Artists' open letter backs new glass-making hub
BBCMore than 200 glass and ceramics practitioners have signed an open letter in support of a new glass-making hub in a city.
Glassworks, in the former Peter Smith Antiques building in the Sunniside area of Sunderland, is planned to replace the National Glass Centre (NGC), which is set to close in July over unaffordable repair costs.
Campaigners for the NGC had criticised the location and the suitability of the proposed site, raising concerns about safety and a "glass-making gap" until its expected opening in 2028.
But the open letter said the project was "the most realistic opportunity" to retain glass-making in the city.
Glass artist and letter primary author Colin Rennie said he had been in the building and was "excited" about what could be done with it.
"It's also a very appropriate size," Rennie, who is also a part-time lecturer in glass and ceramics at the University of Sunderland, said.
"The glass centre is very, very big, this one is a more manageable size," he said.
Rennie said the letter was independent with signatories including Almuth Tebbenhoff, vice president of the Royal Society of Sculptors, Brandi Clark, executive director of Glass Art Society, glass artist Katharine Coleman and winner of Netflix series Blown Away Elliot Walker.
'Glass-making at risk'
NGC custodian the University of Sunderland has said the centre will close in July over unaffordable repair costs, put at between £14m and £45m.
It is also ending its glass-making degrees, saying continuing the courses was not financially viable.
The artists' letter said the closure of the glass centre was "deeply regrettable".
However, it added glass-making in Sunderland had "never been defined by a single structure".
The "primary asset at risk" was the "continuation of glass-making itself" the letter said, adding it was "the skills, knowledge, passionate people, and professional ecology that sustain the practice and its community of makers".
The letter said glass-making had a "documented lineage" of more than 1,350 years in Sunderland, during which time it had "existed in many different buildings".
"The history of glass in this city has never been defined by a single structure," it added.
Alexandra CarrA spokesperson for Save the National Glass Centre said the group was disappointed that the letter "misrepresents our campaign as merely being about preventing the loss of an important cultural building".
"We are about so much more than that," the spokesperson said, while urging the signatories of the letter to meet the campaigners.
Rennie said the campaign's work was recognised, but there was a "point where you need to decide to back a particular direction because it's the most viable route to success".
"I don't want to see the place close, I don't think anyone here wants to see the place close, but you have to think about how you can continue," he said.
Sunderland Culture, which will run Glassworks, has previously said it would work to ensure the facilities were fit for purpose