The director of South Australia’s art gallery has quit after “dwindling” funds forced the institution into provincialism.
Christopher Menz has refused to renew his five year contract in protest at the state government’s miserly budget allowances.
“Dwindling” resources had already “compromised” the gallery and forced it into provincialism, Menz wrote in a letter to the Department of Premier and Cabinet chief executive Chris Eccles, copied to Premier and Arts minister Mike Rann.
??"It is impossible to run a dynamic gallery with such modest and dwindling resources," Mr Menz wrote.
Exhibitions that had run at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra or the National Gallery of Victoria, such as its recent Salvador Dali exhibition, were out of scope for the Art Gallery of South Australia and Menz had "no wish to preside over its relegation to the status of a provincial gallery".
The gallery would need an extra $1 million per year to bring it up to scratch, along with increased storage space. Current storage facilities were “frankly inadequate” for the collection, he said.
Menz will leave the gallery in April.
