Funding

Announcing new 'Reimagine grants' to support the future of museums

Science Museum
Science Museum

As the museum and gallery sector navigates the next phase of recovery from the pandemic, we’re launching a new £2 million project grants scheme to help institutions move forward, as well as announcing the opening of applications for the third round of Headley Fellowships.

Aiming to increase creativity and stability in the sector, Art Fund is opening applications for its new £2million project grants scheme. Reimagine grants will help UK organisations transform their activities and build expertise, capacity and connections within and beyond the sector. 

Open to museums, galleries, historic houses, arts-focussed archives, libraries, festivals, biennials and a range of professional networks, the Reimagine programme will offer small grants of between £5,000 and £15,000 and large grants of between £15,000 and £50,000. These grants will support large and small projects and professional networks. 

The first deadline for applications to the Reimagine programme is 5 July 2021, and two further rounds will be held in August and October. The Reimagine programme has been developed in direct response to Art Fund’s survey of over 300 museum directors in the UK, who told us how they need help to move forward in these challenging times. 

Reimagine grants are made possible thanks to public donations from across the UK through Art Fund’s campaign Together for Museums, which launched in 2020 and has so far raised over £1.1 million to support museums through the challenges of the pandemic. These donations further boosted the ongoing support of Art Fund members who purchase the National Art Pass, Art Partners and donors who make an annual donation, and legacy gifts. 

Today we are also announcing further support to small and medium-sized museums across the UK by providing an additional £175,000 that will be distributed by Museum Development UK (MDUK) and their partners – Museums and Galleries Scotland, the Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Museums Council. Building on the successful partnership with MDUK and our collaborative response to the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020, this funding, which will be matched by MDUK, will ensure our support can reach as many museums and galleries as possible.

Art Fund is also opening applications today for the third round of Headley Fellowships, a £600,000 funding programme supported by The Headley Trust, to help curators, expand specialist skills and develop expertise. Eleven fellowships, each with a value of £27,500, will be available to help back-fill museum professionals’ posts for up to six months to facilitate new research into collections.

For full details of how to apply to the Reimagine programme, applicants should log in to their My Art Fund account, or create an account, at artfund.org/my-art-fund

For more information about the Headley Fellowships, visit artfund.org/supporting-museums/programmes/headley-fellowships

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