Dear supporter,
The road to saving the Wedgwood Collection has been a long one, as you may be aware over the last 3 years we have been trying to prevent the forced sale and dispersion of the Wedgwood Collection - we all agree that to do this would be a travesty. The Collection contains 80,000 works of art, ceramics, manuscripts, and letters, pattern books and photographs covering the 250 year history of Wedgwood; it is a unique archive of British politics, society, science and art. The archive represents priceless evidence of one company's contribution to a world of fast paced commercial innovation, scientific discovery, intellectual enlightenment and turbulent social history.
"The Wedgwood Museum's Collection is a window into the Wedgwood family's business and private life set within the context of the Industrial Revolution. It is, quite simply, one of the most extraordinary and rare Collections of its type in the UK"
Carole Souter, Chief Executive of the Heritage Lottery Fund
The Collection must be saved and must remain in North Staffordshire.
We are delighted to say that good news is here, and we finally have a chance to save the Collection – forever. A steering group, led by the Art Fund with members including the Administrator, Tristram Hunt MP, Rt. Hon. Ed Vaizey, MP Minister for Culture, Alison Wedgwood, Gaye Blake Roberts, the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Arts Council have been working behind the scenes for a number of years, and in recent months, after exploring all options the Art Fund have agreed to raise the funds needed to buy the Collection – thereby safeguarding it in perpetuity. The Art Fund is leading the campaign and will buy the Collection and this will then be gifted to the V&A museum. The V&A has the curatorial, legal and business expertise and a remit to the protect the national collection of art and design and so it makes sense for them to own the collection – BUT always with the intention that it remains on display in Staffordshire at the existing Barlaston site. This solution safeguards the Collection in perpetuity and keeps it on display in the local area where it was created and evolved over 250 years.
We need £15.75m to do so, and have already raised over £13m – a major achievement.
However, today marks the beginning of the public appeal to raise the remaining £2.74m needed by 30 November in order to safeguard it.
We therefore are asking any keen supporters to contribute something to ensure we can end the uncertainty and ensure the Collection is saved forever. The good news is any donation by members of the public will be matched by a private trust and so we are optimistic that we can raise the £2.74 million by the deadline.
The Wedgwood family would like to offer their heart felt gratitude for your expressions of support, it has been a tumultuous few years and we feel that finally there is light at the end of the tunnel.
We have ceded the Save Wedgwood web-site to the Art Fund to run the campaign – therefore if you would like to stay up to date about the campaign, please e-mail members@artfund.org and the Art Fund will add you to their new mailing list.
Please support this incredibly important campaign by donating – either by phone, text, online or by post – and by spreading the word.
The new www.savewedgwood.org website is now the official fundraising platform – please consider going on line today and make a donation, call 0844 415 4100 or Text WEDGWOOD to 70800 and donate £10
Thank you for all your interest and support over the years. We do believe that, together, we can save this remarkable Collection – once and for all.
Very best wishes
Alison and Tom Wedgwood
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