RENEW: a £600,000 collecting initiative supported by the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation
RENEW is a collecting scheme that will help UK museums create new collections or replenish and develop their existing holdings. RENEW aims to build future centres of excellence by supporting fresh areas of collecting. The initiative is funded thanks to a grant from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation as part of its 50th birthday celebrations.
RENEW aims to:
• stimulate collecting and to develop collections
• encourage a collecting which creates opportunities for collaboration and the sharing of knowledge and resources between departments and institutions
• help museums and galleries to connect with their communities in new ways through collecting
• enable a strategic and energetic approach to collecting in the current funding climate
£500,000 from the funding pot has been allocated so far with a further £100,000 still to be announced. 41 galleries applied for a share of the funding and the following five projects across six museums and galleries have been successful in their bids to build new collections:
- Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology awarded £100,000 towards building a collection of modern prints and works on paper from Australia, Canada and South Africa.
- University of Durham Oriental Museum awarded £50,000 towards the creation of Made in Japan, a collection of contemporary Japanese art.
- Glasgow Museums awarded £100,000 towards developing a collection of South Asian art.
- Wolverhampton Art Gallery in partnership with the Imperial War Museum, London awarded £150,000 towards building a collection about conflict in Israel, Palestine and its implications in the wider Middle East.
- York Art Gallery awarded £100,000 towards the creation of a collection of contemporary fine art which focuses on flesh and artists’ responses to the human body.
- University of Dundee Museum Collections awarded £100,000 to build a collection of art inspired by D’Arcy Thompson, the University’s first Professor of Biology.
