The new campaign to preserve Castle Toward School as a cultural institution was officially launched yesterday by more than 100 well-known figures from the world of the arts.
The website www.iheartcastletoward.com was inaugurated with comments from the many individuals who have pledged their support for the new campaign which asks Argyll and Bute Council to halt the planned sale of the school.
A business plan is being prepared by the campaigners which would see Castle Toward become once again a place where young people are encouraged to take part in art and education of all kinds.
Hollywood star Brian Cox said: “The massive response to the Castle Toward campaign is a fitting tribute to the thousands of young people who went there, all of whom look back on their stay as being the most formative experience of their lives.
“The fact that so many of them have gone on to pursue and succeed in careers in the arts is testimony to how much the experience excited and enthused them,” he added.
Actress Laura Fraser said: “We have an obligation to help children understand art as more than a bit of decoration, but as an intrinsic value, encouraging community and a sense of place and a celebration of shared cultural diversity.”
There were personal reminiscences from people involved in the arts who have gone on to great things after having attended Castle Toward.
Leading artist Alison Watt said: “It was the summer of 1988. I had just completed my post-grad at Glasgow School of Art and headed down to Castle Toward as a rookie tutor on the art course there.
“To this day, my overriding memory of that time, was the intensity of it. As Andy Warhol once said, ‘work was more fun than fun’.
“We worked alongside each other and grew up a little together that summer. I’ll never forget it.”
Sculptor Nathan Coley said: “I met my partner Katrina at Castle Toward in 1984 before going to study at Glasgow School of Art.
“The really amazing story is that one summer, 35 years before Katrina and I first danced together, my mother and father met there.
“Education, culture and the expanding of young minds aside, wouldn’t it be amazing if our nine-year-old daughter Hannah was given the chance to attend a summer art course there in a few years and make romance last three generations.”
The campaign is now calling for Argyll and Bute Council to protect Castle Toward from development, and to work together towards restoring the Castle to be the flourishing hub for youth arts and sport that it once was.
Last night, local MSP Mike Russell welcomed the campaign’s launch.
He said: “This is an exciting and welcome development which comes at the eleventh hour given that the council still seems determined to hand the building over to a commercial developer at the end of the month.
“There is now a stark reality which the council has to accept. The only people who want to sell this iconic building to a private sector developer are the 23 administration councillors in Kilmory, backed up by their senior management.
“Everyone else – the community, the opposition in the council, the MP and MSP, senior members of all political parties at national level, the Scottish Government and now the cream of Scotland’s creative talent are all united in their desire to see another solution.”
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