Weston Loan Programme with Art Fund to run for three more years with £810k new funding 3 Dec 2019

The Art Fund and Garfield Weston Foundation have announced that they will extend their partnership to support museum loans for another three years, with the Foundation contributing a further £810k to the work. The programme, which first opened in 2017 has already invested £750k in assisting regional and smaller local authority museums to borrow major works of art from national collections. To date, 26 museums and 123 curators have taken part, with footfall on average rising by 40% in response to programmes built around star objects, from the 12th century Becket Casket to works by artists from Laura Knight to Eric Ravilious, Rembrandt and Stubbs. Lynda Powell, Director of Green Howards Museum in Richmond, North Yorkshire said “The Weston Loan with Art Fund has enabled our museum to loan objects from nationals for the first time. Our team has developed new skills in the management of loans and just as importantly new multi-disciplinary collaborative ways of working.” Sophia Weston, a Trustee of the Garfield Weston Foundation said “when we first set out to create this programme, we had no idea it would be so successful or capture so many people’s imagination. We were determined that it should continue so that many more regional museums and communities across the UK could continue to benefit.” Art Fund, Green Howards Museum, Arts Industry