The John Ellerman Foundation aims to advance the wellbeing of people, society and the natural world, by focusing on the arts, environment and social action.
The Foundation’s Museums and Galleries Fund, which opened to applications on Monday 17th October 2022 with a deadline for applications of Monday 9th January 2023, is designed to help strengthen regional museums and galleries in the UK by helping organisations enhance and sustain curatorial development to attract a broader public.
The Fund is open to a wide variety of collection types and has previously supported visual and decorative arts, archaeology and social and natural history collections. The Foundation is particularly interested in receiving applications from those areas where it has made fewer grants, such as the East Midlands, Northern Ireland and Wales.
The average grant award is expected to be around £90,000, with around 5-6 grants expected to be awarded. Grants are normally awarded over 2 or 3 years. Applicants should plan for funded activities to commence from June 2023.
Priority is normally given to small and medium-sized museums and galleries with an income between £100,000 and £10 million and which are located outside of London. National and/or London-based institutions may also apply if their project brings significant benefits in the regions. Universities are eligible to apply but due to their size and relative financial stability are less likely to be successful and should contact the Grants Manager, Gareth Clayton (details below), at the Foundation to discuss their proposal before applying.
Applicants will be expected to demonstrate:
o A commitment to collaborative approaches, either as the focus of the request, or at a minimum with a strong track record of partnership working.
o Excellence in their field at a national level, and
o National significance, usually through a unique or high-quality collection.
Further information, guidance and details about how to apply is available on the Foundation’s website.
A series of one-hour question and answer sessions have been scheduled on Zoom, where queries will be responded to from applicants. The dates and times of these are provided below. To register, click here to select a date on Eventbrite.
o Tuesday 18th October 2022 at 2.30pm.
o Wednesday 26th October at 9.30am.
o Thursday 3rd November at 4.00pm.
o Wednesday 9th November at 2.30pm.
o Thursday 17th November at 1.00pm.
o Tuesday 22nd November at 10.00am.
o Monday 28th November at 1.00pm.
o Tuesday 6th December at 10.00am, and
o Thursday 15th December at 2.00pm.
The Foundation then operates a a 2-stage application process. Applicants successful at Stage 1 will be invited to submit a full application form at Stage 2.
The scheme opened to applications on Monday 17th October 2022 with a deadline of 5pm Monday 9th January 2023.
