Grants Encourage Links Between Museum Curators And Artists In The Southwest

By Tara Booth

14/11/2008

Museums in the southwest are to forge links and work with leading national artists thanks to a string of grants announced by Museums Libraries and Archives South West.

More than £150,000 is being handed to ten museums through the initiative, which is also supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

The grants are part of New Expressions, a major new programme that aims to open up new dialogues between audiences, contemporary artists and the wealth of historical material held in the region’s museums.

As reported by 24 Hour Museum last month, Arts Council Chairman Sir Christopher Frayling spoke at the Museums Association Conference in Liverpool, expressing how fruitful the collaborations between artists and museums could be, and how it could lead to potential promotion of the nation’s heritage and the arts.

“It’s unprecedented for museums and artists to work together on this kind of regional scale,” explained MLA South West Board of Directors and Chair of the Selection Panel, David Ball