Rye Art Gallery is a registered charity - details can be found on the Charity Commission website - governed by the 1957 Trust Deed and from October 2011, registered with the Arts Council (formerly under the Museums Libraries and Archives Council) because of its heritage buildings and a significant Permanent Art Collection of artworks.

There is a Management Board of five Trustees: one represents the "Subscribers" or Friends; one represents the Royal Academy; one represents Rye Town Council; one has a background to manage infrastructure; one represents local artists. One of the five is elected by the others to be Chair. Normally the Chair also acts as executive or general manager for the Trust and handles financial issues. The Chair has a casting vote. The Board can nominate officers to carry out specific functions. Presently one officer acts as minutes secretary and another acts as honorary curator to provide the focus for the Permanent Collection.

The entrance to the Gallery is located in the High Street, Rye.
Map

The Manager controls five paid part time staff who handle the sale of contemporary art and manage the gallery. Each employee - both full and part time - has terms of reference, agreed pay rates and other benefits as applicable in the form of a short contract.

Charities Commission RAG website: http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/Showcharity/RegisterOfCharities/Cha...

The Gallery draws on extant guidance provided by the now defunct Museums Libraries Archives (MLA) organisation (now Arts Council). Their website is at http://www.collectionslink.org.uk/

The Trustees regularly review and agree a series of policies, which cover areas as below.

- Strategy
- Re-Accreditation as a MLA registered museum
- Security
- Access Policy
- Equalities
- Risk Assessment
- Health and Safety Policy
- Emergency Planning
- Group Visit and Young People Visit Policy
- Copyright
- Acquisition and Disposals Policy
- Environmental Guidance
- Working with Young People-Child Protection
- Insurance
- Contractors
- Volunteers
- Research
- SPECTRUM
- Data Protection
- Guest Curators
- Fire

The Development Project

The planned phase 3 of the project to improve the Stormont Studio and to integrate it - through an extension and glass link - to the Easton Rooms is complete. Early in May 2010 the Rye Conservation Society granted its 2010 Town-scape award to the project. On 21 May 2010 an event was held to commission the new link. The project was phased as below.

Phase 1 - Preliminaries : Early work saw the completion of improvements to vital infrastructure such as electrics, security, IT, storage and office space. The next involved a complete renovation of the Easton Rooms frontage on the High Street, including improved access for wheelchairs. This work benefited from a heritage grant from Renaissance Museums.

Phase 2 - Rear Stormont Extension: On 10th July 2008,work started on a two storey extension at the rear of the Stormont Studio to provide disabled toilet facilities, more storage and an improved kitchen. The latter has been funded by the Friends. This phase was completed in December 2008.

Phase 3 - The Stormont to Easton Link: Work on the groundworks for this phase ran in parallel with Phase 2 from summer 2008. From behind the Easton Rooms (was the old yard) some 50 tons of earth was removed and 50 tons of material brought in for concrete foundations and floors, supporting brickwork and related construction. Construction above the groundworks started in January 2009 with new walls, supporting steel for the Easton extension and renovation of the gazebo. A key milestone was reached when the Festival show opened on 12 September 2008 in the newly completed Easton Rooms extension. The heart of the project is the glass and steel link, which was completed on 20 May. A grand opening of the complete project is expected in early 2011. The Social History Curators' Group invited the Chair Trust to speak about the project at their national conference in Birmingham in July 2010. Subsequently he wrote a paper about the work, titled " More for Less", which is below and attached.

http://www.ryeartgallery.co.uk/files/More%20for%20Less.pdf

Phase 4 - There is now a list of aspirations, which will be completed as Phase 4, as and when funds become available. This work includes a new sales/reception area in the Easton Rooms, replacement lighting, improved storage and a lift to improve access. The Trustees are also seeking to improve the business and were granted a MLA Business Study which reported in spring 2011. A video, which summarises the experience is below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1TuDNflDXw

In addition there is a "fly through" video of Rye Art Gallery at:

Rye Art Gallery from Visive Productions on Vimeo.