Fund helps regional museums boost film collections
Whitworth Art Gallery and the Towner Art Gallery are the first to benefit from the Moving Image Fund
Regional museums are receiving financial support to expand their film collections.
The Towner Art Gallery in Eastbourne and the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester have jointly acquired Isaac Julien’s Ten Thousand Waves – a film made in tribute to the Chinese cockle-pickers who died at Morecambe Bay.
The galleries bought the film with money from the Moving Image Fund, which was set up by the Art Fund and the Thomas Dane Gallery in London to ensure that major artist’s film and video works are acquired for public collections, which can be expensive to produce and complex to display.
Overall the pilot initiative has given £180,000 each to the Whitworth and Towner Art Gallery to collect film and video. Both institutions are in the process of making further acquisitions.
Isaac Julien said: “Ten Thousand Waves is a piece that began its life in the North of England and its homecoming is incredibly meaningful for me.”
The Towner Art Gallery and the Imperial War Museum also jointly purchased Omer Fast’s film 5,000 Feet is the Best with money from the Art Fund’s New Collecting Award Scheme.
Stephen Deuchar, the director of the Art Fund, said: “Given the pressure regional museums are under right now, it is imperative that we do all we can to help them continue investing in building up the national collections.”
The Towner Art Gallery in Eastbourne and the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester have jointly acquired Isaac Julien’s Ten Thousand Waves – a film made in tribute to the Chinese cockle-pickers who died at Morecambe Bay.
The galleries bought the film with money from the Moving Image Fund, which was set up by the Art Fund and the Thomas Dane Gallery in London to ensure that major artist’s film and video works are acquired for public collections, which can be expensive to produce and complex to display.
Overall the pilot initiative has given £180,000 each to the Whitworth and Towner Art Gallery to collect film and video. Both institutions are in the process of making further acquisitions.
Isaac Julien said: “Ten Thousand Waves is a piece that began its life in the North of England and its homecoming is incredibly meaningful for me.”
The Towner Art Gallery and the Imperial War Museum also jointly purchased Omer Fast’s film 5,000 Feet is the Best with money from the Art Fund’s New Collecting Award Scheme.
Stephen Deuchar, the director of the Art Fund, said: “Given the pressure regional museums are under right now, it is imperative that we do all we can to help them continue investing in building up the national collections.”