For over 110 years we have supported museums and galleries, and helped them to buy and display great works of art for everyone to enjoy.
After Bruno Taut. 'Devotion to Drift' by Lee Bul, 2013 – acquired by Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and New Art Gallery Walsall with Art Fund support (2014)
© Studio Lee Bul
We help museums and galleries in a number of ways:
- Providing museums and curators with funding for: acquisitions; training and development; and the display of art through tours and exhibitions.
- Running public appeals when a particular work of art is under threat; for example, in 2014 we ran a successful campaign to save one of the most important industrial archives in the world, the Wedgwood Collection, which documents the evolution of ceramics design over 250 years. Recently we also led a successful appeal with the National Portrait Gallery to save Van Dyck's final self-portrait for the nation. In recent years we have run several major appeals, raising £45m to save works of art or collections.
- Promoting hundreds of UK museums and galleries through the National Art Pass, the Art Guide app and more.
- Providing museums and galleries with the chance to fundraise for individual projects through Art Happens, our crowdfunding platform.
- Helping museums share and show collections, by supporting tours and exhibitions such as ARTIST ROOMS, a nationwide tour of post-war and contemporary art.
- Campaigning and advocacy work: we lobbied behind the scenes for free entry to national museums, and more recently for tax incentives to encourage philanthropy.
- Through the Art Fund Museum of the Year, we celebrate the very best museums and galleries in the country.
Thanks to our broad community of Art Fund members and supporters, significant works of art can be seen by all, from Titian’s Diana and Callisto at the National Galleries of Scotland to Rachel Whiteread’s exquisite Tree of Life on the facade of the Whitechapel Gallery. Join us and make a difference.