Work together to prevent the threatened immediate closure of Inverleith House as an art gallery, scheduled for this Sunday 23 October, and to ensure that it remains open to the people of Edinburgh and visitors alike as one of the city's best-loved and most significant arts spaces.
Why is this important?
Inverleith House, in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, has been a much-loved and deeply valued public arts space in Edinburgh for well over half a century, first as the home of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, then under the management of the Royal Botanic Garden itself.
Given the importance of the gallery as an iconic location in Edinburgh, and a much-loved space both for the people of the city and for international visitors, it seems outrageous that the RBGE management should seek to close it at just a few days' notice, and without public consultation, apparently with a view to exploiting it for more commercially rewarding purposes.
Yet the amount of public money invested in maintaining the house as a gallery over the years raises questions about whether the RBG management have any moral right to close it to the public in this way, or have any idea of the sense of loss that will be felt by tens of thousands of people, in Edinburgh and far beyond, who - because of the gallery's unique location - may in some cases have had their first-ever experience of modern art in these beautiful rooms.
It is difficult to imagine any more appropriate use for this beautiful historic building than the one it has enjoyed over the past half century; and this petition asks all the key bodies involved - the Board and management of the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh, Creative Scotland, Edinburgh City Council, Visit Scotland, and others - to come together, as a matter of urgency, to ensure that this beautiful building remains open to the public as an arts space and gallery, for the foreseeable future.
