Could Groves be location for new main National Contemporary Art Gallery for Wales?

Wrexham Council have confirmed the disused Groves site is in the running to be the main ‘anchor’ site for a new National Contemporary Art Gallery and associated network.

In June 2021 Wrexham Council restarted a process to find a use for the long dormant Groves after a deal fell through with a possible medical training company, and Wrexham Football Club looking elsewhere with bigger ambitions for training facilities following the takeover.

Welsh Government has said they are now awaiting ‘more detailed plans later this month’ from five places in Wales, one of which is Wrexham, for the prestigious venue location.

Wrexham Council have said this afternoon they had received £25k to further develop its proposal. They confirmed the detailed bid has now been submitted and ‘if successful, it will secure the re-use of a prominent listed building, subject to all of the necessary consents being obtained’.

Councillor Mark Pritchard, Leader of Wrexham Council, said: “We continue to explore all options for both the building and the site, and we’re pleased that the Groves has been shortlisted.

“We’ve tried tirelessly to find uses for the site and we’ve had many false dawns. We did have aspirations to put a new 21st Century school on there, but that didn’t materialise.

“We also explored the option for a medical training centre, but again it didn’t happen. So we’re hopeful that this time, we’ll have a more positive outcome.

“Wrexham is already a major cultural hub and Wales’ newest city, so it makes sense to look at how we can potentially accommodate a new art gallery for Wales.

“A national gallery would complement our existing cultural hubs such as Ty Pawb and the planned football museum, and would significantly add to the cultural offering in North Wales.

“I would like to thank all of our staff who’ve worked tirelessly on this bid application.”

This afternoon Dawn Bowden MS, Deputy Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism said, “The development of a National Contemporary Art Gallery for Wales is a commitment in our Programme for Government and in the Co-operation Agreement with Plaid Cymru. Delivery is being taken forward through a collaboration between the Arts Council of Wales, Amgueddfa Cymru and National Library of Wales.

“There have been a number of further developments in the design of the model. It will have three distinct characteristics, supported by an online gallery:

• A network of galleries across Wales will provide free access to the national collection and bring contemporary art closer to communities.
• Host galleries will host the national collection of Welsh art.
• An anchor gallery will provide a prominent public face for the national contemporary art gallery.
• The national collection belongs to everyone in Wales. This unique model will allow people to explore the collection in their local communities while also ensuring more people across Wales, the UK and even internationally can access to the national collection. It will help boost the visitor economy and support local businesses and jobs.

“A huge amount of work has taken place to develop the National Contemporary Art Gallery, including the development of the Celf ar y Cyd website, which will give the public access to the national collection from their home. More than 30,000 images of art will be available from the website from the beginning of June; many have never been on public display before.”

“Nine venues have been shortlisted as members of the network of galleries where people can view the national collection close to their homes. Each of the venues is undergoing a more detailed assessment.

The venues are:

Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Aberystwyth
Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea
MOSTYN, Llandudno
Newport Museum & Art Gallery, Newport
Oriel Davies, Newtown
Oriel Myrddin, Carmarthen
Plas Glyn-y-Weddw, Pwllheli
Ruthin Craft Centre, Ruthin
STORIEL, Bangor

Host galleries are those which either currently host or plan to host the national collection and are part of the current infrastructure in Wales. They include Amgueddfa Cymru’s sites in Cardiff and potentially Llanberis and the National Library of Wales, in Aberystwyth.

In September 2022, Welsh Government say they received a total of 14 expressions of interest from the public sector to become the anchor site for the National Contemporary Art Gallery. Five local authority areas – including Wrexham – and Swansea, Merthyr Tydfil, Newport and Cardiff – were invited to develop their plans further.