Glasgow School of Art announces bursaries for students affected by fire

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/may/27/glasgow-school-of-art-bursaries-students-fire

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Glasgow School of Art has said there will be special bursaries for the students most seriously affected by the fire in its Charles Rennie Mackintosh building last week.

Up to a hundred fine art students who lost work in Friday's blaze will receive the Phoenix bursaries, providing studio space for up to six months and a living allowance while they rebuild their portfolios.

The director of Glasgow School of Art, Prof Tom Inns, said: "The beating heart of the GSA is its students and our priority is to ensure that all those most seriously affected by the fire are given the opportunity to rebuild their practice."

Anna Sundt, one of the final-year students evacuated from the burning building on Friday, said she was thrilled to hear about the bursaries. "With so much focus on the building itself, I was concerned that the loss of the degree show would be lost among the headlines. Students pour their heart and soul into the show because it's the best chance they have to showcase their talents to the wider art world. If a year's worth of sculptors, painters and photographers had missed that opportunity it would have been another tragedy."

Although all students are waiting for a meeting with staff on Friday for official confirmation of the status of their work, Sundt believes that her own degree presentation has survived because her studio was in the east wing of the building.

"The art school has been amazing. The amount of information we have been given has been great, with emails sent directly to us as well as the announcements on the art school website." Sundt said she was uncertain whether the degree show would go ahead as planned in mid-June. "We need to rebuild the building, but we also need to rebuild the school and everyone in it," she said.

Scotland's first minister, Alex Salmond, has pledged to provide up to £5m match-funding for the art school's Mackintosh building fire appeal. "The 'Mack' is an extraordinary building," he said. "It is an architectural gem and the artistic heart of Glasgow. It can and will be restored, and everything which can be done must be done to deliver this."

The art school said that online donations had grown into tens of thousands of pounds, and it was overwhelmed with offers of practical support from conservators, curators and specialists around the world.

The fire, which started in the basement just before lunchtime on Friday, damaged much of the west wing of the Category-A listed building, where students were preparing for their final-year degree show.

The library, which housed rare and archival materials, including periodicals from the early 19th century and publications about Mackintosh, was destroyed. A team of specialist conservation staff from Historic Scotland is now working with the school's own archivists to retrieve and conserve vulnerable materials.

The school site remains under the control of the Scottish fire and rescue service, and the campus will be closed until Friday while the salvage operation continues.