Funding available to support curatorial ideas and research with the British Museum. Deadline extended: 2nd September 2019.

The British Museum National Programmes team and South West Museum Development are offering a partnership opportunity to Accredited museums and cultural heritage organisations across the South West. This forms part of the Knowledge Share programme, supported by the Vivmar Foundation.

Funding is available for up to two proposals, totalling £2,000 – designed to support curators to develop ideas and further their research by covering the direct costs of research visits and facilitating collaboration between colleagues.

We seek proposals from South West Accredited museums and cultural heritage institutions wishing to undertake a curatorial research visit to the British Museum in the current financial year 2019/20.

Priority will be given to projects with the potential to lead into loan requests or exhibition collaborations.

We are unable to cover staff time and expect the majority of the funding to be used to cover the costs of travel, accommodation and subsistence during the visits.

We particularly welcome proposals for research which would support a potential loan request from the British Museum. The Museum welcomes informal, early contact to discuss object selection and the practicalities of borrowing, as set out in their loan guidance online.

How to apply

Please submit a proposal of no more than 500 words with the following information by Monday 2 September to [email protected]

  • Museum, name, job title and contact details of the staff-member(s) who would lead / undertake the proposed visit(s)
  • Aim, focus and purpose of the visit(s) For example: what collections are you choosing to focus on and why? How does this link into and support your work at your organisation? What do you hope your research visit may lead to? Do you already have a working relationship with relevant staff at the British Museum, or collaborative projects underway with us?
  • Estimated timeframe and budget needed

This funding opportunity is a pilot and designed to be a flexible, responsive approach to providing ‘seed funding’ for the development of ideas. There is therefore no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to approach the application. Successful projects will be selected based on the overall strength of the proposal, and capacity within the relevant teams at the British Museum.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss ideas before submitting a proposal, please contact Roz Bonnet, Programme & Projects Officer, South West Museum Development at [email protected] in the first instance.

Find out more about the British Museum National Programmes.

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