Autumn Statement: Wentworth Woodhouse to get grant of £7.6 million

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Philip Hammond earmarks £7.6 million for Wentworth Woodhouse | UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond surprised many this afternoon by declaring that the annual Autumn Statement is to be abolished in favour of one annual fiscal event. With regards to arts and culture, the Chancellor revealed another surprise when he announced that £7.6 million will be allocated for ‘urgent’ repairs to Wentworth Woodhouse, subject to approval of a sustainable business case. The Guardian’s Rowena Mason has described the grant to the Grade-I listed house as a ‘naked piece of political mudslinging’: Hammond spent several minutes lamenting the threat to the property posed by nearby open cast mining, which was authorised by a previous Labour government. (The trust that currently owns Wentworth Woodhouse estimates that the property will need to raise around £42 million for repairs.) Other beneficiaries of the budget include Southampton Art Centre, which will receive an additional £1.6 million, a new creative media centre in Plymouth, and a Royal Society of the Arts pilot to promote cultural education in schools.

Jenni Lomax to step down as director of Camden Arts Centre | Camden Arts Centre director Jenni Lomax is to step down in July after 26 years at the head of the north London institution, reports the Guardian. Lomax, who was awarded an OBE in 2009, is widely credited as having transformed the Arts Centre into an exhibition space of international renown. Since joining the institution in 1991 from the Whitechapel Gallery, Lomax has introduced UK audiences to artists including Marlene Dumas and Sophie Calle. Last year, the Camden Arts Centre celebrated its 50th anniversary, a landmark that prompted Lomax to consider her tenure at the institution: ‘With the 50th anniversary and auction, I feel it’s a good time to leave.’ ‘There’s money in the bank and I am leaving the place in good nick.’

Frick names Joseph Shatoff deputy director | The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Joseph Shatoff has been named deputy director and chief operating officer of New York’s Frick Museum, assuming his new role on 6 December. ‘Joe brings with him a holistic perspective on how to enhance and harmonize institutional and programmatic needs with architectural and operational solutions’, said Frick director Ian Wardropper. Shatoff comes to the Frick on the eve of a major upgrade and expansion of the museum’s facilities masterminded by Selldorf Architects.

Plans announced for Bauhaus centenary | Details of ambitious plans to mark the centenary of the Bauhaus design school in 2019 have been revealed, reports The Art Newspaper. The festivities will include two new museum openings in the school’s home cities of Weimar and Dessau, a festival in Berlin, and a ‘Grand tour of Modernism’, involving 100 locations around Germany.