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| Row over sacking of Foundling Museum trustees | Row over sacking of Foundling Museum trustees |
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| One of Britain's most popular small museums is at the centre of a row involving leading figures in the arts world, a children's charity and the attorney general after six of the museum's trustees were sacked. | |
| Trustees including the Turner prizewinner Jeremy Deller have been pushed out of the Foundling Museum in a manner that Deller described as "feeling like a hostile takeover of a well run organisation". | |
| The museum cares for an exquisite collection of masterpieces by figures such as Gainsborough and Hogarth. It also shows work by living artists such as Grayson Perry, Paula Rego and Yinka Shonibare alongside the £20m collection. | The museum cares for an exquisite collection of masterpieces by figures such as Gainsborough and Hogarth. It also shows work by living artists such as Grayson Perry, Paula Rego and Yinka Shonibare alongside the £20m collection. |
| The sackings were instituted by the children's charity Coram, whose chief executive is Carol Homden, a former director of public affairs at the British Museum. Coram's board-level interventions were made possible because it is the sole member of the museum, akin to sole shareholder. | The sackings were instituted by the children's charity Coram, whose chief executive is Carol Homden, a former director of public affairs at the British Museum. Coram's board-level interventions were made possible because it is the sole member of the museum, akin to sole shareholder. |
| In 2001 a settlement brokered with the attorney general was made such that over 25 years the independent Foundling would gradually purchase Coram's collection . | |
| In 2012, lawfully but without the knowledge of the Foundling's board or the attorney general, Coram changed the museum's articles and memoranda, allowing it to sack Foundling trustees. It has also consolidated the Foundling's accounts into its own. | In 2012, lawfully but without the knowledge of the Foundling's board or the attorney general, Coram changed the museum's articles and memoranda, allowing it to sack Foundling trustees. It has also consolidated the Foundling's accounts into its own. |
| Coram said in a statement: "The Foundling Museum is today one of several linked charities in the Coram group and it is vital that the boards function in a manner of mutual support to achieve the greatest possible benefit for children as well as the wider public. | Coram said in a statement: "The Foundling Museum is today one of several linked charities in the Coram group and it is vital that the boards function in a manner of mutual support to achieve the greatest possible benefit for children as well as the wider public. |
| "Some former trustees of the Foundling Museum felt things should be done differently and their opinions were, in view of the advice to the Coram board, considered incompatible." | "Some former trustees of the Foundling Museum felt things should be done differently and their opinions were, in view of the advice to the Coram board, considered incompatible." |
| The director of the Tate, Sir Nicholas Serota, called the sackings "incomprehensible". He said: "I am extremely worried for the future of the museum. It has flourished and been extremely well led by its trustees and director." | The director of the Tate, Sir Nicholas Serota, called the sackings "incomprehensible". He said: "I am extremely worried for the future of the museum. It has flourished and been extremely well led by its trustees and director." |
| The Foundling had been made independent, Serota said, after "it became in the 1990s clear that the Coram was not constituted in a way that allowed them to run a museum collection". | The Foundling had been made independent, Serota said, after "it became in the 1990s clear that the Coram was not constituted in a way that allowed them to run a museum collection". |
| The office of Dominic Grieve, the attorney general, has written to Coram stating that he is concerned that its "treatment of the museum … does not appear to fit with the spirit and intent of the arrangements put before the attorney general [in 2001]". | |
| A Coram spokeswoman said: "There is no change in the governing structure or agreements and the organisations seek to collaborate on projects and activities wherever appropriate … Both organisations look forward to continuing their linked purposes." | |
| The sackings were made by written notice on 23 May. The notice came from the Coram board via the chair of the Foundling, Bill Gore, who was appointed by the Coram board after his predecessor, Andrew Fane, was summarily sacked along with another trustee in a previous boardroom coup on 29 October. | |
| The Labour MP Frank Dobson, a former governor of Coram who helped set up the Foundling in 2001 as an independent charity to safeguard Coram's collection of artworks, said the sackings were "a smack in the chops for the people who have been doing a good job running the museum". | The Labour MP Frank Dobson, a former governor of Coram who helped set up the Foundling in 2001 as an independent charity to safeguard Coram's collection of artworks, said the sackings were "a smack in the chops for the people who have been doing a good job running the museum". |
| Since the Foundling has purchased a £4m Hogarth masterpiece among other works from Coram, there are concerns that by retaking control of the museum Coram could end up in effective owning, in the words of one sacked trustee, "both the penny and the bun". | |
| The status of the Hogarth painting, The March of the Guards to Finchley, is particularly unclear as it was bought with £3.9m donated by the Heritage Lottery Fund on the assumption that it would be owned by the Foundling. | The status of the Hogarth painting, The March of the Guards to Finchley, is particularly unclear as it was bought with £3.9m donated by the Heritage Lottery Fund on the assumption that it would be owned by the Foundling. |
| The museum was also loaned £3m by the National Heritage Memorial Fund to cover running costs following the 2001 settlement, as a basis for it raising funds eventually to buy the entire collection. | The museum was also loaned £3m by the National Heritage Memorial Fund to cover running costs following the 2001 settlement, as a basis for it raising funds eventually to buy the entire collection. |
| The lottery fund said it could not speculate on "issues arising from projects funded". A spokeswoman said: "We are in the process of finding out more about the changes that are taking place at the Foundling Museum." | |
| Stephen Deuchar, chief executive of the Art Fund, a charity that donated £100,000 towards the purchase of the Hogarth, said: "As a charity and funder of the museum, we're deeply concerned about the apparent goings on. We want to know what Coram's motivations are behind the sacking of the museum's independent trustees, and what it has to say to those of us who have supported the museum over many years." | Stephen Deuchar, chief executive of the Art Fund, a charity that donated £100,000 towards the purchase of the Hogarth, said: "As a charity and funder of the museum, we're deeply concerned about the apparent goings on. We want to know what Coram's motivations are behind the sacking of the museum's independent trustees, and what it has to say to those of us who have supported the museum over many years." |
| According to Lars Tharp, a former director of the museum, difficulties between the two charities are not new. He described it as "a Jarndyce and Jarndyce situation". | |
| The internet entrepreneur and former Amazon general manager Spencer Hyman, one of the sacked trustees, said: "The Coram is a children's charity. It has no business running a museum, and no skills and no mandate to do so. Its very actions show it shouldn't be allowed to run a heritage museum." | The internet entrepreneur and former Amazon general manager Spencer Hyman, one of the sacked trustees, said: "The Coram is a children's charity. It has no business running a museum, and no skills and no mandate to do so. Its very actions show it shouldn't be allowed to run a heritage museum." |