October 2010
1 post
Quality regional arts organisations like Waygood...
Quality regional arts organisations like Waygood genuinely improve peoples’ lives. They deserve our support.
Matthew de Pulford
September 2010
2 posts
A Crying Shame
I am a practising artist living in Northumberland. Groups such as Waygood are not only the centres that artists need, but among the vital places where work, ideas, understanding are transmitted out of the artistic community. You have our good wishes and our hopes that clearer thinking will prevail on the part of funders,
Best Wishes,
Geoff Heslop, The Shipbuilders
Good wishes from Edinburgh
I first visited Waygood 6 years ago with a group of students from Ediinburgh. Since then I have followed the project and have been eagerly awaiting a first visit to the new Waygood. I wish you all the best in these difficult circumstances.
May 2010
1 post
Can't believe this!
Can’t believe this! I’ve been following the progress of the Waygood Gallery on the web but hadn’t looked for a while….looked today and was stunned at the news that funding has been pulled. It seems such a uniquely inspirational place for both artists and public….one that newcastle should be so proud to have nurtured. So sorry for you all and hope that this decision...
April 2010
7 posts
I'm a art student at newcastle university
i’m a art student at newcastle university, learnt about waygood as part of one of our modules, seemed like a great place! seems crazy to withdraw funding at this stage, hope they change their minds! x
New council
The present tight-fisted Council’s days are numbered.Come the local elections in May should hopefully see the election of a Council who think Newcastle’s culture is worth the investment;so make your vote count.
Much love to Helen
xxx Annie Padwick
Support Waygood
Waygood Gallery has built a solid reputation that punches well above its weight, its would be a great loss for Newcastle to lose that.
Joseph Steele, Head of Operations, GOTW[!]
I think it’s a tragedy what has happened. A bad decision that has made a waste of the time and money spent on the project, and an art space that could have brought artists into the centre of Newcastle life.
Marianne Heaslip
Seems like another bout of short-sightedness from those who hold the purse strings. It takes years to build up an organisation like Waygood - and one silly funding decision to destroy a lot of hard work. I know how much effort it takes to create buildings, and it seems very unfair that you won’t be able to inhabit the building you’ve put so much good work into.
Penny Jones, BV Studios, Bristol
I run BV Studios, newly established in Bristol. Withdrawing Waygood’s funding at the final stage is seriously short-sighted and very difficult to understand…it shows a marked lack of joined-up thinking. BV Studios, thank goodness, exists entirely through the generosity of one business man and his vision to support artists in Bristol - relying on funding in today’s economic...
March 2010
257 posts
This situation sounds really unfair, you...
Thanks to you Waygood I got my first start at working in the arts!
You certainly have my best wishes,
Claire O’Brien.
Wishes for Waygood from Bochum (Germany)
Dear Waygood-artists, members and staff, when I heard of the serious trouble for the Waygood Gallery I was really shocked. Regarding your successful work since years on such a high level I can’t really believe it. Because of my work as an artist in different Countries I everytimes made the experience how well-known Waygood in the European-wide art-scene is. I really hope the heads of the...
John O'Rourke - Lecturer / Course Leader of a...
I’m an artist creating works to commission, with very little knowledge of Arts Council funding mechanisms. However, I do have positive experience of Waygood - mainly through my role as a 0.6 contracted Lecturer / Course Leader of a Foundation Degree in Fine Art at Tyne Metropolitan College. As an organisation, Waygood has my support. Jude Thomas, in particular, has been very...
Think global, act local
Upon arriving in Newcastle from France in 2007, Waygood hit my map immediately as one of the main drivers in the magic of Newcastle, where a local, grassroots scene interfaced with an international scene in a mutually productive, organic way. I hope that this essential cultural identity of Newcastle will continue.
Atau Tanaka
Culture lab
The Waygood, when it was still in the town centre,...
The Waygood, when it was still in the town centre, organised some really good discussions. I still remember a meeting, which must have been in 2004 or 2005, to discuss notions of ‘popular culture’ as part of the debate surrounding Newcastle and Gateshead’s bid to be City of Culture. It brought together arts practioners, public sector officers in relevant areas, and academics;...
I wish Edinburgh had a Waygood!
When visiting Newcastle from both Edinburgh and Norway where I am originally from, I always made a point of visiting Waygood. I always thought Newcastle was lucky to have such a place, and wish that Edinburgh had such an artist led gallery/studio complex. This is why I could not believe the news when I heard that funding was being withdrawn by the Arts Council and Newcastle Council. A gallery is...
Bethan Maddocks, Artist
I first encountered Waygood in 2005 in my second year of University when Helen came to talk to my fine art course about the redevelopment in High Bridge. It was great to hear that opening soon after my graduation would be a contemporary artist run space in the centre of town. After graduating I got in contact with Waygood who gave me paid employment at events. When I got offered my first...
Sharon Wilson
Dear NCC and ACE,
Bottom line if you don’t trust Waygood to run a building at least let them still do what they are really good at and thats supporting artists and programming intelligent ideas which adds to the cultural capital and ambience of the city. Their vision is in the heart in a building which will potentially left with a hole if you are not careful.
Viva La Waygood. long live...
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The Good Waygood Way
Waygood has brought me fresh and interesting visions of contemporary art over the years and is one of the reasons I am proud to be from Newcastle. It’s organic and non-commercial ethos makes it possible to feel part of something special and unique rather than feeling like an observer looking in from the outside (the way too many galleries make you feel). My wish is that it doesnt change into...
Mark P
Dear Arts Council and Newcastle City,
Please don’t use the travails of Waygood as a way of instigating funding cuts through the backdoor, leaving you, conveniently not having to not acknowledge the complicity, incompetence and buck passing of agencies outside Waygoods control.
Arts venues in Newcastle. Newcastle needs Waygood...
Ken Byers
One of the strengths of Waygood is that it is...
However, Waygood has become far more than the staff who run it, or the board who manage it. Its legacy lies in the artists, projects, communities and audiences that it has supported over the last two decades. Waygood’s niche in the North East is as a contemporary art locus that reaches far beyond the region, both on a national and international level. It seems impossible that the City...
Always enjoy the exhibitions at Northern Stage....
Megan
Waygood has been a fresh and invigorating resource...
The move to the City Centre, with Helen Smith as Director, promised to be an exciting new chapter full of potential. It is frustrating and worrying to see the fruits of so much hard work jeopardized.
Andrew Burton
Waygood has a national and international...
I have always had the greatest respect and admiration for the work they do and believe that to discontinue support for such an important force for art and culture in the region would be the height of folly.
Graduates of the Fine Art Department of Newcastle University have benefited greatly from the opportunities and facilities that Waygood provide, not just the studio spaces but the advice,...
Waygood being 'put out to tender'???
Waygood being ‘put out to tender’? A sincere, well meaning and ambitious arts project should not be snatched out of the hands of it’s founders and awarded to the grabbing hands of opportunists and the highest bidder. The law of the jungle doesn’t ever favour the arts or artists. I wish Waygood could be nurtured and supported by both the Councils, I really thought that was...
Waygood is an organisation that Newcastle should...
Conor Lawless
The original Waygood team to continue
The original Waygood at High Bridge was brilliant and those who made it so, should be given every support in making the new project develop that success.
Dr S. N. Brown
The Waygood is an important part of the arts scene...
Leonie O’Moore
Mai Twynham (Plumleaf07 Arts)
Waygood is and can be WAYGOOD……please do not abandon ship will be a FAB addiion to City’s Art Trail……I would love to support and participate in future Arts into Education and Community Work and volunteering opportunities…..Would be SAD to let go of What could be WAYGOOD in the near and distant Future…..Too much love passion sweat and committment has gone...
