Art Fund has announced that it will extend The Weston Loan Programme for another three years, taking it to 2027.
The programme allows smaller museums to borrow works of significance from national major lending institutions.
The extension has been announced following a £1 million grant from the Garfield Weston Foundation, and will take the programme to its 10th anniversary.
The programme was conceived by the Garfield Weston Foundation and since its launch in 2017, Art Fund has delivered seven rounds of funding, awarding £1.28m to 78 museums.
Art Fund will deliver three further rounds between 2023 and 2027, with applications open on Monday 23 October 2023.
Also announced by Art Fund is Going Places, a new UK-wide programme designed to engage and involve underrepresented audiences with museum collections through touring exhibitions.
Via support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, it will launch its first phase this month, and will establish five networks of between three and five small to mid-sized museums, with each network developing bespoke touring exhibitions.
Sophia Weston, Deputy Chair of the Garfield Weston Foundation, said: “Having begun as the UK’s first ever scheme dedicated to enabling regional museums to borrow from national collections, it’s exciting to now be working towards the programme’s tenth anniversary and I look forward to seeing the meaningful exhibitions and partnerships that this next phase will help to bring about.”
Image: Installation view of ‘Hokusai’s Great Wave Reflections of Japan’, at the Worcester City Art Gallery & Museum, supported by the Weston Loan Programme with Art Fund © Luke Unsworth
