Going Places: Get involved with these exhibitions
Over the next five years, museums across the UK are coming together to create 12 touring exhibitions in collaboration with their local communities. Find out what you can see near you.
Have you ever wished an exhibition truly reflected your stories?
Keep an eye out for a Going Places exhibition near you. Going Places is a major new programme of exhibitions touring the UK, which are being created in collaboration with local communities.
From Edinburgh to Penzance, Lisburn to Carmarthen, local people are selecting works for display, contributing personal objects and stories, and working with artists to create new responses to collections.
Scroll down to find out which museums are taking part, the themes for the exhibitions and what you can see.
Where can I see a Going Places exhibition?
There'll be 12 Going Places exhibitions touring the UK over the next five years. (Six networks of museums are working together to create two touring exhibitions each.)
Each time an exhibition is presented at a new location, it will look different, as it will have been co-created with local people.
Here are the six networks of museums, and details of the first exhibitions they're putting on:
Meet the 'Communities of Making' network
Participating museums:
Inverness Museum & Art Gallery (May – July 2027)
Carmarthenshire Museum (July – September 2027)
Irish Linen Centre & Lisburn Museum (October – December 2027)
These museums are exploring how local heritage and traditions of making have evolved in their respective regions (for example: Irish linen weaving, Scottish wool, Welsh basketry).
About the Communities of Making exhibition
Co-curated with 16-24 year olds, the Communities of Making exhibition reimagines centuries-old craft traditions for today. The exhibition brings together striking museum objects and newly commissioned artworks chosen and interpreted by the young curators, revealing what these skills mean to their communities today.
Meet the 'Founding the Future' network
Watts Gallery, Guildford (27 January – 18 April 2027)
The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle (2 May – 3 October 2027)
Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum, Bournemouth (23 October 2027 – 1 January 2028)
These museums were all founded by couples with a passion for art, culture and collecting.
About their exhibition: Tracing the Earth: Art, Science and Shifting Environments
Drawing on the museums' collections, this exhibition examines how artists observed, celebrated, collected and documented nature. It also reflects on how, at a time of rapid environmental change, these cultural practices continue to shape how we perceive and care for the planet today.
Featuring work by GF Watts, JMW Turner, Josephine Bowes, William Lucker and Frederick Golden Short, it includes fine art, decorative arts and textiles, alongside work by contemporary artists and community-led responses.
Meet the 'Four Lanterns' network
William Morris Gallery, London (3 October 2026 – 28 March 2027)
Tŷ Pawb, Wrexham (19 June – 2 October 2027)
Blackwell – The Arts & Crafts house, Bowness-on-Windermere (October 2027 – February 2028)
Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh (March – September 2028)
The Four Lanterns network will explore ideas of productivity and making, and the civic and social values of art – taking the Arts and Crafts movement as a starting point.
About their exhibition: Earthly Paradise: Radical Living in the UK
Telling the story of people and places that have inspired art and activism in Britain over the past 200 years – from William Morris’s Red House to Derek Jarman’s Prospect Cottage – the exhibition shares how radical homes were used to imagine fairer, more creative ways of living together.
Made in close collaboration with communities and artists across the UK, the exhibition invites everyone to take part through talks, hands‑on workshops and a dedicated programme for young people.
Meet the 'Green Spaces, Shared Places' network
National Memorial Arboretum, Staffordshire (11 July – 27 September 2026)
Dales Countryside Museum, Hawes (3 October 2026 – 28 February 2027)
Creative Smart City Hub Houghton and Rainton Meadows Nature Reserve (Sunderland Culture) (6 March – 26 June 2027)
Arlington Court and the National Trust Carriage Museum, Exmoor (24 July – 7 November 2027)
The Green Spaces, Shared Places network will explore the positive impact that nature and the outdoors can have on mental and physical health.
They will collect oral testimonies to capture the lived experiences of these places and landscapes, and young people’s voices will be at the heart of the conversation.
About their exhibition: Green Spaces, Shared Places – Past, Present and Future
Curated by young people, this exhibition explores our evolving relationship with landscapes – reflecting on what has been lost while celebrating the breathtaking beauty and community spirit that remains.
Using historic collections, site-specific interventions and new art commissions, it provides a unique lens on what it means to be a 'green place', anchored in its history and with an eye to the future.
Meet the 'Long Distance Connections' network
Penlee House Gallery & Museum, Penzance (30 April – 27 September 2026)
Worcester City Art Gallery & Museum (16 January – 13 June 2027)
Kirkcaldy Gallery (June – October 2027)
The Long Distance Connections network will explore the stories of female artists represented in each of their collections, through research, community engagement and a youth exchange programme.
About their exhibition: Making Her Mark: A Celebration of Women in Art
Bringing together over 60 artworks from the museums' collections, Making Her Mark explores the role, impact and legacy of women in art.
The exhibition highlights the creativity, innovation and determination of some of the women who have shaped British art over the last 150 years – exploring the challenges faced by women artists, celebrating their achievements, and looking to the future.
Meet the 'New Faces New Focus' network
Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool (18 September – December 2026)
Armagh Museum (17 January – 5 May 2027)
Aberdeenshire Farming Museum (June – September 2027)
The New Faces New Focus network will use socially engaged practice to connect newly formed and isolated communities with their collections, focusing on the theme of journeys.
They will use their heritage collections to enable underrepresented communities to explore and share their own stories.
About their exhibition
This exhibition brings together community stories and creative responses in dialogue with collections from across the UK.
Socially engaged residencies in Liverpool, Armagh and Aberdeenshire have engaged with local refugee and asylum-seeking communities, exploring the theme of journeys – from migration and exile to the milestones, traditions and celebrations on our journeys through life.
Going Places: One of the largest projects of its kind
Taking place across five years, 2025-30, Going Places is one of the most ambitious touring programmes of its kind.
The project follows on from research Art Fund commissioned in partnership with Creative Scotland in 2022, which explored how museums doing more to share their collections with each other – and working together on touring exhibitions – could increase access to high-quality exhibitions across the UK.
The Going Places project also aims to support a more sustainable approach to making exhibitions, with museums making the most of each other’s collections, sharing resources and making them go further.
Going Places is an Art Fund programme made possible with major support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and The Julia Rausing Trust, with additional support from a generous group of trusts, foundations and individuals.
