(Above) A band play as part of Pallant House's free opening for Museums at Night 2009, a ploy they hope to repeat on a permanent basis if a new campaign to introduce free entry at the popular Chichester gallery proves successful
Review: Mark Sheerin heads to Chichester to witness the launch of Pallant House’s new campaign to introduce free entry by 2012 as part of Museums at Night.
The weather has been good up all morning, but it's now spitting with rain. And this development has put the release of a net full of multi-coloured balloons in jeopardy.
Around 100 wait inside Pallant House Gallery for the launch of a new campaign to have free entry by 2012. It's hoped to raise £4m, since the art collection receives no subsidies from central government and only 25 percent of funds come from public bodies.
In the foyer sits a collection box topped with a wooden model of the gallery. The small building teems with even smaller figures, who are due to turn red, one at a time, as each £50,000 is raised. A few yards away sit two ladies selling raffle tickets. A Peter Blake original could be yours for £2.
No donation is too small, or too big. In a free talk later that afternoon guide Judy Addison Smith appeals for even spare five pences. But she adds that if anyone has a rare Francis Bacon, please see one of the curators.
"It's my dream," says gallery Director Stefan van Raay about the project: "There's a great tradition in this country of free entry and we asked ourselves what we could do to make a serious contribution to the Cultural Olympiad."
Van Raay also claims there's research which suggests that scrapping the door charge could triple the number of visitors. That would bring 200,000 to the gallery each year. Indeed, with minimal publicity, they draw up to 1,500 on days they already open their doors for free.
When the threat of rain passes, the assembled guests make their way outside. The balloons are brought across to the waiting Mayor of Chichester. There's another brief hiccup as they snag against the branch of a tree, but soon the photos have been posed for, the speech made, and colours fill the clear blue sky.
Later that day, a father of three appears terrified. The question hangs: "From where you stand, sir, you can probably see quite well that it's a man reading a newspaper?" We look at the guide, then at her victim. He stares at the cubist painting on the wall and gives the only possible answer.
Jock Johnston is showing us around the collection at Pallant House Gallery and she knows how to work an audience. Her collection history runs from the European modernism bequeathed by Charles Kearley to the pop art donated by Colin Wilson. All present seem amazed at her knowledge and enthusiasm.
She has an ever-growing gaggle of followers, but in fact we're only a splinter group. Somewhere in another room is an equally well-informed tour in progress with guide Anne Hewat. It's busy for a Saturday evening. Around 50 people of all ages are taking advantage of the Museums at Night weekend.
"That's an Anthony Gormley hanging in the stairwell," Johnston tell us. She now has to shout above a jazz band. Down in the foyer four clean cut young men from Chichester College are entertaining a crowd of toe-tapping wine drinkers.
Our talk this evening runs to 90 minutes and is completely free of charge. Some 200 volunteers, including guides, give up their time to help Pallant House Gallery provide their services. A spokeswoman says they could not run without the help of such people.
Finally, we find ourselves facing Michael Andrew's painting of Thames boatmen, The Estuary. The painting is a metaphor, our guide explains, the ultimate journey. One man protests it isn't real enough for him. "Maybe," says Johnston, "it's more real than real." Once again, there's no arguing with that.
