Jonathan Ruffer curatorial grants

These grants provide funding for travel and other practical costs, to help curators undertake collections and exhibition research projects in the UK or internationally. Our Jonathan Ruffer curatorial grants support UK curators, museum professionals and researchers to undertake travel and other activities that will extend and develop their curatorial expertise, collections-based knowledge and art historical interests.

Through this scheme we aim to help individuals realise their curatorial ambitions, by offering grants for collections-based research and curatorial development opportunities. In all our grant making, Art Fund is committed to delivering public benefit, and we achieve this through supporting the development of museum collections so they are well presented and readily available for the public to appreciate and enjoy. We therefore want to hear how our grant to you will help further this aim.

What we`ll fund: We welcome applications from UK curators, museum professionals and researchers to undertake travel or other activities to extend and develop their curatorial expertise, collections-based knowledge and art historical interests. – Applications may include requests to support: – Travel and accommodation for research trips and conferences – Museum and exhibition visits – Training courses and programmes of study – Books and subscriptions to add to a museum’s research resources or library

We can consider funding other kinds of activity, provided you are able to make a strong case for its contribution to the development of curatorial skill and collectionsbased research projects. We will not normally consider funding: – Purchase or hire of equipment - eg computers or related hardware, or cameras – Photographic or reproduction/copyright costs – First-class travel – Research projects being undertaken by undergraduate or postgraduate university students.

We will consider funding requests for a minimum of £200. There are two categories of grant: one up to £2,000; the other above £2,000. We have £75,000 in total to give annually.

Grants of £200 to £2,000: A total of £40,000 is available annually for grant requests at this level. We would anticipate these applications being, in the main, small and discrete grants for travel (e.g. for research projects or visits to galleries/exhibitions/artists’ studios/art fairs), professional training courses, the purchase of books and catalogues, or research expenses. There are no fixed deadlines for applications in this category. We aim to turn applications round within eight weeks of submission, though this may vary depending on volume of applications. If you require a decision within a shorter timeframe please do get in touch to see whether we can accommodate this. You should allow sufficient time between submitting your application and the time by which you need a decision; please bear this in mind if applying towards travel costs to enable you to book tickets that represent the best value for money.

Grants of £2,001 and above: A total of £35,000 will be available annually in two rounds, and it is only in exceptional circumstances that we will offer a grant of more than £5,000. This will naturally limit thescope of proposals, but we nonetheless hope you will be creative and ambitious in your application, and bold with regard to the amount of funding you request if you feel your ideas are deserving. There are two deadlines per year for applications of £2,001 and above. Please email the Programmes team for more information.

The programme is open to curators and other museum professionals, including researchers and academics, who are:

• employed by or working in partnership with museums and galleries that hold at least provisional accreditation, or with arts organisations which have charitable status and regularly programme exhibitions -If you are not based in a museum or gallery we ask that you provide a letter of support from a fully or provisionally accredited public collection. Please note that grants are paid to the supporting institution and cannot be paid to individuals.

We can consider applications from more than one applicant and we recognise that activities such as research for exhibition development can benefit from collaborative trips, particularly with colleagues across departments. However, we are unlikely to consider applications with more than three joint applicants.

Credits and acknowledgments This programme was established with the support of Jonathan Ruffer and Anthony Mould, who share our belief in the importance of developing curatorial skills and supporting serious research.