The Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund Accepting Applications

The Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund, run by the Museums Association, funds projects which develop collections to achieve social impact.

Museums, galleries and heritage organisations in the UK can apply for support for time-limited projects that use collections for a social purpose, demonstrating that collections change lives and enhance public benefit.

Grants of between £20,000 and £120,000 are available for initiatives lasting up to three years that:

• Work with an existing collection or collections to improve understanding of them and increase their use.
• Involve, inspire and have impact on people, communities and audiences through that collections work.

Successful proposals will:

• Engage local communities and/or those who are not typical museum attendees, and think about social impact.
• Be developmental for the organisation or sector.
• Think about the project’s legacy, even if this is hard to define at the start of the project.

Provided by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and administered by the Museums Association (MA), the Collections Fund will distribute £3.5 million between 2017 and 2019 and aims to draw on the learning from these projects and beyond to stimulate excellent practice across the whole sector, through open events and resources for everyone.

The next deadline for applications is 12 September 2018 (5pm)

Full details…