G&F supported 'Projects in Progress'

Two projects that we have supported through our Grants and Fellowships programme have got regularly updated blogs documenting the work they are doing as a result of Paul Mellon Centre funding.

Spotlight on the Slade Collections is a research project aimed at increasing access to UCL Art Museum's Slade Collection through research, cataloguing, digitisation, collaboration and public engagement. The Museum's Slade collections include some 3,000 works by former Slade staff and students, dating from 1897 to the present day. As a result of Paul Mellon Centre funding the project appointed Helen Downes as a Research Curator who amongst her findings has identified that works by women make up approximately 45% of the collection. This has led to a project focus on Slade Women with an exhibition planned for early 2018, alongside a series of events and collaborations. You can keep up to date with work on the project by visiting their blog here.

Out of the Ether is an on going project which is bringing online a catalogue of the John Rylands collection of British Victorian Photography, 1839-1901. The John Rylands Library holds a number of important visual collections, with the photography collection being one of the most significant with over 100,000 photographs, dating from the 1840s to the present. The Out of the Ether project aims to make accessible the currently undocumented collection of Victorian British photography by making it discoverable via their library catalogue and online image collections. The Out of the Ether blog documents the progress of this project whilst focussing on key items from the collection, you can read more here.

Both of these projects were awarded Curatorial Research Grants, designed to help institutions undertaking curatorial research towards an exhibition, display or an online project. Applications are open for the current round of Grants, including the Curatorial Research Grant, you can find out more here.