National Gallery seeks regional partners - Museums Association

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National Gallery seeks regional partners

Partners wanted for joint curatorial traineeship scheme
The National Gallery in London and the Art Fund are seeking partner museums for the next phase of their joint curatorial traineeship scheme which gives emerging curators the opportunity to develop key skills during a 22-month placement.

Trainees spend six months at the National Gallery, and then transfer to regional museums across the UK where they help deliver specific projects. Participating institutions must house collections of old master paintings.

Launched in 2011, the traineeships are the third phase [in 2015-17] of a joint initiative to address the need for a renewed focus on object- and collections-based expertise, according to a partnership press statement. The Vivmar Foundation also backs the programme.

Nicholas Penny, the director of the National Gallery, said: “Our aim is to help regional museums maintain a high level of curatorial excellence and to support new talent in the field.”

Eloise Donnelly and Helen Hillyard were the curatorial trainees involved in the second stage of the programme (2013/14). Donnelly focused on the Lycett Green collection of old master works at York Art Gallery, which is due to reopen this spring following an £8m redevelopment.

“As well as producing layers of textual, audio and digital content, I’ve been working with colleagues in York to develop a variety of interactive tools aimed at young visitors,” said Donnelly.

Hillyard oversaw the re-hang of the 17th-century paintings collection at Birmingham Museums Trust.

“I have created an object list and decided the final hang. The re-display will be arranged by school: Italian and Spanish; Dutch and Flemish; and French,” she said.

The redisplay at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery is due to open in June.

Henrietta Ward, a curatorial fellow at Dulwich Picture Gallery, and Pippa Stephenson, a curator of European art at Glasgow Museums, were the first trainees in 2011.



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