Finding money to support contemporary art acquisitions is rarely easy, but even in these tough financial times, there are organisations that are keen to help museums.
An exhibition at Sheffield’s Millennium Gallery features the work of Katerina Seda (until 30 May). The Czech Republic-based artist has created a work that involved hundreds of volunteers as part of a search for those individuals who best reflect the physical profile of her home town.
The work was funded by the Contemporary Art Society (CAS) through its Annual Award, which was created in 2009 to support a commission that will become a permanent work in a public museum’s collection.
The latest winner of the £60,000 award is a joint project by the Hepworth Wakefield and Wolverhampton Art Gallery. The CAS, which is inviting submissions for 2011, also has a general scheme that helps museums acquire contemporary art. Both are open only to CAS members.
In 2010, the Art Fund gave £1.2m towards the purchase of contemporary art – 28% of its total grants, up from 21.6% in 2009. The charity also runs Art Fund Collect and Art Fund International, which help museums buy contemporary works.
The V&A Purchase Grant Fund helps regional museums buy art from any period. But its budget has been cut from £900,000 in 2010-11 to £600,000 in 2011-12 following the provisional Renaissance budget from the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. Despite this, the criteria will remain the same.
www.contemporaryartsociety.org
www.artfund.org
www.vam.ac.uk/resources/purchase_grant
An exhibition at Sheffield’s Millennium Gallery features the work of Katerina Seda (until 30 May). The Czech Republic-based artist has created a work that involved hundreds of volunteers as part of a search for those individuals who best reflect the physical profile of her home town.
The work was funded by the Contemporary Art Society (CAS) through its Annual Award, which was created in 2009 to support a commission that will become a permanent work in a public museum’s collection.
The latest winner of the £60,000 award is a joint project by the Hepworth Wakefield and Wolverhampton Art Gallery. The CAS, which is inviting submissions for 2011, also has a general scheme that helps museums acquire contemporary art. Both are open only to CAS members.
In 2010, the Art Fund gave £1.2m towards the purchase of contemporary art – 28% of its total grants, up from 21.6% in 2009. The charity also runs Art Fund Collect and Art Fund International, which help museums buy contemporary works.
The V&A Purchase Grant Fund helps regional museums buy art from any period. But its budget has been cut from £900,000 in 2010-11 to £600,000 in 2011-12 following the provisional Renaissance budget from the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. Despite this, the criteria will remain the same.
www.contemporaryartsociety.org
www.artfund.org
www.vam.ac.uk/resources/purchase_grant
