2022 Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund awardees

We’re pleased to announce the latest recipients of the Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund, joining the 170 projects we’ve funded since 2011.

Grants offer up to £90k over around two years for outstanding ideas that that demonstrate the significance, distinctiveness and power of collections to people.

Here are July 2022’s successful grantees:

Brunel Museum, £62,046 for “Sophia’s Story: supporting young women in engineering”, a project to develop engagement with young women and girls both within and outside of school settings using a collection of engineering drawings.

Food Museum, £77,500 for “Re-thinking the Rural Life Museum”, a programme of creative collections engagement for young people and community groups using remote methods to democratise its collection of large objects.

Foundling Museum, £90,000 for “Curated with Care: a two-year programme of co-curation with care-experienced young people”. The project will work with graduates from their young care-leavers training programme in partnership with the National Gallery.

Manchester Museum, £80,000 for “Elder and Wiser: reimagining botanical exchange” an intergeneration project with young people in Manchester, older people in Manchester and Indigenous Noongar people in Australia using the museum’s botany collection.

National Holocaust Centre, £80,360 for “Sharing Their Testimonies” a project to test and evaluate ways to use Holocaust survivor recorded testimonies and associated artefacts to support primary and secondary schools to address racism.

New Forest Heritage, £80,000 for “Embroidered tales: hidden histories and silent voices of the New Forest”, a project working with members of local LGBTQ+ and Romani Communities to develop a haptic tactile version of the New Forest Embroidery incorporating new stories.

Tyne & Wear Archives and Museums, £90,000 for “Exchange; continue”, a programme of community consultation on social history collections of the Discovery Museum and South Shields Museum & Art Gallery to help devise a decolonisation strategy.

Whithorn Trust, £89,580 for “Whithorn ReBuild: re-envisaging the artisans behind the artefacts from Whithorn’s early architecture” a project to reveal the medieval artisans who created today’s archaeology collections and linking them with careers in heritage construction.

Apply now

If you think you have an idea that matches the current criteria we have another round for 2022 with the deadline of 14 September 2022 to submit an expression of interest. We strongly advise potential applicants to contact us prior to submission to talk through your idea – please contact sarah@museumsassociation.org.

In 2023 the criteria will be changing as the fund evolves to better serve the needs of the sector, so this is the last opportunity to apply to the fund in its current form. Look out for an announcement in the autumn.

Image credit to the Food Museum