Art Fund extends free access

Free entry to over 200 charging museums and galleries and 50% off entry to major exhibitions will soon be available to the public, courtesy of the Art Fund, which has launched a National Art Pass to replace its current membership card. Aiming to encourage more people to experience art around the UK and to raise money for its art funding programme, the Pass will also give members, currently 80,000 of them, entry to special events, lectures, visits and private views. The Art Fund will also be increasing its funding for museums and galleries to buy and show art to £7m a year by 2014, an increase of 50% on current levels. The increase is being funded partly by the Wolfson Foundation, which has pledged £1.5m over three years for the acquisitions funding programme, and the Art Fund will also be extending its work with other donors, trusts and foundations. The new cash will be used in various ways which aim to alleviate some of the problems caused by the recent squeeze on museum funding. More money will be made directly available to help museums buy important works of art and for sharing art around the UK through support of tours, exhibitions, projects and events. Curatorial development will be also supported further, starting with a new partnership with the National Gallery to set up curatorial traineeships in regional museums. The Art Fund is the national fundraising charity for art. Its recent campaigns have included saving the £3.3m Staffordshire Hoard of Anglo-Saxon treasures and Pieter Brueghel the Younger’s ‘The Procession to Calvary’ for UK collections. Stephen Deuchar, Art Fund director, said: “We must ensure that museums remain able to collect, display and interpret great works of art, for a wide public, whatever the financial pressures of the moment. Supported by the National Art Pass, we are determined to help this happen.”