Royal Academy
Sir: My colleagues and I have been most interested to read Norman Rosenthal's article on The future of the RA (1 January) and are very grateful for so thoughtful and clearly expressed an approach.
The key to the problem, as he so rightly indicates, is lack of sufficient finance to undertake fully what we would like to do `to promote the arts of design.' We are doing what we can internally but the institution needs an injection of capital.
The sponsorship by Imperial Tobacco Ltd and the Daily Telegraph of the current Pompeii Exhibition is an example of welcome help and a negotiated co-operation with the Arts Council will enable us to have a Courbet Exhibition next year. We are profoundly grateful for such collaborations but it is too hand-to-mouth an existence to be completely satisfactory and does not cover the overhead costs of maintaining our building, together with its staffing—an obviously essential requirement for the reception of any exhibition.
must take issue on one point, which I am glad to say is untrue, and that is that 'the RA is an exhibiting organisation that is grossly under-used.' The Main Galleries are never empty (although of course not available to the public during the installation and dismantling of exhibitions). The Diploma Galleries, frequently used by our Schools, are similarly well occupied and we have recently pressed our Private Rooms into service, also the Students' Common Room during vacation periods.
We have the space, we have the tools and we have the will—but, again as Mr Rosenthal says, we need the cash.
Hugh Casson President, Royal Academy of Arts, Piccadilly, London W1
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