Lobbying for change

We not only support museums through our grants programmes, fundraising campaigns and marketing initiatives; we also champion museums and galleries across the UK so that art is accessible to everyone.

The Wedgwood Museum, Staffordshire. We are heavily engaged in talks over the future of the Wedgwood Collection following a High Court judgement that it could be sold to fund a pension deficit.

We have a history of successful campaigning for changes that have widened public access to art in our museums and galleries. We successfully worked with partners to campaign to introduce free entry to national museums, and our campaigning to increase philanthropic gifting of works led to the introduction of the Cultural Gifts Scheme. We will always be vocal in preventing cuts and closures that lead to reduced access for the public to our collections.

We campaign publicly and influence behind the scenes on key issues including:

Getting a sustainable funding model for museums and galleries from national and local government that enables our members and the public to access as much art as possible
Implementing policies which enable greater philanthropic giving of art to UK institutions, and ensure that important pieces of cultural heritage remain in the UK
Ensuring that current and future museum professionals are well supported, and have all the tools they need to understand and make the most out of their collections
Advocating for the important role that museums and galleries play in health and wellbeing, tourism, social cohesion and place making.

For more information, or to alert us to something you’d like to see us speak out about, please contact programmes@artfund.org