Walking round the newly opened Art gallery in the middle of West Bromwich on a cloudy September Sunday afternoon, I would have been forgiven for thinking we had managed to slip in to one of the pre launch tours with lots of staff busying around and maintenance guys fettling and tweaking lighting and services. The building didn’t have nearly enough visitors to allow it to feel like a real public building, but why? If you can put aside the preconceptions such as the look of the building, the cost, the location and the massive political issue that his building has endured, it is actually an interesting place to go and have a look at.
The absence of people was a bonus for our two small boys who treated it like a play warehouse and got as much access to the tech as they wanted, but it didn’t have enough going on to sustain a long visit. The building needs some good publicity to change peoples perception, increase awareness, stimulate activity and ensure its future use in an area which could ultimately really benefit from it being there . Otherwise we might soon be calling it the Private.
Dean Shaw
Associate
