Join the campaign to protect Derek Jarman’s legacy, and inspire creativity in generations to come.
Until midnight on Monday 10 February, a generous supporter will be matching every donation made online, pound for pound.
On the windswept shore of Dungeness, visionary British filmmaker, artist and activist Derek Jarman transformed a Victorian fisherman’s hut into a sanctuary of art and imagination.
Prospect Cottage and its iconic garden stand testament to his defiant spirit, and have the potential to inspire artists and visitors long into the future.
But they are at risk. Help us raise £3.5 million to #SaveProspectCottage, and secure its future as a centre of creative activity – for everyone.
Derek Jarman (1942-94) is one of the most influential figures in 20th-century British culture.
More than 25 years after his death, Prospect Cottage, his former home and garden, continues to be a site of pilgrimage for people from all over the world, who come to be inspired by its stark beauty and by Jarman’s legacy.
From poetry etched into panes of glass, to Jarman’s driftwood sculptures and the remarkable garden he coaxed from the shingle, it represents the most complete distillation of his creativity and determination.
With expert care overseen by Creative Folkestone, Kent’s leading arts organisation, the garden will be restored and will continue to evolve as it did during Jarman’s lifetime.
A residency programme for artists, writers, gardeners, filmmakers, academics, activists and others will engage as many people as possible with Jarman’s life and work, and for the first time, members of the public will be able to apply to visit inside the cottage.
And Tate will take on permanent loan some of the most important and vulnerable archive material from the cottage, including Jarman’s sketchbooks, letters, drawings and photographs, forming a publicly accessible collection at Tate Britain specific to Dungeness – with huge potential to inspire new research, exhibitions and displays.
To make this happen, Prospect Cottage needs you.
We are crowdfunding to meet the £3.5 million needed to secure the future of Prospect Cottage as a centre of creative activity.
Every contribution brings us closer to our goal.
As a thank you for your donation, you can choose from a range of rewards created by leading artists and supporters of the campaign. Rewards include limited-edition prints, objects and works of art; please do keep a look out for new rewards throughout the campaign.
Thanks to the support of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Linbury Trust, private individuals and Art Fund’s own grant, we have made great progress towards our £3.5 million target. But there is still a way to go before our deadline of 31 March.
Without this appeal, the cottage is at risk of being sold privately, its contents dispersed, and artistic legacy lost.
We cannot do this without your help.
Join us to protect Derek Jarman’s legacy, and inspire creativity in generations to come.
#arthappens
What a start to the campaign!
Thank you to everyone who has supported so far... Read more
Help us to mark Derek Jarman’s birthday
Celebrate with us and fellow supporters of the campaign... Read more
Art Fund
30 January 2020 - 10:08
Thanks so much for your donation James. We have looked into gift aid extensively and the amount given for a reward isn’t eligible. We welcome all contributions and we’re using crowdfunding with rewards as a way of opening up this important campaign and encouraging as many people as possible to get involved. Of course everyone can also donate without (or in addition to) a reward, which, for UK tax payers, can be gift aided. Thanks again for your support.
James, London
26 January 2020 - 21:09
Can these donations be Gift Aided - it's not apparent up to the point of the 'Pay Now' button? Plus what will happen to the donations if the target isn't met March?
Art Fund
27 January 2020 - 17:19
Hi James, thanks for your questions.
If you are making a donation without a reward, or if the reward is an online mention and updates, then your contribution is eligible for gift aid. If you are purchasing a reward then we cannot claim gift aid.
If the project doesn't go ahead then we'll offer you the choice of receiving your money back or directing it to another project. Rewards are produced and sent out (if and) when the campaign closes successfully.
Thanks so much for your support.
Sian, New Romney
26 January 2020 - 17:38
I really hope the fund reaches its target. I am pleased to have the opportunity to participate in the purchase.
So many works of art are bought by individuals who stash them away and no one else has the pleasure of sharing their unique beauty.
Prospect Cottage and garden is a lovely, interesting place to visit.
It would be tragic to see it sold to a private individual, who like other owners of property , recently purchased in the area, wait for the building to ‘fall down’, and then turn it into a designer home and show up a few times a year, contributing nothing of value to the area
Sally, Twickenham
26 January 2020 - 09:40
I am so pleased to hear of this project and have donated. Derek Jarman’s wonderful writings have meant a great deal to me and his film and art work are rightly treasured. The cottage and garden are works of art in this rain own right,
I have always wondered how Prospect cottage was faring and was so sorry to hear that HB had died and at no great age.
I wish this project every success.
Jenny, London
26 January 2020 - 08:54
This is such an important project - it would be so easy for this treasure on the shingle to disappear forever and it is remarkable it is still so well preserved 26 years after Derek Jarman died.
The idea that this campaign could protect it forever is brilliant. I hope it is successful!
Art Fund
26 January 2020 - 08:39
Kevin, thanks for your comments.
You are absolutely right to point out that it is imperative that the true character of the cottage is preserved using relatively inexpensive materials in keeping with its style.
Our target to raise £3.5m is to protect the cottage, garden and contents in perpetuity. And so this sum comprises not only the cost for purchase of the cottage and garden, over 40 works of art by Derek Jarman and others and the Prospect Cottage Dungeness Archive, but also the funds to establish a long term but modest income to cover repair and maintenance and an ongoing programme of artists’ residencies and public access for many, many years to come. We're very mindful this vision must be in keeping with the spirit of the cottage and the wider location that was so important to Jarman.
Thank you for sharing your experience of being in Dungeness with Derek Jarman and your helpful comments.
Kevin, London
26 January 2020 - 00:52
I can’t see we’re it’s going to cost anywhere near 3.500 million pounds to preserve this iconic building having visited it many times and actually spending an evening sitting on the beach with derek jarman fishing for COD one winter in the early 80s the cottage is small and wouldn’t cost any more than ten thousand to preserve and having met the man and chatted about life at dungeness the building should stay exactly as it is just the way derek left it and more importantly why he choose to live there , and any visitors centre should be built using the same materials and methods as his cottage to build a visitors centre that doesn’t fit in with the other buildings on the shingle coast would not only ruin the location but go against everything that derek jarmen believed it should be kept and was in fact the reason he choose to make his home there in the first place, and the money can be used to save other under threat art works and or buildings the simplicity of his home and surroundings was what gave him inspiration to write and create his unique garden he wouldn’t want that to be compromised by building a visitors centre/ study centre in any other way or in any other materials other than WOOD just saying kx
Alison, Dungeness
25 January 2020 - 13:32
Clive. It is curious but I have come across a number of instances where solicitors haven't done the paperwork with the Land Registry.
Alison, Dungeness
25 January 2020 - 13:29
Having thought things through further, re-read Tilda Swinton's reference to Derek Jarman's "supremely contrary nature," and had a good chat with a friend, I have modified my view. I think Prospect Cottage should be saved in the manner put forward by Art Fund. However, I also think it important to question and discuss propositions and projects.
Clive, London
24 January 2020 - 22:23
Alison,
The LR title for the cottage was ‘last changed on 4/9/19’. No sale price has been recorded (compulsory since 2000). The property is listed as freehold.
My theory that ‘Derek Jarman’ might be the trust and this took over on that date would fit the above. If not, it’s curious.
Clive Power
Art Fund
24 January 2020 - 21:16
Thanks for your comments. I can confirm we’re in close touch with EDF.
Alison, Dungeness
24 January 2020 - 20:47
Clive, London, sorry, in fact Keith Collins set up a trust rather than leave the property to his husband, and, as someone pointed out to me, rather than leave the burden of decision with his husband.
Alison, Dungeness
24 January 2020 - 20:44
To Art Fund. Thank you for your voicemail and the comments above. (Somewhat ironically I was at a painting class when you phoned!) I appreciate Tilda Swinton's comments and she was of course a close friend of Derek Jarman but my comments still stand! As said, I think paying for artists or writers to be in residence is great but am still cautious about guided visits however infrequent. Has anyone checked yet with EDF, the freeholder about bringing yet more people and traffic onto the private estate?
Alison, Dungeness
24 January 2020 - 20:40
To Clive, London. I looked into the fact that Derek Jarman still appears on the Land Register as the registered proprietor. However, this is simply because no-one has yet notified the Land Registry to update this. Derek Jarman left Prospect Cottage to Keith Collins and Keith left it to Keith's husband, who will now probably sell it to the trust fund. You're quite right that we will all be able to see the price on the Land Register in due course.
Clive, London
24 January 2020 - 18:48
Thank-you for engaging, Stephen, and I can see the need for a good sum for an endowment - the income derived from such will be paltry, at present, as you state.
You don't want to say what is being paid for the cottage – ok, but it will become public knowledge, via the Land Registry, a few months after sale.
And the Land Registry also gives details of ownership. The last update for the cottage was late last year and the recorded owner is ‘Derek Jarman’.
The deceased can't own property so I can only presume that is the name of the Trust, the ‘Derek Jarman Trust' although the listing (curiously?) is just his name.
Clive Power
Art Fund
24 January 2020 - 18:20
Thank you for your comments, Alison. We’re very alert to the fragility of the house, garden and the wider Dungeness estate and keen not to overwhelm it with visitors. So while it will be exciting to offer guided visits these will be limited in frequency.
Meantime, we are heartened by the words of Tilda Swinton, Jarman’s collaborator and friend, on the proposed plans for Prospect Cottage: ‘For what it’s worth, and in honour of the supremely contrary nature of my friend, I feel fully confident that he would be extremely enthusiastic about the generosity of this vision for the continuance of the life of his beloved Prospect Cottage as a possibility for future artists, thinkers, activists, gardeners to gain from it the practical and spiritual nourishment it lent him and for which he was - and is - eternally grateful.'
Alison, Dungeness
24 January 2020 - 13:48
I have conflicting views of this project. I appreciate the huge importance of Derek Jarman and the value of paying for artists and writers to be in residence at Prospect Cottage. However, I'm unhappy at the idea of guided visits. People in residence are (generally) quiet; visits are often not. I dislike the idea of deifying Derek Jarman, who was pointedly anti-establishment. In one way, I should quite like the cottage to remain in private ownership although I can see that any buyer now or in the future might deify Jarman even more and do so quite crudely compared to Art Fund. I live on Dungeness and am troubled by the fact that it is becoming more and more gentrified, designer-led, self-conscious, precious and expensive, yet fewer and fewer dwelling owners actually live here. I didn't know Derek Jarman (before my time here) but his life here as revealed in his diaries strikes me as being carefree, untrammelled, fun and vibrantly creative. Having a kind of museum is, unfortunately, anything but.
Matthew, Kettering
24 January 2020 - 13:27
I’ve donated. Jarman was a cultural polymath and his legacy should live on. You can’t really put a price on all that he created, I’m not worried how much Zoopla values the place for or any of that.
Gill, London
24 January 2020 - 12:35
Hi Stephen, that's helpful as I wondered about this myself, but it appears most of the money will go towards ongoing support to artists and upkeep and maintenance rather than to the current owner of the cottage. It would help the fundraising campaign to make this clearer, and break down the way the money is being allocated as there's a general sense of why so much and what for?
Stephen, Ashford
24 January 2020 - 11:01
John, Clive and others - thank you for these very pertinent comments and enquiries.
First, can I explain a bit more about the sum of money required, and what it covers? The total figure of £3.5m comprises a number of components: the purchase of the cottage and garden; over 40 works of art by Derek Jarman and other artists; the Prospect Cottage Dungeness Archive; the establishment and funding of long-term programme of artists' residencies and public access; and a building repair and maintenance programme. The cottage is being sold to Art Fund (before passing immediately to the custodianship of Creative Folkestone) by the Trustees who were appointed by Jarman's companion Keith Collins, before his own death in 2018, for the benefit of his surviving spouse and for use by artists and others.
As you would imagine, the biggest expense by far within the total is the creation of the endowment to fund the ongoing programme (for artists, for free and/or guided public access, and for maintenance) in perpetuity. Interest rates are not high at the moment so we need a substantial sum to provide a working income for this purpose. The target we've set for this within the campaign total is the bare minimum needed to make that programme happen, and for it to be sustained long into the future.
I believe the public benefit will be huge. It's not just about ensuring that people can continue to have free access to the garden at any time, or creating a schedule of guided public visits inside the cottage; the artists who take residencies here will ultimately produce work that will enter the public realm in a variety of ways as the years pass. I do believe that what we are planning to do here is of really great significance, and will bring pleasure and inspiration to infinite numbers of people as the years unfold.
I'm not going to test your patience by commenting further - this site is for you, not us! - but I hope this sets things out a little more clearly.
Regards - and heartfelt thanks to all who are supporting us - Stephen
John, Eastbourne
24 January 2020 - 08:26
Stephen, I used to be a programme manager in regeneration with an annual budget of over £4m. I've no detailed knowledge of the art world, but significant experience in project appraisal and review. Based on that and the capital acquisition costs highlighted as within expected range for similar assets by Chris, plus re-development and associated management costs, the project budget is well outside expectations. The notion of supporting an administrative body and infrastructure to oversee the thing in perpetuity raises questions of law, representation and accountability, but seems to me to be of limited wider public benefit, and the link to raising the profile of Dungeness is tenuous.
Clive, London
24 January 2020 - 03:21
Stephen,
You staff may have mentioned that I have also been asking question directly to them about, as 'John from Eastbourne' calls it, the 'fully-costed plan'. I regret that the answers I have received have been without any more detail than from yourself - just an outline of the what will be done.
Zoopla values the house at £450Kish. I appreciate this is very rough, they would have little to compare it with (although other property nearby is a lot cheaper) and it's not any old cottage. but that of Derek Jarman. There is also the other matters that will be paid for - but even so, it's a big difference.
Could you please tell us how much will be paid for the cottage? And, also, who will the cottage be bought from?
Clive Power
Katharine, Bath
23 January 2020 - 22:57
I'm a curator in a local authority run gallery. I've had dealings with the Art Fund through my work. They are always very (but appropriately) careful in fundraising for projects. They ask searching questions of organisations wanting support and always want reassurances that the projects that they help fund are well run, carefully planned and have the public interest at heart. Anything that they coordinate will be carefully planned, sustainable and worth supporting. If they are asking for 3.5 million for this project, that will represent the money that is needed and it will be spent wisely.
Stephen, Ashford
23 January 2020 - 19:59
Yes, happy to give details. £3.5m is the total sum that will cover not only the acquisition of the Cottage, garden, and the important art and archive collection within, but also establishes a fund that will provide a programme of artists' residencies and public access (as well as building and garden maintenance) in perpetuity. We thought that it would be pointless to acquire the building without securing its future - and guaranteeing public benefit forever - in this way, even though it is costly! We are deeply grateful to everyone for their support. The initial response has been amazing..
Stephen Deuchar (Director, Art Fund)
John, Eastbourne
23 January 2020 - 19:57
Seems like a lot of money to restore a tin hut and a tract of pebbles. Before donating to anything so obscure and opaque, I'd like to see a fully costed project plan. Others may be more trusting.
Richard, LUDLOW
23 January 2020 - 14:52
Please give details of how £3.5 million will be spent.
Richard Caithness
Andrew, LONDON
3 hours ago
I really liked at lot of Jarman's work, but the thought of preserving the house and garden in aspic seems rather contrary - the archive going to Tate yes, but everything else? Also a question to the Art Fund - can't you match donations from your own reserves if you feel this is so important?
Art Fund
2 hours ago
We see Prospect Cottage as a living, breathing work of art. It has been lovingly cared for since Jarman’s death but our ambition is to keep his creative legacy alive through a programme of artist residencies and public guided tours run by Creative Folkestone, while at Tate Britain everyone will be able to see and access the archive from Prospect Cottage which promises to spark new avenues of research and displays. There will be natural and organic change with a garden on a shingle beach but working with experts we hope to bring it back to the vibrancy of when Jarman was alive.
Art Fund is contributing £500,000 as a grant towards our £3.5m target, already reflected in our total so far, and we are delighted that an individual donor has made it possible to match every donation made online this weekend.
Sian, New Romney
3 days ago
Time to put donors in some form of alphabetic order.Thought I had donated but list too complicated to check
Art Fund
2 days ago
Thanks for your comment - it’s fantastic to have so many donors. Unfortunately we're not able to change the order at the moment, but it’s helpful to have your feedback. You should have received an email confirming your donation. If you didn't get this, please get in touch via members@artfund.org or 0203 757 9772 to verify it went through ok.
James, London
29 January 2020 - 16:53
Hello Art Fund,
Thanks for the response. In the event I made a donation direct to Art Fund from a CAF account, so the gift aid is already in it, marked for Prospect Cottage.
Surpised to hear that the 'reward' rules out Gift Aid. Revision to the rules in 2018 retained the 25% limit to the donor benefit.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/simplification-of-donor-benefits-rules-for-gift-aid/simplification-of-donor-benefits-rules-for-gift-aid.
The valuation of the donor benefit is a reasonable or demonstable retail value:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charities-detailed-guidance-notes/chapter-3-gift-aid#chapter-323-valuing-donor-benefits
Whilst the reward for say a £25 gift is charming, could it be said to be worth more than say £5? And is the incentive of a reword worth forgoing the Gift Aid?
Anyways, good luck with the appeal!