Farewell party for Victoria Pomery as she exits Turner Contemporary

Farewell to Victoria Pomery as she leaves Turner Contemporary

Guests gathered at Turner Contemporary in Margate to wish the gallery a happy tenth birthday and to bid its Founding Director, Victoria Pomery OBE, a fond farewell before she moved on to The Box, in Plymouth.

Guests included artists and VIPs including: Tracey Emin CBE, Rose Wylie, Robert Diament, Ellen Harvey, Frazer Thompson Bob and Roberta Smith, Jim Moir (aka Vic Reeves) & Nancy Sorrell, Darren Henley OBE, Cllr Mike Hill OBE, Paul Barrett MBE, Richard Collins, Victoria Barrow-Williams and Kelly Abbott.

Victoria Barrow-Williams and Kelly Abbott, co-Founders, People Dem Collective

At the event, Turner Contemporary launched The Director’s Fund established in honour of Victoria. The Fund will allow future creative leaders to realise their vision, working with the Trustees and leadership team, and leading philanthropists. The Fund’s remit is to sustain research and enable artist commissions, exhibitions, learning, participation, and digital projects.

Robert Diament, Lucy Edematie and Tracey Emin

Under Victoria’s leadership over the last 19 years, the vision for a major, world-renowned gallery, rooted locally in Margate and Kent has been developed. It was part of a new wave of institutions that redefined what an internationally important, locally embedded arts organisation could be.

Jim Moir aka Vic Reeves and Nancy Sorrell

Since it opened in 2011, the gallery has exhibited the work of over 2000 artists. Turner Contemporary has received 3.6 million visits and says it has generated over £70million for the local economy. The building is now widely recognised as the first contemporary building to feature on a UK bank note.

The gallery has also built relationships widely across the community and worked with over 100,000 local children and young people to offer them access to high quality creative learning opportunities. Each year, around 6% of visits come from individuals who have never been to a museum or gallery in their lives before. In 2019, Turner Contemporary hosted the world- famous Turner Prize.

Clarrie Wallis, who has been Tate’s Senior Curator of Contemporary Art (British) since 2016 and a curator at Tate since 1999, will take up the position of director at Turner Contemporary in January.

11 Comments

    • Us philistine plebs-no doubt as reparation for slavery & all other white oppression. Must be really jarring for the two Dem Collective leaders to be standing there among a nearly all very rich/privileged white audience-but as long as there is free booze & grub eh?

    • They had to tick all the correct boxes. Therefore, no Sir Roger Gale despite being MP for the area since 1983, and no Dave Peacock (of Chas & Dave) or Jim Davidson despite them being keen long-time ambassadors for Margate.

Comments are closed.