and former yard areas in the 19th century suburbs of the city.

Apparently the stable paviours in the alleys may have been made from colliery waste brought to the city as railway ballast. (I have no further information on this so if you do, please add a comment.) These tiles on the art gallery were made by Shaws of Darwen in Lancashire, though presumably not from colliery waste.

The double hexagon paviours in a back lane off The Mount, surrounding another very local detail:

There’s also a large expanse of them a stone’s throw from the art gallery, in a car park area behind the properties at the top end of Bootham, between Miller’s Yard off Gillygate and the Bootham Row car park.

The back wall of the art gallery has changed too, and behind it soon there will be a new garden area where the old hutments (RCAF hostel, later Marygate Centre) used to be.

More information

For more on the internal changes: www.yorkartgallery.org.uk/redevelopment-2015/

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