Dear Friends,
As we launch our 2024 programme at the National Gallery, the Board and Staff wish to extend our warmest wishes for a happy and healthy year ahead and to look back on all that we have achieved together in 2023.
Over the last 12 months we have once again hosted a diverse array of exhibitions, including The Ties That Bind, Pop & the Popular, 3rd Cayman Islands Biennial, Tangled World, Days Gone By, 81° West, at various sites across Grand Cayman and the Sister Islands with free entrance for all. Each exhibition sought to share our traditional heritage and celebrate our country’s thriving creativity and was accompanied by a busy schedule of events and programming. With your support, we have also been able to expand the number of works in the National Art Collection and launched related digital resources including our new Culture & Heritage film series.
Throughout the year we have hosted engaging lectures and workshop series, both onsite and online, on topics such as the Making of the 3rd Cayman Islands Biennial, Journaling to Find Inspiration, Creating Timeless Portraits and conversation circles at Eldemire House and Emancipation Day Celebration: Gram Bella’s and, more recently, Art & Science of Mangroves in collaboration with the National Trust.
We have also been able to offer skill creation sessions on topics such as Successfully Managing and Selling Art for the Solo Practitioner and How to Write a Design Brief alongside community events encompassing youth and family programmes, late-night openings and live poetry. Sessions for children and teens continued with onsite art classes, and offsite sessions for children and adults were delivered in the classroom, at group homes and for community groups. Quarterly sessions were offered for senior citizens and drop-in sessions for teens to support skill development, build relationships and support mental health.
In 2023 we continued our Access for All advocacy programme, working with sponsor partners and donors to ensure our programming and exhibitions remain free to the public, breaking down barriers to the arts wherever possible. We offered arts and craft sessions in district libraries, such as North Side and Bodden Town, worked to connect with schools via career expos and classroom sessions, and community groups via district heritage days, all with the aim of growing our community and ensuring that everyone can benefit from the arts and offerings of the National Gallery.
We were thrilled to welcome over 20,000 of you to our site in 2023, as you enjoyed our exhibitions and programmes and visited for special events with family, friends or colleagues, and we have been honoured to host several of your milestone moments such as weddings and anniversary functions. We have also been honoured to have you join us for our own celebratory events, such as the 3rd Cayman Islands Biennial Awards Ceremony and the Odyssey: Navigating the Deep Fundraising Gala.
In 2024 let us continue to find new ways to champion the arts in our community, to promote creative education, and to ensure access for all. More than ever, the arts can provide a space for reflection and comfort in times of need, a safe platform through which to discuss contemporary social issues and bridge divisions, and a place to generate relationships and connections across generations.
We look forward to welcoming you onsite, at one of our district programmes, or online soon. Your support is behind all our success, as you enable us to deliver engaging exhibitions, important acquisitions, and diverse programmes that connect the art and creativity of the Cayman Islands with audiences near and far.
Thank you for your partnership!
Natalie Urquhart
Director, National Gallery of the Cayman Islands
