One of the most popular and looked forward to events for the last 14 years is no more.

In a surprise letter to exhibitors on December 14th National Gallery of the Cayman Islands (NGCI) Director Natalie Urquhart said administrators had been “reviewing all of our programmes and events [National Gallery] in order to better streamline these, to ensure best use of our limited funds, and to maximise the opportunities created by the new NGCI building on the Easterly Tibbets Highway.”

Ms Urquhart pointed to the rapid growth of the Art@Governors event, and due to significant pressures on the NGCI funds together with government budget cuts over the past few years, “we are no longer able to sustain Art@Governors in its present format.”

The NGCI Director also said in her letter, “We will be developing a new annual fine art fair in the National Gallery’s gardens, which will be held in conjunction with CNCF’s [Cayman National Cultural Foundation) wonderful ‘Red Sky at Night’ festival.  The inaugural fine art fair will be held in 2015, coinciding with CNCF’s festival. We look forward to working with you on this new initiative.”

“Art@Governors was originally envisioned to raise the profile of local artists, and art in general, at a time when there were few other opportunities for exhibitions,” she added.