Alistair Hardaker | Image: Joseph Wright 'of Derby', 'An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump', 1768. The National Gallery, London
Regional museums and galleries across England, Scotland and Wales will stage exhibitions with works from national collections including the National Gallery and Tate.
The Weston Loan Programme with Art Fund will support 15 exhibitions at regional museums and galleries across the UK in its tenth year of operation.
Exhibitions will take place at venues in England, Scotland and Wales between now and 2027, with works travelling from the British Library, the Courtauld Gallery, National Galleries of Scotland, the National Gallery, Tate, the Victoria and Albert Museum and Wellcome Collection.
The programme covers transport, installation, security and insurance costs for loans from national and major lending institutions to smaller regional museums.
Venues receiving support in this round include Derby Museum and Art Gallery, Newcastle’s Laing Art Gallery, The Hold in Ipswich, Birkenhead’s Williamson Art Gallery, the Mappa Mundi and Chained Library Museum in Hereford, the Museum of Somerset, Fruitmarket in Edinburgh, and Amgueddfa Abertawe: Swansea Museum.
Exhibitions span multiple periods and subjects, from an 11th-century gospel lectionary currently on display in Hereford until 12 September 2026, to 17th-century witchcraft trials in Suffolk opening in October 2026, and surrealism and activism opening in Edinburgh in July 2027.
To date the programme has supported more than 100 exhibitions at over 120 venues across the UK, providing over £2.2 million of funding to regional museums and galleries.
Jenny Waldman, Director of Art Fund, said: “From medieval manuscripts to Pre-Raphaelite masterpieces, this year’s projects bring extraordinary paintings and objects into new contexts, connecting more people with the stories our world-leading collections have to tell.”
The programme is funded by the Garfield Weston Foundation.
