Email news bulletin October 2006

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Contents:

Review of Primary Education
The Museums Association
Allotments Regeneration Initiative
Art at the Rockface
Marine Stewardship Council
Restoration - the Watts Gallery
Farewell to Judith Dunworth

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Review of Primary Education

Over the last two decades, primary schools across the UK have faced significant reform, but how much has really changed?  For example, what is England's system of primary education trying to achieve? How well is it doing? How can it be improved? The Primary Review is a wide-ranging and independent enquiry into the condition and future of primary education in England. It is supported by Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and based at Cambridge University Faculty of Education.

The Review will draw on a broad base of evidence to address some of the questions above and other emerging issues. It will combine analysis of current practice with a vision for the future. The Review will run for two years from 13 October 2006, and will culminate in a report containing recommendations for future policy and practice. Interim reports, digests and briefings will be published along the way in order to stimulate debate.  The Review will be directed by Professor Robin Alexander, Fellow of Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, Professor of Education Emeritus at the University of Warwick, and past member of CATE, Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and other public bodies, and of the ‘three wise men’ primary enquiry of 1991-2.  For more information, visit the review website: www.primaryreview.org.uk 

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The Museums Association

In 2005, the Museums Association (MA) published Collections for the Future, the result of an eighteen-month inquiry to reinvigorate debate about the role and purpose of museum collections. Collections for the Future argued that too many museum collections are underused and set out a series of recommendations to make collections more dynamic, improve public engagement and strengthen the museums sector. A significant five-year grant from Esmee Fairbairn has now enabled the MA to launch a new scheme, Effective Collections, which aims to help museums make better use of their stored collections through two strands: supporting long loans and encouraging a more active approach to disposal. The programme will be piloted in the first two years to develop the scheme and test out ways of working with the aim of rolling it out in full over the following three years.  It is managed by the MA’s new Collections Coordinator, a role funded through Esmée Fairbairn’s grant.
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Allotments Regeration Initiative
The Allotments Regeneration Initiative (ARI) was launched in 2002 by the Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens (FCFCG) with the support of Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. Allotments were created as a response to urbanisation following the industrial revolution, providing small pockets of land for displaced rural people and the new urban workers to supplement their income and diets. Allotments as we now know them have been an integral part of the urban landscape in the UK for over a century. Allotments Regeneration Initiative has made a real difference to the position and future of allotments in the UK. Allotments now have a higher profile among the public and government. Many local authorities have, or are in the process of, producing a formal allotment strategy, enabling allotments to be included appropriately in council policies and processes.  Esmée Fairbairn and the Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens (FCFCG) have jointly produced a report which highlights ARI’s many successes in promoting and expanding the use of allotments. The report is available on the Esmée Fairbairn website and the ARI website. 
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Art at the Rockface 

Art at the Rockface, currently showing at the Millennium Galleries in Sheffield until 7 January 2007, explores how artists have taken their inspiration from the landscape. The exhibition includes works by Dürer, Turner, Moore and Goldsworthy, as well as geological specimens, flint axe heads and jewellery. The exhibition is part of the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation’s £800,000 Regional Museums Initiative, supporting ten exhibitions at 19 museums in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The scheme aims to encourage regional museums to develop important and engaging exhibition programmes in order to play an enhanced role in the cultural life of the country and help attract a constant and enthusiastic public. The exhibition has recently moved to Sheffield after a successful showing at Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery, with whom the exhibition has been developed in partnership. The Sheffield version includes a special focus on Ruskin.
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Marine Stewardship Council

Over-fishing is one of the biggest problems facing our oceans in the twenty-first century. Unless action is taken now, some of our favourite fish may disappear forever. On top of this, the serious over-fishing of certain species is damaging sensitive marine environments. A grant of £808,000 by Esmée Fairbairn to the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) aims to help tackle this problem. Over the last few years, MSC have created a niche market for sustainable seafood and now hopes to move to a stage where sustainable is the norm, rather than the exception. MSC spent two years developing a standard for well-managed, sustainable fisheries, and now rewards fisheries that meet these standards with certification, which allows them to place a distinctive blue label on all their products. MSC aims to grow its UK work from 4% to 40% through the duration of the grant, which will play a significant part in ensuring our favourite fish remain on our tables, and do not become a thing of the past.
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Restoration - the Watts Gallery

The Watts Gallery, in Compton, Surrey, currently funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, was the South East regional winner and overall runner-up in the BBC's latest Restoration series, the programme that engages viewers to vote to secure funds to restore their favourite historic building. The gallery houses a collection of works by G.F. Watts OM RA, one of the most eminent British artists of the Victorian era.  The gallery was built in 1903 by Watts and his wife Mary Seton Watts, also a renowned ceramicist, with the aim of making art accessible and inspiring to all.  The Grade II* listed building was designed in the style of the arts and crafts movement and is unique in the UK as the only purpose built gallery showing the collection of a single artist.  The building is now in a serious state of disrepair that threatens the future of the collection. The Foundation is supporting the costs of a new marketing and development officer to help raise the profile of the gallery to attract new visitors and increase support for its capital campaign to rescue the building.
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Esmée Fairbairn Foundation’s longest serving member of staff retired at the end of September.  Judith Dunworth joined Esmée Fairbairn in April 1990 as Secretary.  Judith is a keen musician and trained singer.  Everyone at the Foundation thanks her for her hard work and enthusiasm and wishes her the best for the future.
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Published by Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, 11 Park Place, London SW1A 1LP.

Contact: bulletin@esmeefairbairn.org.uk

20 October 2006

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