Banksy offers millions to create arts centre in prison that once held Oscar Wilde
Reading Prison had been shuttered for several years before it was put up for sale
British MP Matt Rodda says he's "absolutely staggered" by an offer from Banksy to help raise money to turn a derelict prison into an arts centre.
The street artist says he'll raise 10 million pounds (around $17 million Cdn) to buy Reading Prison in Reading, U.K., by selling off the stencil he used to create a painting on the building's brick wall earlier this year.
"The amount of money he's offering is enormous, and could make all the difference to the project being successful or not," Rodda told As It Happens host Carol Off.
Reading Prison, shuttered since 2013 and put up for sale three years ago, is famous for holding playwright Oscar Wilde in the 1890s after his affair with a man was exposed.
In March of this year, a Banksy painting appeared on its high brick wall showing a prisoner escaping using a bedsheet, a typewriter dangling from the end — a likely nod to Wilde.
"It's quite a witty little painting that's on the wall, and it's caused enormous local excitement," said Rodda. "We had people queuing up, taking selfies next to it for weeks afterwards."
Through a spokesperson, Banksy told the BBC that the prison first caught his eye when he was riding by on a bus. "It's rare to find an uninterrupted 500-metre-long paintable surface slap bang in the middle of a town. I literally clambered over the passenger next to me to get a closer look."
He was then taken in by the history of the place, describing Wilde as "the patron saint of smashing two contrasting ideas together to create magic. Converting the place that destroyed him into a refuge for art feels so perfect we have to do it."
The combination of Banksy's painting and offer to raise funds have given a substantial boost to the plan to transform the prison, Rodda says.
A growing list of U.K. celebrities have also backed the idea, including Kate Winslet and Dame Judi Dench.
But despite the momentum behind the project, there is a problem — the deadline for bids on the prison has passed, according to the British Ministry of Justice.
"At the moment, I'm trying to persuade the Ministry … to change its tune," said Rodda, adding that he draws hope from the fact that, though the bidding has technically closed, no successful bid has been announced.
A cheeky painting on a prison wall, a multi-million pound promise from an unidentified street artist, and a last minute push to convince the government to change course — what would Oscar Wilde make of it all?
"I think he would think it was wonderful, and he'd probably write something very witty about it," said Rodda.
"But it's beyond my abilities to to sum that up."
Written by Kate McGillivray. Interview produced by Chloe Shantz-Hilkes