Exclusive:Scottish arts impresario fears for 'invaluable' 4,500-piece archive after Summerhall sale
Veteran arts impresario Richard Demarco has launched an urgent financial appeal to help secure the future of one of Scotland's biggest culture collections.
He is trying to raise funds for a new home for the thousands of works of art he has amassed over more than 60 years.
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Hide AdMr Demarco, now 94, says he is being forced to move the majority of his collection from its existing home at the arts centre Summerhall after the venue was put up for sale.
The artist, writer, producer and promoter has been asked to pay rent for the space he was offered by Summerhall founder Robert McDowell more than a decade ago.
He has admitted he cannot afford to pay the relocation and storage costs of moving his collection out of Summerhall, which is at the centre of a legal battle with the HMRC over unpaid tax claims.
Mr Demarco has staged hundreds of plays, exhibitions and conferences since he emerged as a leading figure in Edinburgh's cultural scene in the 1960s.
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Hide AdHis collection is said to include around 4,500 paintings and drawings, as well as more than a million photographs, personal correspondence, and rare books, programmes and catalogues.
He is believed to have one of the biggest collections of material relating to Edinburgh's festivals, having been involved every year since they were launched in 1947.
Friends and supporters are being urged to turn out next month to a fundraising benefit and auction at Prestonfield House Hotel in Edinburgh, where various works of art will be auctioned off.
However, he has warned the archive may have to be moved out of the city if a suitable home cannot be found within the next few months.
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Hide AdA graduate of Edinburgh College of Art, Mr Demarco was one of the co-founders of the Traverse Theatre in 1963 and launched his first art gallery in the city three years later.
Mr Demarco, who is best known for bringing artists from across Europe to showcase their work in Edinburgh, was awarded a CBE in 2006 and honoured with the annual Edinburgh Award by the city council seven years in 2013.
However, he has long warned of the need to find a permanent new home for his archive, which was previously stored at the former Royal High School on Calton Hill.
Mr McDowell has suggested he was over-ruled by other members of his family over the sale of Summerhall, which has been privately owned since the former vet school was bought from Edinburgh University.
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Hide AdMr Demarco told The Scotsman: "Most of the archive has been in Summerhall since 2013, which is a considerable length of time. Robert McDowell is the only real patron of avant-garde art that Edinburgh has produced. I'm very conscious of how he has enabled me to find some kind of room for the archive.
"Summerhall is very old. It needs millions of pounds spent on it to bring it up for date. I believe it will cost at least £40,000 to move the archive, but the big question is to where."
The National Galleries holds some of Mr Demarco's archive in storage and has plans to open up access when it creates a new multi-million pound collection centre, which will be open to the public, in Granton. However, Mr Demarco insists the Granton centre will not have enough room to cater for his entire collection.
He said: "I’ve never actually owned a gallery or a theatre. I have somehow put on hundreds of exhibitions and stage productions in temporary spaces, but I have never secured a home in Edinburgh.
"The archive was created in Edinburgh and the heart of it is the history of the Edinburgh Festival. But at the moment, I cannot see a space in Edinburgh that is going to welcome me."
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