VOLUNTEERS are being called upon to help Harrow’s only stand-alone gallery to continue running experimental exhibitions, events and workshops.

The not-for-profit Usurp Collective opened The Usurp Art Gallery and Studios in a vacant Fovea Gallery shopfront in Vaughan Road, West Harrow, in February 2010 to bring an eclectic series of art shows, classes and live music nights to the community with the assistance of a grant from Arts Council England that runs out in April.

Poulomi Desai, artistic director, said: “It’s been brilliant. People who live in Harrow have come and supported us directly and indirectly.

“They’ve given us televisions and bits of equipment, turned up to exhibitions and spread the word, and we want more of that next year.

“We’re definitely pushing for volunteers, though. We’ll be able to offer them an opportunity in a gallery – publicity, administration, marketing.

“we’re trying to find a couple of people who may be able to give us some of their business knowledge, and we could do with a fundraiser.

“And it would be great to run an under-16s group but to have parents to oversee it.”

She said the gallery had reached a crossroads and its members would have to sit down and discuss what direction it should take.

“It’s time for us to reflect on the two years. We’re trying to work out what are we about. Can we even define it in one sentence?” said Ms Desai.

“The whole thing has been an experiment to see whether something can even be positioned in that space in that geographical location, and the response has been amazing.

“We have had more than 10,000 people come through the doors. We have had a huge local regular audience and people have come from the other side of London and the country to see it.

“We’ve had somebody who came in from Berlin and somebody from Japan to see ‘The Origin of Painting’ exhibition. Every time we closed temporarily, people think we have closed down and we get concerned emails asking what happened. We’re astounded about how many people have heard about the gallery within the art scene and we have got a lot of people talking about us on internet blogs.

“Somebody called us an ‘arts hub’ – not just about displaying artwork but people coming to share knowledge.

“The cuts are going to start kicking in and maybe we’ll have to focus on becoming more of a library as we’ve got people coming in to read books on art and social politics and we also give away books because we have been donated them.”

Exhibitions will continue, with the first in 2012 being Belgian artist Laura Maes. She is coming in February to showcase her artwork ‘Oorwond’ – Dutch for ‘ear wound’ – for a month. It is an interactive sound installation in which visitors use their body to alter the audio being broadcast to them.

Ms Desai said: “Without the Arts Council England funding, we won’t be able to do the type and quantity of work we have done for people so far.

“We’ve been doing experimental stuff for people to come and join in.

“I have secured funding from Team London for a volunteers mentoring scheme and we’ve got a certain amount of money from Harrow Council up to April for workshops with service users of Mind in Harrow, from Vaughan Neighbourhood Resource Centre, and Harrow Mencap, in the form of a seven-week introduction to contemporary art.”

Ms Desai said the collective was looking to establish the gallery as a charity in its own right and may look at buying the gallery space outright or moving to bigger premises in the borough – and that they have turned down offers of other spaces elsewhere in London in order to stay in Harrow.

“That’s because we have responded to local people’s desire for exhibitions – certain types of exhibitions – and workshops,” she said.

“We’ve taken quite a lot of risks but the response has been amazing. People supporting these types of activities have helped to show potential financial backers and we would like to see it continue.”