The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has granted £5 million ($8 million) to 23 libraries and museums across the UK, as part of its collecting cultures initiative, the BBC reported. The funds will allow the institutions to make acquisitions for their collections.
The aim of the grant is to enhance the collections and engender public interest in heritage. The money will enable grant holders to purchase new pieces over a five-year period.
Several approved initiatives have already been made public. One grant was awarded to the Scott Polar Research Institute for the development of a collection of artifacts and archival materials about the polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton.
Other funds granted include £95,000 ($152,500) to the Museum of London for the acquisition of experimental photography and £90,000 ($144,500) to the University of Glasgow Archive Service’s textile collection. The HLF also allocated funds to collections of soccer-related art, children’s literature, and archeology.
Carole Souter, chief executive of the HLF, told the BBC: “Curators will be able to ‘go shopping’ with their HLF grant, researching to identify works of art, images, and objects that they would like to purchase. HLF is the only funding body that currently offers this type of advance funding support for museums, libraries, and archives.”
Culture minister Ed Vaizey added, “Collecting Cultures is a wonderful opportunity for organizations to further enrich their collections and it’s great to see plans for really fascinating additions to museums, libraries and archives across the country.”