£600k boost for acquisitions

The Art Fund has been awarded £600,000 from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation to support new collections in museums and galleries across the UK. The money will be used for a new campaign, RENEW, which will provide 100% funding to up to six museums that are accepted onto the scheme. RENEW aims to: stimulate new curatorial approaches to collecting and the growth of collections; encourage a collecting perspective which creates opportunities for collaboration, and knowledge and resource sharing, between departments and institutions; ensure museums and galleries are engaging fully with the particularities of their collections, curatorial expertise, location and the communities they serve; enable a strategic and energetic approach to collecting despite the current public funding climate. Stephen Deuchar, Director of the Art Fund, said: “I can’t wait to see the results."

RENEW will be rolled out over a two-year period, following a selection process in summer and autumn of 2011. Between June and July 2011, applications will be accepted from institutions that are eligible for Art Fund support, including public museums, galleries, historic houses, libraries and archives with permanent collections. Applying institutions must be open for at least half the week for at least six months of the year, and have provisional or full accreditation with the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. Successful institutions will be notified in early September with the aim that the first tranche of acquisitions will be approved in the autumn.