Welcome to the April issue of Amber's e-newsletter.

In this Issue

	A Luta Continua!/The Struggle Continues!

In Other News

Side Gallery

9 Side

Newcastle upon Tyne

NE1 3JE

0191 232 2208

side.gallery@amber-online.com

OPEN: Tues - Sat

11am - 5pm

Closed: Fri 29 April 

We’d like to say a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who has signed the petition, made a donation and/or written to the Arts Council expressing concern at their cutting of Side Gallery’s revenue funding. Some of you have written more than once – and Lee Hall has been tireless in his efforts on our behalf. (Check out the interview with Lee Hall in the Times review this coming Saturday).

We’d also like to thank the Northern Regional Conference of the TUC for their unanimously passed emergency motion and MPs Grahame Morris (Easington), Chi Onwurah (Central Newcastle) and Dave Anderson (Blaydon) for their help and support. It means an awful lot to us. And we’ve been genuinely moved by your comments. The Arts Council has registered the strength of feeling and has indicated a desire to find other ways of supporting the gallery.

ACE is saying that the decision was not based on any prejudice against collectives, although it is hard to square that with the wording of their assessment. It is possible that they don’t fully understand the governance issues involved. They want to work with us over the next few months to look at how they can support Side Gallery through project funding (Grants for the Arts and Touring). We will obviously approach this creatively, but we need to establish how the core running costs can be met and how all of this can work with our plans to develop access both to the gallery and to the film and photography archive. We have said how important it is, for an organisation so rooted in continuity and long-term engagements, that we get back to a revenue funded basis as soon as possible.

We’ll keep you informed of progress. We’re putting in a complaint to the Arts Council about the mistakes and flawed statements in their assessment and about the obvious failure to address any meaningful sense of ‘portfolio’ balance in the decision to cut the only documentary photography gallery in the country. Coinciding with this, we plan to deliver the petition. So, if anybody still wants to put their name or comments down, this needs to be done by May 12th.

I LOVE SIDE GALLERY PETITION

A Luta Continua!/The Struggle Continues!

'A Luta Continua!' continues to be well received and we have had a particularly good response to the 'Open Call' element  of the exhibition. 

As we had hoped, people are continuing to email us images of protest, revolution and resistance from around the world, allowing this section of the exhibition to continually grow and evolve.

We will continue to add work until the last week of the exhibition

(deadline: Thursday 19th May)

so it's not too late to get involved!