National Gallery gets the painters in for new wing

The National Gallery starts its first television advertising campaign tomorrow, signalling a more populist approach by the gallery.

"We're getting the painters in now that the Millennium wing is complete" is the theme of the campaign devised by Javelin.

The agency won the account following an open tender and the television advertisement is the first element in a cross-media campaign that includes radio and outdoor. Unusually for the gallery, the poster campaign will run nationwide from January.

The campaign announces the opening of the £20 million (€25.39 million) Millennium Wing and its inaugural impressionists exhibition, which starts on January 22nd. Tickets for that exhibition can be bought in advance and the timing of the first burst of advertising is intended to make inroads into the Christmas gift-giving market.

Eagle Star will sponsor the Impressionists exhibition and its funding, thought to be in the region of £150,000, allows the gallery its first foray into mainstream advertising. Up to this, it has relied heavily on public relations and direct mail.

As sponsors, the insurance company had joint approval on the advertising campaign with the gallery and the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands.

Monet, Renoir and the Impressionist Landscape is an expensive show. Bringing it from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston is costing $1 million (€1.12 million). Funding from the Government amounted to £750,000 and the shortfall will be made up by sponsorship and ticket sales.

The popular appeal of the Impressionists was one of the reasons that encouraged the insurance company to get involved as sponsors, as was the timing of the exhibition. Close to £11 million was spent on arts sponsorship in 1999, the latest year for which figures are available. According to Business2Arts, the organisation that promotes arts sponsorship, banks and other financial institution are the sector most likely to sponsor artistic endeavours.

bharrison@irish-times.ie

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