Artwork owned by council
Case reference FOI2026/01223
Received 12 June 2026
Published 14 July 2026
Request
As a freedom on information request, please provide the following information:
1. The number of artworks owned by your local authority as of 1 April 2026 or the most recent available date.
2. The number of artwork owned by your local authority that is on public display as of 1 April 2026 or the most recent available date.
3. For each financial year, from 2020-21 to 2025-26, the number of artworks disposed of, split by whether it was sold, donated, destroyed or other? If possible, please list the artworks sold.
4. For each financial year, from 2020-21 to 2025-26, list the income from artworks sold?
5. For each financial year, from 2020-21 to 2025-26, provide the number of artworks acquired (including purchases or donations, if recorded). If possible, please list the artworks acquired.
6. If held, the most recent estimated total value of the authority’s artwork collection (if available provide the value for insurance purposes rather than assumed value).
7.If possible within the cost restraints of this request, please provide a list of artwork owned by the council.
Response
Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Please find the answers to your queries below:
As a freedom on information request, please provide the following information:
1. The number of artworks owned by your local authority as of 1 April 2026 or the most recent available date.
We’re currently undertaking a significant project to document our collection of 100,000 objects, including artworks. Based on our records, and work to date, we have around 2,000 artworks in our collection.
2. The number of artwork owned by your local authority that is on public display as of 1 April 2026 or the most recent available date.
Some artworks are on permanent display in our Guildhall. As of 01 April 2026 our temporary exhibitions had no artworks from our collection on display.
3. For each financial year, from 2020-21 to 2025-26, the number of artworks disposed of, split by whether it was sold, donated, destroyed or other? If possible, please list the artworks sold.
Zero.
4. For each financial year, from 2020-21 to 2025-26, list the income from artworks sold?
N/A.
5. For each financial year, from 2020-21 to 2025-26, provide the number of artworks acquired (including purchases or donations, if recorded). If possible, please list the artworks acquired.
334 in total over this period.
6. If held, the most recent estimated total value of the authority’s artwork collection (if available provide the value for insurance purposes rather than assumed value).
Information not held.
7.If possible within the cost restraints of this request, please provide a list of artwork owned by the council.
This is currently not possible, but some of our collection is detailed online via the following website: https://app.guildford.gov.uk/BoroughCollection
Yours sincerely,
FOI Team
Guildford Borough Council
Documents
This is Guildford Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
You can browse our other responses or make a new FOI request.