The Hepworth Wakefield is awarded £126,674 from the Arts Council England.
03 Aug 2016
The award will support audience development projects, volunteer programmes and long-term digital ambitions.
The Hepworth Wakefield, Yorkshire’s award-winning gallery, is delighted to announce it has been awarded £126,674 from the Arts Council England, to support audience development projects, volunteer programmes and long-term digital ambitions.
The gallery is among the 94 museums and organisations that have been successful in the second round of the Museums Resilience fund, which awarded a total of £12,271,676 to support museums in becoming more sustainable and resilient businesses.
The Hepworth Wakefield will use the funding to support a series of programmes and projects that will engage with existing and build new audiences by working in partnership with local community groups, arts organisations and businesses, as well as developing new sources of income.
Specific projects benefitting from the funding include: a major new volunteering and ambassadors campaign; increased digital content to enhance visitor experience, growing the gallery’s successful membership scheme and carrying out an important audience research project in partnership with local community groups, relating to The Hepworth Riverside Garden; a new, free public garden for Wakefield.
Jane Marriott, Managing Director of The Hepworth Wakefield said: “We are delighted that Arts Council England recognise The Hepworth Wakefield’s ability to grow our audience engagement and realise our digital ambitions. We are aware of the need for galleries to generate independent revenue sources as reductions in public funding continue to take effect, and this funding will help to grow our vital membership scheme.”
She added: “In addition, the creation of a major volunteer recruitment campaign and engagement programme later this year will also enable us to engage more people with arts and encourage visits, which is particularly important as we know Wakefield is historically an area of low participation in the arts and this is something we can continue to actively redress with this funding.”
John Orna-Ornstein, Director of Museums at Arts Council England said: “The focus of our investment approach for museums in 2015-18 is on building a more resilient sector. The Museum Resilience fund is a key part of that, providing vital support to museums right across the country. The fund responds directly to the challenges facing museums like those in Lancashire and Kirklees, and also supports major strategic initiatives such as the Museums Association’s Transformers programme.”
Photo: Iwan Baan
The Hepworth Wakefield will use the funding to support a series of programmes and projects that will engage with existing and build new audiences by working in partnership with local community groups, arts organisations and businesses, as well as developing new sources of income.
