‘Lower-tech’ Public Gallery opens

A spokeswoman for Sandwell Borough Council, which is running the building, says the interactive gallery was able to reopen at the weekend after the Arts Council approved a business plan proposed by the council.

The council took over operations after organisation The Public Gallery, which was set up to deliver the artistic and cultural elements of The Public and was a tenant of the council-owned building, went into administration earlier this year.

Last month the Arts Council provided £3m in funding for the entire building after approving a business plan that would see a ‘lower-tech’ version of the gallery opening. ‘It’s not as interesting as it originally would have been,’ says a spokeswoman for the council.

The spokeswoman says all the 12 works that were originally proposed for the gallery are still in place, and that five or six of them are currently operating.

The gallery features works by interactive consultancy All of Us, interior designer Ben Kelly, and artists Blast Theory, Usman Haque and Marie Sester.