A 2,500 piece art collection owned by the local authority of Carmarthenshire county, Wales, could be used to fund recent council budget cuts according to MP Jonathan Edwards. The vast art collection has yet to be valued, but is technically an asset of local citizens and could therefore be used to raise public funds.
Just 129 pieces from the collection were on public display last year, and only temporarily, according to a Freedom of Information request by ITV Cymru Wales. The rest have simply been kept in storage with no apparent purpose.
Jonathan Edwards notes that the FOIA release also revealed that Cardiff – the biggest authority in Wales – has a much smaller art collection valued at £36 million. Though there’s no way of telling how much Carmarthenshire’s collection is worth, the fact that it’s quadruple the size suggests the authority may be sitting on a proverbial gold mine.
The MP argued that Carmarthenshire has been forced to close down or sell on public parks, sports fields, and toilets, due to financial cuts, but a Mona Lisa could be sitting in storage collecting dust.
Edwards however was quick to point out that although the artwork could be sold off to raise public funds, ultimately the decision is with the citizens of the county. What’s imperative is that they know the collection exists and it should now be valued and the matter discussed openly.
It was also recently revealed that Swansea City Council also has 10,000 pieces of artwork in storage.
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