Funding for Towner in Arts Council partnership award

This investment of £1.8 million allows partner galleries to host and curate work from the Arts Council Collection over the next three years.

Alongside Towner, Walker Art Gallery Liverpool and Birmingham Museums Trust will receive the funding with existing partner Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

The award is part of the Arts Council Collection’s 70th anniversary celebrations.

The collection is the UK’s most widely seen collection of modern and contemporary art with more than 1,800,000 visitors in 2015.

The partner galleries will display 24 new exhibitions from the collection over the award period. Celebrations will also include the display of eight new commissions throughout 2016.

Towner’s executive director, Emma Morris, said, “Inclusion in this scheme will be a real game changer for Towner, enabling us to continue on our upward trajectory and gain real traction on the national and international stage.

“As with the Arts Council Collection, we recognise that our greatest asset is our collection and the aims for this project closely meshes with our own ambitions to broaden and grow audiences by presenting shows which bring established and emerging artists together under a common theme.

“We are looking forward to working with the partners over the next three years in ensuring this project is a huge success and enables as many people as possible to have access to this wonderful and diverse collection.”

Peter Bazalgette, chair of Arts Council England, said, “The Arts Council Collection is ‘our collection’ – it belongs to the nation - which is why this investment is so important.”

He added,“Our partner galleries will be able to exhibit works from the Collection in imaginative ways, whilst developing exciting educational and digital programmes to enhance engagement this work across the country.”

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