Ironbridge curator awarded £5,000 fellowship
A Shropshire museum curator has been awarded a fellowship which provides vital time and resources to boost research.
Georgina Grant, senior curator at the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, was announced on Thursday by the Headley Trust and Art Fund as one of the four successful recipients of the second round of the Headley Fellowships with Art Fund, a major national funding programme for museums professionals.
The Headley Fellowships with Art Fund is a three-year programme that was launched in 2018 to give curators the opportunity of focused time to research their institution’s collections, providing £600,000 in funding overall.
Georgina, who will be researching the Coalbrookdale Company orders, said: "The Headley Fellowship will provide me with career and skills development and a unique opportunity for in-depth research and essential collections work."
Each fellow receives up to £5,000 which can be used for travel, courses and learning opportunities.
The Art Fund’s research revealed that almost three-quarters, or 72 per cent, of museum curators spent 15 per cent or less of their time on collections research.
Talented
It also comes at a time when public spending on museums and galleries in England has fallen by almost £400m over the last eight years.
Helen McLeod, of the Headley Trust, said: "The Headley Fellowships with Art Fund provide a unique opportunity for some of the UK’s most talented curators.
"With this support, they can take time away from the growing day-to-day pressures of their roles to focus on research that will lead to new ways to engage the public with their collections and make connections with their peers in the museum world.
"We congratulate the four new beneficiaries on their exciting news and look forward to following their progress in the coming months."
Sarah Philp, Director of Programme and Policy, Art Fund, said: "The UK has some of the richest museum collections in the world, but there are still so many hidden narratives and so much knowledge yet to be uncovered.
"The Headley Fellowships give curators the opportunity to deepen their understanding of the art and objects in their care, and I am so excited to find out what new stories our new Fellows will be able tell museum visitors as a result of these fascinating research projects."
