12 brilliant things you can do right now with your National Art Pass

Do you like seeing what goes on in an artist’s studio? Well, you can get a double helping at Leighton House this autumn, as Lawrence Alma-Tadema's painting In My Studio is now on display at the former home of Frederic, Lord Leighton. The museum was able to acquire the work, which depicts a glimpse of Alma-Tadema’s own studio and collections, earlier this year with the help of a £350,000 grant from Art Fund. See it in the Silk Room, and make sure to have a nose around Leighton’s own studio, too.

If you haven’t yet visited the Burrell Collection in Glasgow, pop it on your must-see list this autumn. Home to over 9,000 objects, recently redisplayed to celebrate the diversity of the collection and draw out different perspectives, the museum occupies a lovely light-filled building in Pollok Country Park. See for yourself why the judges named it the winner of the world’s biggest museum prize.

We’re always adding new places to our network for you to explore with your pass. As well as Gunnersbury Park Museum, some of the museums we’ve welcomed into our network most recently are the Faith Museum within the Auckland Project (pictured), which explores the different ways faith has shaped lives and communities across Britain; Nantwich Museum, which showcases the history of one of Cheshire’s most historic towns; and the National Emergency Services Museum, housed in a historic police, fire and ambulance station in Sheffield.

Art Fund members can see their support in action at the Hepworth Wakefield this autumn, with lots of Art Fund-supported works appearing in the beautiful Art of the Potter exhibition, on until January. The exhibition explores the relationship between sculpture and ceramics in the 20th and 21st centuries, and features Magdalene Odundo’s striking Asymmetric Vessel (2021), which we helped the gallery acquire in 2022.

During your visit, look out for another recent acquisition – Hannah Starkey’s photo Kirkgate Towers, one of four works by Starkey joining the collection with support from a Freelands Art Fund Acquisition grant.

You’ll also find a number of Art Fund-supported works in the Imperial War Museum London’s new Art, Film and Photography Galleries, which open on 10 November. The new galleries explore how artists, photographers and filmmakers bear witness to, document and tell the story of war and conflict. Among the Art Funded works on display will be Walter Sickert’s First World War painting Tipperary (1914), which we helped the museum acquire in 2021.

Last but certainly not least, if you haven’t yet seen Veronica Ryan and Thomas J Price’s emotive sculptures honouring the Windrush generation, in Hackney, make a beeline the next time you’re in London. The works were commissioned with Art Fund support and unveiled in 2021 and 2022 respectively. Ryan’s sculptures of Caribbean fruits sit on Narrow Way in Hackney Central and Price’s lifelike figures stand outside Hackney Town Hall. As public works of art, they’re free to see, but you can make the most of your time in east London with our guide to some of the best museums and galleries in the area where you can use your pass.