The Moray Art Centre, opened in 2007 as a venue for arts education, has become so popular that it's already looking to expand. With first class teaching and exhibition space, the centre is also the first "zero carbon" public building in Moray by produces all the energy it consumes.
The centre, built next to the Findhorn community, has been brought to fruition largely through the inspiration and drive of artist Randy Klinger. The idea for an arts centre goes back more than a decade, when a group of artists started running art classes from what was basically an old shed. The classes became increasingly popular but the venue was less than adequate for any long-term development. After moving permanently to Findhorn from his native New York, Randy decided to set himself the hugely ambitious task of acquiring the necessary land and money to create a purpose built centre.
Randy's passion for the project, and his belief that art can change people's lives for the better, touched a chord with potential supporters and investors. Gradually, through generous individual donations as well as funds from public bodies, nearly £1 million was raised to build the centre. The building itself went through several design stages and the result is an attractive, ecologically sound structure, full of light and open space. As well as three teaching classrooms and high spec gallery space for exhibitions the centre has four individual artist studios on the first floor. These are available for rent and accessible 24 hours a day via an external staircase.
The centre only has three full-time staff: Randy, a Centre Manager and a Young Person's Programme Co-ordinator but they are backed up by a team of volunteers. Classes are run seven days a week on everything from sculpture to animation and attract people from all over Moray. The first exhibition, of paintings by John Byrne, attracted more than 4,000 visitors. In spite of the recession, class numbers are on the increase and not only are the individual studios more or less fully booked for six months ahead, but some days the centre is already operating at full capacity.
HIE has worked with Moray Art Centre for around three years and helped them put together a plan for this first phase of development. Franziska Smith (former Account Manager for Moray Art Centre) was very impressed with their rapid growth: "I'm very pleased that so many of the aspirations in the plan have been achieved ahead of schedule, and by the autumn, most will have fallen into place. The next stage will be to re-visit the plan and help them look at how to generate more income so they can become sustainable in the long-term".
The centre has very low running costs, thanks to its design, but will need to rely on a number of sources of income for the future. Diane Smith, the Centre Manager, is already busy exploring new opportunities. "Where we currently have no art classes, rooms are rented out for other purposes, including singing classes and yoga; a shop selling books, posters, art materials and craft work is being planned; a number of corporate team building events have been piloted, and the whole centre is being marketed as a potential venue for conferences, events and even weddings. We're also developing partnerships with a number of social care organisations across Moray, to increase the work we are already doing with young people who have problems such as learning disabilities or behavioural difficulties".
Meanwhile, Randy is busy exploring potential ideas: he's raised funds to convert a house next door to the centre as a base for new teaching projects, including a three year training programme for young people; he wants to create a second, even bigger centre behind the existing one, and he plans to research the feasibility of setting up an arts handling company that could offer training and jobs to young people in the area.
Randy is appreciative of the support HIE has already given them. "They contributed around £140,000 to the building costs and have helped with other small grants and developments. For instance, we only have three people to run the centre and HIE helped us with a grant towards upgrading our IT systems, to streamline our bookings and sales and generally make us more efficient".
That the centre exists at all and become such a success is testament to the entrepreneurial zeal of Randy and his team. Moray Art Centre's new HIE Account Manager, Karen Smith, says, "This is an arts centre in a fairly remote and unlikely part of the country, yet it has managed to attract amazing exhibitions and delivers a plethora of high quality classes. I'm absolutely delighted that it has been embraced by people across the region".
