A group of figures dance in celebration of a wedding

Grant Award

The Holburne is pleased to have been included in the latest round of funding from the Art Fund’s Reimagine scheme.

The Holburne is one of 40 UK museums, galleries, historic houses, trusts and professional networks to receive a grant from a pot of £1,144,655 to help reimagine activities following the pandemic and supporting a range of institutions located across Britain.

The grants help recipients build expertise, capacity, connections and access as they navigate their way to recovery from the pandemic. Organisations were able to apply for support of between £5,000 and £50,000 and the Holburne is delighted to have been awarded £44,595 to Reimagine the Museum’s collection online, enabling audiences to engage virtually with enhanced themes of storytelling, as well as interactive and immersive content.

The Holburne will be working in partnership with The Studio and Bath Spa University. The Studio provides space for local micro-businesses, students, academics, and graduates to work on projects and ideas which focus on creativity and technology.

Emma Morris, Head of Business and Development at the Holburne notes, “We are grateful to the Art Fund as this grant will allow us to update an antiquated database so that our collection will become more widely accessible and include more engaging and user-friendly content. We are looking forward to consulting widely with our communities about the new content and delivering a much richer and more enjoyable interactive online experience.”

Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1565-1638) The Wedding Dance 1607-14 Oil on panel

Notes to Editors

Art Fund is the national fundraising charity for art. It provides millions of pounds every year to help museums to acquire and share works of art across the UK, further the professional development of their curators, and inspire more people to visit and enjoy their public programmes. In response to Covid-19 Art Fund made £3.6 million in urgent funding available to support museums through reopening and beyond, including Respond and Reimagine grants to help meet immediate need and reimagine future ways of working. A further £2 million has been made available in 2021 for Reimagine projects. Art Fund is independently funded, supported by Art Partners, donors, trusts and foundations and the 131,000 members who buy the National Art Pass, who enjoy free entry to over 240 museums, galleries and historic places, 50% off major exhibitions, and receive Art Quarterly magazine. Art Fund also supports museums through its annual prize, Art Fund Museum of the Year. The winner of Art Fund Museum of the Year 2021 is Firstsite in Colchester. www.artfund.org

The Holburne Museum’s mission statement is ‘Changing Lives Through Art’, signalling its commitment to opening up the enjoyment of art to people of all ages and from every walk of life. The Holburne was founded in 1882 with the gift of Sir William Holburne’s collection of 16th– and 17th-century Italian and Dutch paintings, silver, sculpture, furniture, porcelain and diverse objets d’art of national and international significance. That founding gift has been augmented with a collection of 18th-century paintings by such artists as Gainsborough, Lawrence, Ramsay, Stubbs and Zoffany. Set within the historic Sydney Pleasure Gardens, the Museum reopened in May 2011 after ambitious renovations and with a new, award-winning extension by Eric Parry Architects. The Holburne has since secured a national reputation as an outstanding museum which holds critically acclaimed exhibitions. Its programme of exhibitions, commissions and events sets out to bring to Bath great art of all periods and from around the world, seeking to set the art of the past in dialogue with contemporary practice in exciting and dynamic new ways.