THE JOHN ELLERMAN FOUNDATION MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES FUND
Grants averaging £90,000 are available to UK regional museums and galleries, including those managed by local authorities, to enhance and sustain curatorial development which will attract a broader public.
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o Application deadline: MONDAY 6th JANUARY 2025 at 5pm for Stage 1 applications (the Foundation operates an annual application round for its Regional Museum and Galleries Fund – ignore the date on the Foundation’s homepage: as with last year, it’s incorrect). The Foundation has scheduled a number of briefing sessions for interested applicants. Dates and booking details are provided at the foot of the main article below.
o Funder: The John Ellerman Foundation (founded 1971. Charity number 263207. Total charitable expenditure for the year ended 31 March 2024: £6,471,000 (2023 £6,388,000; 2022: £7,358,000)).
o Who can apply: regional UK museums and galleries, including those managed by local authorities, independent museums and contemporary galleries without permanent collections. Museums in London may also apply if they can demonstrate that their project brings significant benefits outside of the capital.
o Key Words: Regional Museums, Galleries, Arts, Culture, Archaeology, Social and Natural History, United Kingdom.
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The John Ellerman Foundation aims to advance the wellbeing of people, society and the natural world, by focusing on the arts, environment and social action.
The Foundation’s Museums and Galleries Fund is designed to help strengthen regional museums and galleries in the UK by helping organisations enhance and sustain curatorial development to attract a broader public.
The Fund is open to a wide variety of collection types and has previously supported visual and decorative arts, archaeology and social and natural history collections. The Foundation is particularly interested in receiving applications from those areas where it has made fewer grants, such as the East Midlands, Northern Ireland and Wales, with a specific emphasis on:
o Enabling new ways of working through innovation, new thinking and fresh approaches both for established curators or those just starting out, and
o Ensuring organisations are able to safeguard and advance curatorial skills and make the most of opportunities at a time of development or change.
The average grant award is likely to be in the region of £90,000, with around 5-6 grants expected to be awarded. Grants are normally made over 2 or 3 years. Applicants should plan for funded activities to commence from June 2025.
Details of grants awarded over all the Foundation’s grant programmes, which consisted of 58 grants totalling £5,210,000 during the year ended 31st March 2023, can be accessed via its website.
Priority is normally given to small and medium-sized museums and galleries with an income of between £100,000 and £10 million and which are located outside of London. National and/or London-based institutions may also apply if their project brings significant benefits in the regions. Universities are eligible to apply but due to their size and relative financial stability are less likely to be successful and should contact the Grants Manager, Gareth Clayton (details below), at the Foundation to discuss their proposal before applying.
Applicants will be expected to demonstrate:
o A commitment to collaborative approaches, either as the focus of the request, or at a minimum with a strong track record of partnership working.
o Excellence in their field at a national level, and
o National significance, usually through a unique or high-quality collection.
The Foundation operates a 2-stage application process. Applicants successful at Stage 1 will be invited to submit a full application form at Stage 2.
The Foundation has scheduled a number of 1-hour question and answer sessions on Zoom, where queries will be responded to from applicants. You can sign up for any one of the events below via this Eventbrite page.
o Wednesday 16th October 2024: 10.30-11.30am.
o Tuesday 22nd October 2024: 2-3pm.
o Thursday 31st October 2024: 2-3 pm.
o Tuesday 5th November 2024: 10-11am.
o Thursday 14th November 2024: 2-3pm.
o Tuesday 19th November 2024: 10-11am.
o Wednesday 27th November 2024: 1-2pm.
o Tuesday 3rd December 2024: 10-11am.
o Tuesday 10th December 2024: 10-11am, and
o Tuesday 17th December 2024: 2-3pm.
Further information, guidance and details about how to apply is available on the Foundation’s website. New applicants are required to register with the Foundation in the first instance.
The programme has a deadline for Stage 1 applications of 5pm on Monday 6th January 2025.
Contact details for the Foundation are:
Jo Bridger (she/her)
Grants Manager
The John Ellerman Foundation
Aria House
23 Craven Street
London
WC2N 5NS
Tel: 020 7930 8566
Email: museums@ellerman.org.uk