Collecting Cultures is back and this time 23 organisations from Glasgow to Brighton are benefitting from a slice of £5million HLF investment. Key to the success of this programme is the opportunity for curators to actively seek new items rather than wait for them to come to auction. 

While most of the successful applicants are museums and galleries, applicants include four archives and a library. Highlights include: [quote=Culture Minister Ed Vaizey]We have a vast array of rich and diverse cultural institutions in the UK and its funds like this one that will ensure they have the support to grow from strength to strength[/quote]

• developing a collection on polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance expedition
• football-related art from the post-war period such as poster art and advertising media
• material illustrating Scotland’s textile industry from the 1800s
• the acquisition of archaeological artifacts from eras such as the Bronze Age, Iron Age, Saxons, Vikings and Romans

Previously, Collecting Cultures awards have helped over 2,000 objects to be acquired including:

• a prosthetic leg from the First World War, acquired by a partnership of museums in Fermanagh, Derry and Enniskillen, as part of a project to collect items reflecting the turbulent history of 1910-1930
• a Land Rover Series 1, acquired by the Museum of English Rural Life, to illustrate the theme of rural Englishness in the 20th century
• an iconic image of the miner’s strike by internationally-renowned photographer Don McCullin, acquired as part of the National Coal Mining Museum’s project 

Carole Souter, CEO of HLF, added: “HLF’s first Collecting Cultures tranche of grants made a real difference to how organisations approached their long-term collecting strategies. Now, five years on we’re pleased to be able help a much wider range of applicants to encourage better managed collections, curatorial skills, research and increased public involvement.”