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V&A UK

The Purchase Grant Fund

Grant aided: Cartoon commissioned for Canterbury Hospital from Reginald Bell, 1937. Canterbury City Museums. © Canterbury City Council

Grant aided: Cartoon commissioned for Canterbury Hospital from Reginald Bell, 1937. Canterbury City Museums. © Canterbury City Council (click image for larger version)

The V&A has operated the Fund since 1881, helping museums, libraries and archives to develop their collections.  The Purchase Grant Fund supports the purchase of material as diverse as a collection of letters from Daphne Du Maurier to Ivan Magee (Exeter University Library; £1,600 grant); the mixed media work Roberta Breitmore by Lynn Hershmann Leeson (Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester; £50,000 grant) and a hoard of Iron Age coins from Little Horwood (Buckinghamshire County Museum; £12,900 grant ).
The grants budget, which now comes through the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), is £900,000 for 2009-10. Demand is always very strong and funds are allocated to enable as many acquisitions as possible to be made. In 2008-9 grants of £1,019,758 was awarded to 93 organisations, enabling acquisitions of almost £3.5 million to go ahead. 

 

The Purchase Grant Fund is a key part of the V&A's national work and is an important conduit for professional advice and support. Curators and conservators advise on applications, often at very short notice, and in return gain an overview of collections and collecting nationwide.

The Fund retains an interest in the organisations and objects it supports and collections they join and ensures that the terms of grant offer continue to be met.

Requests for forms and all enquiries should be directed to the V&A's Regional Liaison Team:
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7942 2536
E-mail: purchasegrantfund@vam.ac.uk