Hello everyone,
Thank you for your continued support of our campaign. We met with Sunderland University but the meeting was entirely perfunctory to let the Uni meet their obligation to engage with us. For some bizarre reason they think we would like to GIVE THEM money to continue their mismanagement.
The University and many others up and down the country are facing funding cuts to creative courses due to governmental policy change. It is obvious to all that the Universities are not suitable guardians of culture anymore. Profits are the leading motivator in all of our educational establishments. This seemingly includes hoovering up land and buildings at peppercorn costs from local authorities who were also supposed to be the guardians of community and council assets.
We are sleep walking into a precarious economic situation whereby universities have such sway over local councils, funding and development that they can dictate what culture a city is allowed to have. Dubious investments abroad add spiralling costs that continue to impact the student experience.
Upshot of this is we are still here pushing for a fairer outcome for the UK glass industry. Save the National Glass Centre campaign is a small fight in the North East but it represents something so much bigger. It is representative of the dismantling of the nation’s cultural heritage and access to the arts. It is representative of a bigger more damaging societal shift.
Please share the campaign again. Keep us in mind. Tell everyone that we need to act now. For lots more information please head to our blog below. Keep adding comments. We love to hear about what the National Glass Centre means to you!
All the love Jo Howell
#savethenationalglasscentre #savethengc #campaignforthearts #culturewar #glassmaking #ukglass