Exhibitions shaped by local communities to tour UK
The first of 12 major touring exhibitions, which will travel to museums and galleries across the UK over the next five years as part of Art Fund’s Going Places programme, opens today.
Today, a major programme of touring exhibitions supported by Art Fund launches at Penlee House Gallery & Museum in Penzance, with the opening of the exhibition Making Her Mark: A Celebration of Women in Art.
Exploring the barriers that women artists have faced over the last 150 years and celebrating the lasting impact of their work today, Making Her Mark is the first of a series of 12 major touring shows that will travel to museums and galleries across the UK over the next five years as part of Art Fund’s Going Places programme, made possible with major support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and The Julia Rausing Trust.
One of the most ambitious touring programmes of its kind, Going Places brings together 20 museums across the UK – from Penzance to Edinburgh, Lisburn to Carmarthen – to share and celebrate the UK’s collections in ways that are rooted in place and shaped by local people.
Each unique exhibition is developed in collaboration with local communities, opening up collections in new ways and enabling more people to see their own lives and stories reflected in museums.
Making Her Mark: Celebrating women who have shaped British art
Bringing together over 60 works from the collections of Penlee House Gallery & Museum, Worcester City Art Gallery & Museum and Kirkcaldy Galleries, Making Her Mark highlights the creativity, innovation and determination of women who have shaped British art over the last 150 years. Exhibition highlights include works by Caroline Walker, Elizabeth Forbes, Laura Knight, Tracey Emin, Paula Rego, Barbara Hepworth and Wilhelmina Barns-Graham.
At Penlee House Gallery & Museum, care-experienced young people, supported by local charity Carefree Cornwall, have responded to the artworks and themes of the exhibition. Their work will be displayed within the exhibition alongside some of the world’s best-known artists, brought together in a large-scale textile banner.
Through a series of artist-led workshops with Elizabeth Howell and Kate Turner, participants explored a range of artistic techniques in response to the exhibition and discussed issues around gender equality. As part of the programme, the group also travelled to partner museums across the UK – for some, leaving Cornwall for the first time – opening up new perspectives and cultural experiences.
Going Places exhibitions: Shaped by local communities
For all exhibitions in the Going Places programme, local people are selecting works for display, contributing personal objects and stories, and working with artists to create new responses to collections.
The programme responds directly to museums’ needs for more sustainable and collaborative ways of exhibiting – enabling collections to travel across the country, reach more people and take on new relevance in different places.
Works that have rarely – and in some cases never – left their home collections will be seen by new audiences across the country, including Peille, A Hillside Village (1959) by Anne Redpath, the first woman painter elected to the Royal Scottish Academy, from OnFife’s collection, and Midland Landscape II by Prunella Clough (1919–1999), known for her distinctive post-war work focusing on industrial landscapes, from Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens’ collection.
Full list of Going Places exhibitions
Making Her Mark: A Celebration of Women in Art
Bringing together over 60 artworks from the collections of Penlee House Gallery & Museum, Museums Worcestershire, and OnFife, 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.
Penlee House Gallery & Museum (owned and operated by Penzance Council), 30 April – 27 September 2026
Worcester City Art Gallery & Museum (part of Museums Worcestershire), 16 January – 13 June 2027
Kirkcaldy Gallery (part of cultural charity OnFife), June – October 2027
Green Spaces, Shared Places – Past, Present and Future
Curated by young people, this exhibition will explore our evolving relationship with the landscapes – reflecting on what has been lost whilst celebrating the breathtaking beauty and community spirit that remains. Using historic collections, site-specific interventions and new art commissions, it will provide a unique lens on what it means to be a 'green place', anchored in its history and with an eye to the future.
National Memorial Arboretum (11 July – 27 September 2026)
Dales Countryside Museum (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 National Trust Carriage Museum (24 July – 7 November 2027)
New Faces New Focus
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.
Open Eye Gallery (18 September – December 2026)
Armagh Museum (17 January – 5 May 2027)
Aberdeenshire Farming Museum (June – September 2027)
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.
William Morris Gallery (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)
Tracing the Earth: Art, Science and Shifting Environments
Drawing on the collections of Watts Gallery, The Bowes Museum, and Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum, this touring exhibition examines how artists observed, celebrated, collected and documented nature, using art as a means of knowledge-making and advocacy. 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. It features work by GF Watts, JMW Turner, Josephine Bowes, William Lucker, Frederick Golden Short, spanning fine art, decorative arts and textiles, alongside work by contemporary artists and community-led responses.
Watts Gallery (27 January – 18 April 2027)
The Bowes Museum (2 May – 3 October 2027)
Russell-Cotes Museum & Art Gallery (23 October 2027 – 1 January 2028)
Communities of Making
Co-curated with 16-24 year olds, Communities of Making reimagines centuries-old craft traditions for today. Reimagining endangered heritage crafts such as Irish linen weaving, Scottish wool and Welsh basketry, 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.
Inverness Museum & Art Gallery (May – July 2027)
Carmarthenshire Museum (July – September 2027)
Irish Linen Centre & Lisburn Museum (October – December 2027)
Each network of museums will create a second exhibition with details to be announced in due course.
Jenny Waldman, Director, Art Fund, said: “Going Places is a truly UK-wide collaboration on an ambitious scale. It will bring outstanding works from museum collections to new audiences across the country, with many objects travelling beyond their home institutions for the very first time. Going Places demonstrates what’s possible when museums come together to share collections, resources and expertise – forging a more sustainable future for exhibitions and empowering communities across the UK.
“We’re hugely grateful to The National Lottery Heritage Fund and The Julia Rausing Trust for their generous support in making this possible, and to the partner museums and communities whose creativity and commitment are at its heart. We encourage everyone, wherever they are in the country, to visit a Going Places exhibition near them and discover something new.”