Image: British Library, Yorkshire © Carmody Groarke
A £1m grant from The Foyle Foundation will fund behind-the-scenes tours of the robotic technology at the British Library’s West Yorkshire storage facility
The British Library is to add the ability for visitors, schools and community groups to see behind the scenes of its West Yorkshire storage facility in Boston Spa.
A grant of £1m from The Foyle Foundation will fund the new access, providing access to see the robotic technology used at the site, as well as a new dedicated learning space for its education programme for schools.
The 44-acre the Boston Spa campus is home to over three-quarters of the British Library’s collection of over 170 million items The £95m redevelopment backed by government investment through DCMS.
The Foyle Foundation ongoing support for the project will see its public viewing gallery named the Foyle Viewing Gallery and learning spaces known as the Foyle Learning Centre.
The site is one of twelve to receive a legacy grant from The Foyle Foundation, which has announced a total of £18m in new project funding, with two further projects will be announced later this year.
Also backed is the V&A East Storehouse’s Foyle Creative Centre. A grant of £2m will support the creation of the centre, encompassing two creative studios and two workshop spaces designed to engage the public and students in “real-world design, learning and making experiences”. The Storehouse is set to open at the end of May.
The National Gallery’s Bicentenary Development has also received £2m in this round of grants.
Its Bicentenary on 10 May 2024 has inspired by a year-long festival of art and a suite of building projects, known as NG200. The Foyle Foundation’s grant supports the NG200 Welcome capital project and NG200 Programme nationwide. Its Foyle Room has been named in celebration of this legacy grant.
Receiving a £798,000 grant is Art Fund’s ‘Mini Wonders’ project. The Early Years Innovation in Museums programme is a partnership between Art Fund, Nesta and The Foyle Foundation on a major UK wide pilot supporting museums to engage children under five and their parents and caregivers. It is designed to generate new research and learning that can be implemented at scale by museums across the UK in the long term.
Following on from the pilot of the Teacher Art Pass, the Foundation is also funding the expansion and development of the scheme, specifically a new Digital Platform which will be available to all teachers across the UK to access free of charge.
It will bring together key information and resources from across Art Fund’s network of 900+ museum partners into one platform, including creative resources, information and guidance to enable teachers to access their local museums and embed museum learning within their teaching.
David Hall, chief executive of the Foyle Foundation, said: “In addition to an increased budget for our normal grant giving programmes in our final year of operation, the Foundation wished to make a range of strategic grants across the country which would be of national and regional importance and of long-term benefit to sector leaders.
“This would ensure an enduring legacy for the Foyle Foundation and make a long-lasting positive impact on the lives of young people and others and show imaginative ways to encourage philanthropy for those who have the ambition to support the arts and learning.”
Other projects backed today:
The Poetry Society ‘Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award’ – £500,000
Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama’s redevelopment of the Cardiff Old Library – £2m
Sadler’s Wells Trust ‘Creative Development Fund’ – £1.1 million
Ulster Orchestra’s new permanent home for Ulster Orchestra in Belfast – £1 million
Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society’s first permanent base for the Fringe – £1 million
The National Theatre’s capital grant – £1.5 million
The Glasshouse International Centre for Music’s Foyle Music Centre at The Glasshouse, Gateshead – £2m
Britten Pears Arts’ sustainability upgrades to the Britten Pears Building at Snape Maltings – £500K
