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	The Client
	The New Art Gallery for Walsall exists to provide all the people of Walsall with a cultural and educational service of the very highest quality, and to act as a focus for civic pride and community identity. Its artistic programming, the presentation and development of its collections and its access and interpretation strategies propose a model of how art galleries can contribute meaningfully to twenty-first century life and culture. As an art gallery of outstanding excellence, it seeks to disseminate its work as widely as possible, thus drawing national and international attention to Walsall. Mission statement, The New Art Gallery Walsall These are not just empty words. Central to the vision for The New Art Gallery Walsall is a commitment to the community and to the forging of new relationships with diverse audiences who are seen not just as spectators but as participants. The New Art Gallery is founded on a very real commitment to partnership with the people of Walsall, but also with the wider economic and political life of the town. All sorts of examples underline the value placed on the involvement of people living in Walsall with the Gallery. The location of the children's galleries, which lie at the heart of the new building making it the focus for the ground floor, was fundamental to the brief and reflects Walsall's commitment to extending participation and developing audiences of the future. There is a recognition that this building has been created by groups of people in all sorts of ways; that human endeavour is at the heart of the process and is intrinsically linked to the fabric of the building. Photographing all those involved with the design and construction of the building so that there is a record of everyone who helped create the project - from the architect and Gallery Director to the concretors, scaffolders and roofers reflects, celebrates and documents this human achievement. The award given to the Gallery by a 74 year old pensioner from nearby Bloxwich in recognition of the Gallery displaying his work in 'The People's Show' - an exhibition which opened the Gallery to a display of work chosen by and from local people of all ages and sections of the community and which is now recognised as a model of community participation in the arts - symbolises the pioneering and lively approach of the Gallery to the community. An approach that is recognised nationally and internationally. This vision of encouraging direct participation in the arts, the expression of creativity and the achievement of educational excellence drives the project from concept, through the development of the design, to detailed design and the way the building is constructed. It is fundamental to how the building will operate and to the role of the arts in the community. Talk to anyone involved in the Art Gallery and you will be carried away by their infectious enthusiasm for the fusion of outstanding accessibility with contemporary architecture and the role of the arts in urban regeneration. Who makes the decisions? There are collective names for every organisation and client. But individuals count. The client of the New Art Gallery Walsall is Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council. But what does that mean? It is the people of Walsall who elect their local authority representatives; the councillors who sit on the various committees and boards; the officers who run the Council's business and the staff of the Gallery. But the network of people and ideas which have impacted on the project stretches wider. Everyone who has ever attended an exhibition, workshop, lecture or talk has helped influence the evolution of the New Art Gallery, as did all those who took part in the extensive community consultation programme which attempted to open a dialogue between the New Art Gallery Project Team and a broad cross section of the Borough of Walsall's residents. Uniquely, the consultation involved exhibitions in schools, libraries and shopping centres, workshops with adults, school children and people with special needs and a postal survey to 10,000 households. Without the support of the local community little could have been achieved. However, among these anonymous groups there are still key players: the politicians who determine the policies and budgets; the Committee which manages the Museum and Art Gallery; the Chief Officer who writes about the arts in the Authority's newsletter and, absolutely central to the whole vision, the Gallery Director. The dynamics of any project are critical. What is remarkable about the Walsall project is its commitment to excellence at every level and a determination that Walsall will no longer accept second best. The concept of excellence drives both the architectural and construction processes and the strategies for developing a sound relationship between the Gallery and the people of Walsall (the Gallery has recently been highly commended for developing its Viewing Gallery and site visits for local people). Excellence is central to the vision which permeates the whole project from inception to finest detail. The client is central to this vision. What is the political and planning context? How was the design team appointed? How much does the public understand about the future of Walsall and the role of the New Art Gallery in the evolution of the Town centre? The answers to these questions are complex. In order to shape our understanding of The New Art Gallery we need to explore the origins of the project, the history and evolution of Walsall and its surroundings, the way the gallery has developed since the idea of a Walsall Art Gallery was first suggested and the political context of the last ten years. While the key influences surrounding the Gallery as it emerges from its foundations are those of the last decade, the wider context cannot be ignored. The vision of the Gallery today drives the project. But it reflects both the immediate past, the inheritance of the last 150 years and a myriad of factors which affect our daily lives. Chance is one of those factors and a happy chance for Walsall is the fact that a Dr Garman moved to the area in the mid 19th century when new hospitals were being built and health and sanitation were major preoccupations for towns and cities. It was his grand daughter, Kathleen Garman, the wife of Jacob Epstein, who bequeathed the Garman Ryan collection to the town. References and Bibliography: JENKINSON, PETER, The New Art Gallery Director, Interview, August 1998 JENKINSON, PETER, Walsall's House for Art, engage 2, Spring 1997 PAYNE, ANTONIA, An Introduction to the Garman Ryan Collection, Walsall Museum and Art Gallery, unpublished document WALSALL MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY, Editor, A Shared Vision, The Garman Ryan Collection at The New Art Gallery Walsall , Merrell Holberton, to be published November 1999
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