Calling institutions "the people's this" or "the people's that" is often a result of hyperbole or wishful thinking. But Culture Minister Dale Butler's naming of the Bermuda Society of Arts Gallery in the City Hall as the "People's Gallery" today is entirely apt.

The Gallery last week received notice to move in six months' time from the Corporation of Hamilton – a move that may undo years of good community work by the Corporation's members.

The reasoning for the move – that the Corproation needs the space for offices – is mind-boggling, given that Hamilton is awash in offices and desperately lacks exhibition space.

What makes it worse is that the Society's gallery was purpose built for use as an art gallery and has served that purprose well.

What's next? Will the City Hall Theatre be needed for use as a machine shop or a garage for the Corporation's vehicles?

One of the most heartening things about Bermuda's development over the last decade or more has been the explosion of artistic talent on the Island.

Bermuda's artists were once, somewhat unfairly derided for being able only to paint watercolours of pink cottages.

That accusation cannot be made today. Bermuda's growing body of artists, many of them homegrown, create in all mediums and styles. They are often daring and innovative, and they are certainly creative.

To be sure, not all of the work is to everyone's taste, but that is at least part of the point of art.

The BSoA and its dedicated members and staff who run the gallery have had a great deal to do with this.

Bermuda is not short of galleries, but the Society has often been the petri dish from which new artists, young and old, have been able to display their work, hear praise and criticism and even sell their work.

This is not necessarily the function of the National Gallery, Masterworks or the Bermuda Arts Centre. And with the death of commercial galleries in Hamilton, the BSoA has become the place to see and appreciate all forms of art.

It has of course, also performed a vital role for years in hosting school and student art shows.

Perhaps even more importantly, the Gallery – even when it was set up half a century ago, was never segregated and the art world in Bermuda has always welcomed diviersity. That is more true today than ever.

It may be true that if the Corproation follows through on its eviction notice, that the BSoA may find somewhere else.

But City Hall does not just house the Gallery, it is its home. The Corporation's members should rethink this ridiculous decision or start packing their bags – none of them deserve re-election of this decision stands.