Art Fund to Increase Funding for Museums and Galleries to Buy and Show Art by 50%

LONDON.- The Art Fund announce their plans to increase funding for museums and galleries to buy and show art by over 50% by 2014. Responding to the severe financial pressures facing most institutions, Art Fund is committing £7 million a year to their funding programme – up from £4.5 million. They also launched the National Art Pass, giving special access to art all over the UK. Artist Grayson Perry poses for a photograph at the Foundling Museum, in London April 13, [...]

Emin Scrawls and Perry Shocks at Royal Academy’s Summer Show

LONDON (REUTERS).- Artist Tracy Emin provided the kind of emotional drama she is famous for, but it was cross-dressing ceramicist Grayson Perry who delivered the shock blow at the opening day of the British Royal Academy‘s summer art exhibition show in London on Monday. Emin had four works and Perry only one on display in the world’s largest open submission contemporary art exhibition held every summer at the Academy’s imposing 17th century building in London’s luxurious Mayfair neighborhood. Emin and [...]

United Kingdom Arts Institutions to Government: Don’t Ax Funds

LONDON.- Britain’s arts and culture sector has been a shining success amid the country’s recession — and artists are pressing the government to make sure it stays that way. With the economic recovery still fragile and an election looming, museums, theaters and galleries fear the next government will slash their funding to help battle the country’s 167 billion pound ($249 billion) deficit. Dozens of groups, including the National Theatre, the Tate galleries and the British Museum, launched a campaign for [...]

Victoria & Albert Museum Opens First Major Exhibition of Quilts

LONDON.- The V&A presents its first major exhibition of quilts. Exploring 300 years of British quilt making, the exhibition shows more than 65 quilts from a cot cover made in the 1690s to recent examples by leading contemporary artists including Tracey Emin and Grayson Perry as well as special commissions by Sue Stockwell, Caren Garfen and Jo Budd. The first exhibition of its kind in the UK, “Quilts 1700-2010″ shows an extraordinary variety of quilts from the highly decorative and [...]

The BBC and British Museum Announce “A History of the World”

LONDON.- The BBC and the British Museum have joined forces in an original and unprecedented public service partnership, focusing on world history. At its heart is a landmark series on BBC Radio 4, ‘A History of the World in 100 Objects’ which will broadcast from 18th January 2010. This series is a narrative global history told through the British Museum’s unparalleled world collection. The series will tap in to the unique power of objects to tell stories and make connections [...]