Could artwork donations provide stability for cash-strapped UK art schools? London’s Goldsmiths College thinks so

One of the UK’s most celebrated art schools, Goldsmiths College, part of the University of London, has launched a new endowment backed by a £4m art donation from the philanthropist Peter Kellner.

Under a new model (Goldsmiths Endowment Fund), donors can give money and art, or entire collections, which can be used by the university for educational and research purposes while at the same time supporting its financial stability. Bequests must allow the college to sell some or all of the gifted works after an agreed period—a stipulation designed to help the university to tackle the challenges posed by the funding crisis in art and creative education.

Kellner, a former investment banker, is bequeathing his 60-strong Modern and contemporary art collection to Goldsmiths estimated at £4m—which includes works by Antony Gormley, Philip Guston and Lucio Fontana—alongside a £2m cash donation. “I hope this will be an impetus for other collectors,” he tells The Art Newspaper.

New model

Richard Noble, head of art at Goldsmiths, says: “We’ve decided to try and create a model that could, we hope, draw upon some of the accumulated wealth within the contemporary art world, [encompassing] collectors and artists, possibly even gallerists.”

Noble says that the college would guarantee a minimum of five years before any works are sold, and says that some works may eventually be shown in the Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art. “We’re open and flexible, but we’re trying to get people to think about us in a way they haven’t done so before,” he explains.

“We’re suggesting that there’s another way to think about how your collection might help the art world ecosystem by supporting an institution like Goldsmiths, which artists attend from all over the world. [We] replenish the contemporary art world through our students who graduate, stay here and continue to work as artists,” Noble continues, referencing the college’s list of notable alumni, which includes Damien Hirst and Sarah Lucas.

“We’ll also think about any artworks that are donated as an expanded kind of asset. We can animate them in a way that the Tate can’t, for instance, and use them for teaching. We have a lot of art historical and art theoretical research going on here, but we don’t have enough ekphrastic kind of engagement with artworks because we don’t have a collection.”

UK arts crisis

The context for the new endowment is that creative arts UK institutions like Goldsmiths are struggling, says Noble.

“We’re not getting enough government funding, we’re chronically underfunded and an endowment is something that could protect us in the future.… tuition fees have been frozen for 13 years,” he tells The Art Newspaper. “I think the current government is more sympathetic to arts education than the previous one, but that’s not showing up in our budgets.”

In England, the maximum tuition fee for a full-time undergraduate degree will increase to £9,535 for the 2025-26 academic year, rising from £9,250.

Noble also points to the downgrading of creative arts education in UK schools, leaving less money for art education, music education and performance. Kellner agrees, adding: “Arts funding has fallen between the cracks and governments have undervalued the importance of the arts”, a move which could threaten London’s status as a culture centre.