Save CCP: small institutions, real loss

The Centre for Contemporary Photography in Melbourne — CCP — is, at the time of writing, under acute threat. Funding cuts, governance dispute, the usual shape of the small-institution crisis in this decade. A handful of us, alumni and friends and former exhibitors, have been organizing.

Why CCP

CCP is a small institution in a country with not very many institutions like it. It is where a lot of Australian photographers, including some of the best ones working today, had their first solo show. It is a teaching space. It is a library. It is one of the few places in the city where a photograph is treated as a thing to be looked at slowly, in a quiet room, by people who came to look at it.

When small institutions like CCP close, the loss is not the building. The loss is the network. The first-show pipeline. The reading room. The conversations that happened there because the room existed.

What you can do

• If you are in Melbourne: turn up to the next public meeting. Attendance is what funders count.

• If you are abroad: write a letter. A signed letter from an overseas photographer is worth a hundred social-media posts.

• Donate. The campaign needs working capital, not goodwill.

This post will be updated as the campaign moves. Last update: the inquiry has been formally requested. We do not yet know if it will be granted.