More treasures to be lent to UK museums and galleries through the Weston Loan Programme
Borrow treasures from national collections for forthcoming exhibitions – applications from UK museums and galleries for the next round of the Weston Loan Programme with Art Fund are now open
From today, we are inviting museums and galleries across the UK to apply for loans of works of art from national collections and major lending institutions through the Weston Loan Programme with Art Fund. The deadline for this, the sixth round of Weston Loan Programme applications, is 17 August. The successful applicants will be notified in September.
The UK-wide grant programme, designed by the Garfield Weston Foundation and Art Fund, began in 2017 to directly fund and empower smaller museums to borrow outstanding works from national or major lending museums and galleries. It provides support for, among other things, transportation, conservation and training. So far hundreds of works have been lent through the scheme to 52 exhibitions and this has meant that high-profile works with strong connections to the locality of the museum can be seen by a wide range of audiences.
Borrowed works include those by Edward Burne-Jones, William Hogarth, Laura Knight, John Nash, Eric Ravilious, Rembrandt van Rijn, Peter Paul Rubens and George Stubbs, as well as treasures such as the 12th-century Becket Casket and the Lampedusa Cross.
Venues supported since museums reopened in May include Bath’s Victoria Art Gallery presenting connections between Lucian Freud, John Minton and Adrian Ryan; Pallant House Gallery in Chichester who have opened an exhibition of work by Ben Nicholson: and Penlee House Gallery and Museum in Penzance whose exhibition focuses on Dame Laura Knight. An outstanding 16th century portrait of Richard III has been lent by the National Portrait Gallery to Yorkshire Museum and Gardens and Antony Gormley’s monumental installation Field for the British Isles, is soon to go on display at Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art in Sunderland.
We very much look forward to the next round of applications and to the exciting exhibitions we will be able to support through this ground-breaking grant programme.
To find out how to make an application and view exhibitions previously supported by the Weston Loan Programme, please visit: https://www.artfund.org/supporting-museums/programmes/weston-loan-programme