Art Fund awards £1 million to local museums

Successful projects in this round of Reimagine grants include:

• Birmingham Museums Trust has been awarded £49,728 for Collections in the Community – to advance Birmingham Museums Trust’s (BMT) 10-year Dynamic Collections programme, aimed at opening up access to the city’s nationally significant collections. The funding will help to strengthen existing relationships and create new partnerships, including the establishment of a Community Partner Panel. This will enable BMT to further embed a truly democratic approach at the heart of its organisation by actively involving underrepresented groups and giving them a meaningful role in the care and management of its collections.  

• Derby Museums has been awarded £45,000 for a “wool takeover” at the Museum of Making – bringing together manufacturers, young people, industry experts and consumers to spark discussion on sustainable fashion. The collaboration will produce an on-gallery takeover and workshop programme at the Museum of Making, engaging young people, families and wider audiences – including Looked After Children (LAC) – in creative solutions to the climate emergency and inspiring careers in textiles and making. 

• The Dylan Thomas Boat House in Laugharne, Carmarthenshire, has been awarded £39,643 to reimagine it as a Creative Hub – Through activities and events, the Dylan Thomas Boat House, once home to Wales’s most famous poet, will become an inclusive Creative Hub for children, young people and families. This project – a partnership between CofGâr (the name for Carmarthenshire County Council’s Museums & Arts Service), Kids in Museums, and Carmarthenshire’s Education Service – will connect a younger audience with literary, creative, and expressive arts inspired by Dylan Thomas.  

• Fermanagh County Museum in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland has been awarded £42,000 for Art In Our Hands – to reimagine how Fermanagh County Museum’s collections are enjoyed through a participatory programme of creative activities that empowers and uplifts the community. In partnership with the Oak Healthy Living Centre, the project will use art and artefacts to enhance wellbeing for rurally isolated groups, people with health conditions or have experienced trauma. Museum staff will lead workshops with museum artefacts, behind-the-scenes visits and tours, culminating in a co-curated exhibition at Enniskillen Castle.  

• Hartlepool Art Gallery in Tees Valley has been awarded the £17,445 for Beneath The Surface – an innovative mental health initiative uniting council teams with mental health practitioners to address the low engagement of men with mental health support services. Central to the programme is the gallery's collection of works by postwar artist John Wilson McCracken, expelled from the Slade School in 1959 following a schizophrenia diagnosis. Men accessing mental health services will be invited to participate in creative workshops inspired by McCracken's art, leading to a collaborative exhibition which aims to promote future sessions while highlighting mental health resources available.  

• Manchester Art Gallery has been awarded £45,000 to develop the Rutherston Loan Scheme for the 21st Century – to explore new ways to loaning artworks from the Rutherston Loan Collection, a 100-year-old collection of paintings, print and sculptures, to schools and colleges across Manchester. In collaboration with primary, secondary and further education providers, the project will remove barriers to accessing art and promote visual literacy for children and young people in Manchester’s most deprived areas.  

• MK Gallery in Milton Keynes has been awarded £40,000 for Sensory Exhibition Engagement – building on MK Gallery’s innovative approach to tour programming, Sensory Exhibition Engagement will increase opportunities for disabled and neurodivergent adults, children, and young people to access and engage with exhibitions. The project will strengthen MK Gallery’s partnerships with community and educational organisations, while fostering new collaborations with local support and advocacy groups. 

• The People's Palace in Glasgow, Scotland has been awarded £10,000 for Reimagining the People's Palace – Glasgow’s social history museum is home to a collection of visual art spanning over 200 years. The museum is currently closed for a major redevelopment and redisplay of the collection. The People’s Palace will hire an Assistant Visitor Studies Curator to work with communities during the closure, using co-curation to involve residents, visitors and local organisations in shaping the Palace’s future.