Museums receive £1.8m for ‘experimental’ engagement projects

Experimental projects including the creation of an archive of trans culture and the development of co-production work with children will be run by a range of museums, galleries, historic houses, and trusts after they received share of £1.8m to find new ways of engaging audiences.

The money comes from Art Fund’s Reimagine grants programme, launched in 2020, which forms part of the charity's efforts to support organisations to deliver projects that make a positive change in the wake of the pandemic. Since the programme’s inception, the charity has awarded a total of £6.25m, funding 108 projects.

Funding for the latest round has been split between 45 organisations delivering "experimental projects which will help museums reimagine engagement with audiences”.

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Art Fund Director Jenny Waldman says the charity is delighted it can provide millions of pounds to “support museums directly engaging audiences in exciting and innovative ways”.

“It’s an enormously challenging time for museums with a real risk that the current economic climate will stifle creativity,” she added.

“Museums are facing huge energy bills for their buildings and cost of living wage measures to help retain their expert staff just as they endeavour to recover their pre-pandemic visitor numbers and income.”

Funded projects

Recipients in the latest funding round are located across the four UK nations, with successful applicants receiving between £10,000 and £50,000 to develop access, expertise, and digital capacity.

Among the recipients is the Museum of Transology, which will use the funds to establish the Trans Pride UK Collection, a national archiving project which plans to “collect, celebrate, save and share the culture of trans, non-binary, and intersex people’s lives”.

Museum of Transology Curator E-J Scott says the grant comes as the museum celebrates its 10th birthday.

“By saving objects and stories from all 13 Trans Pride collectives across the UK, we’ll unite our community voices in a show of solidarity, and ensure evidence of trans empowerment is recorded in history for the inspiration of future generations,” Scott added.

A grant given to design museum V&A Dundee will be spent on digital media, through the development of multimedia tours, multisensory tours, a new audio descriptive guide and British Sign Language tours, as well as tours in foreign languages. 

“By working with a diverse range of voices and new technology, the grant will help us create fun and innovative ways for visitors to interact with our incredible architecture, engage more deeply with Scottish and global design, and increase accessibility and enjoyment for everyone,” said Claire Eva, Director of Audiences and Media at V&A Dundee.

Wrexham-based arts centre Tŷ Pawb is putting its grant towards Capital of Play, an artist-led project that aims to explore the role of arts in engaging young audiences in civic-decision making.

Creative Director Jo Marsh says the project will “exploring what it means for artists and children to work together as genuine co-producers”. 

“We are looking forward to seeing how this ambitious project develops over the next few months. Our thanks to Art Fund for their invaluable support.”