CHIVAS Brothers, the Scotch whisky and premium gin company of Pernod Ricard, has donated £50,000 to The Mackintosh Appeal at the world-renowned Glasgow School of Art.
The donation will be used to help the school, which hit headlines worldwide when the Mackintosh building was damaged by fire in May this year, recover from the impact of the fire.
Says a spokesperson: “Fire fighters managed to save most of the building and 70 per cent of its contents, but many students were severely impacted when they lost irreplaceable Degree Show work.”
Chivas Brothers’ chair and CEO, Laurent Lacassagne, visited the GSA to present the donation and meet recent Fine Art graduates, Agathe Weiss and Andreas Behn-Eschenburg, who were amongst the artists installing Degree Show in the Mackintosh Building when the fire broke out.
Fine Art Photography graduate, Agathe’s work was installed in the east wing of the Mackintosh Building and it suffered some slight damage.
Painting and Printmaking graduate Andreas’ work, however, was to be on show in the west wing of the Mackintosh and was very badly damaged in the fire.
Both graduates showed a selected image in a special Fine Art School exhibition as part of 2014 Degree Show and are now hoping to receive a special GSA Phoenix bursary to develop their practice and build a new body of work for display in spring 2015.
Accepting the company’s donation, Alan Horn, director of The Glasgow School of Art Development Trust, said: “The GSA has been overwhelmed by the emotional, practical and financial support it has received since the sad events of 23 May. This generous donation from Chivas Brothers will help our students, who are the beating heart of the GSA, and the institution to recover from the impacts of the fire.”
Mr Lacassagne added: “The terrible news of the fire at Glasgow School of Art was heard all over the world and greatly saddened all of us at Chivas Brothers in Scotland and beyond.
“Supporting our communities is a very important value for us at Pernod Ricard. We are delighted that through this donation we are contributing towards the Development Trust, and look forward to seeing this prestigious institution and iconic building restored to its former glory very soon.”
ENDS
Picture caption:
(l-r) Laurent Lacassagne with GSA’s chair of the board of governors, Muriel Gray, and student, Agathe Weiss.
For further information:
Jennifer Stevenson
Chivas Brothers
Tel: 0141 531 2526
jennifer.stevenson@pernod-ricard.com
Lesley Booth
The Glasgow School of Art
Tel: 0779 941 4474
press@gsa.c.uk
About Chivas Brothers
Chivas Brothers is the Scotch whisky and premium gin business of Pernod Ricard – the world’s co-leader in wine and spirits. Chivas Brothers is the global leader in luxury Scotch whisky and premium gin. Its portfolio includes Chivas Regal, Ballantine’s, Beefeater Gin, The Glenlivet, Royal Salute, Aberlour, Plymouth Gin, Longmorn, Scapa, 100 Pipers, Clan Campbell, Something Special and Passport.
About The Glasgow School of Art
The Glasgow School of Art was founded in 1845 as one of the first Government Schools of Design, as a centre of creativity promoting good design for the manufacturing industries of Glasgow. However, the School’s lineage can be traced to 1753, when Robert Foulis established a school of art and design in Glasgow, described as “the single most influential factor in the development of eighteenth-century Scottish Art”. Today, The Glasgow School of Art (GSA) is internationally recognised as one of Europe’s leading university-level institutions for the visual creative disciplines.
Our studio-based approach to research and teaching brings disciplines together to explore problems in new ways to find new innovative solutions. The studio creates the environment for inter-disciplinarity, peer learning, critical enquiry, experimentation and prototyping, helping to addressing many of the grand challenges confronting society and contemporary business.
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Contact: Jennifer Stevenson
Phone: 01415312526
Email: jennifer.stevenson@pernod-ricard.com
