Sleaford Museum and the Hub secure £39,122 Art Fund award for major collaboration
Sleaford Museum and the Hub have been awarded £39,122 from Art Fund, the national charity for museums and galleries, to deliver a major new programme of exhibitions and events.
The major collaboration called Common Ground: Sleaford’s Shared Stories will be a dual-site programme of exhibitions and events running from July 18 - November 8 and will explore local heritage through contemporary art and community participation.
The ambitious project will culminate in new exhibitions presented at both Sleaford Museum and the Hub, with new artist commissions and residencies that aim to unearth and reinterpret objects from Sleaford Museum’s collection.
The funding forms part of £1.3 million awarded through Art Fund’s Reimagine programme, supporting innovative projects in museums and galleries across the UK.
Common Ground: Sleaford’s Shared Stories will offer new perspectives on local heritage using new ideas and cooperation between different age groups in the community. Central to the project is the question: who and what has historically been excluded from regional heritage and cultural spaces, and how can this be actively changed?
Sleaford Museum is an independent, volunteer-run charity dedicated to preserving and sharing the rich heritage of Sleaford and the surrounding area. Converted from a former public toilet building on Southgate in 2015, the free to enter museum has welcomed more than 20,000 visitors.
Mark Bamford, chair of Sleaford Museum explains: “This is a fantastic opportunity for the museum and its collection to be presented in new and innovative ways. We are excited and privileged to work with the creative team at the Hub alongside the chosen artists to reframe the historic narrative of our artefacts. Together, we will mount a major dual-site exhibition which will allow us to ‘share our stories’ from very different and exciting angles.”
Three artists will be commissioned to create new bodies of work inspired by hidden, overlooked or under-researched objects in Sleaford Museum’s collection. Working closely with volunteers, curators and the Hub team, artists will respond to these objects and develop new understandings around Sleaford’s heritage.
The resulting artworks will be displayed alongside the original museum objects across both exhibition sites. Commissions will be awarded through an open call process, prioritising artists with relevant expertise and diverse lived experience. The exhibition will also include loans from Lincolnshire Museum Service, local archives and previous artworks associated with Sleaford.
The project will include three artist residencies focused on inclusive activities. These will include creative workshops and events to get younger and older volunteers working together, along with schools and community groups.
Lucy Lumb, the Hub’s Head of Partnerships & Communities said: “We are looking forward to giving artists the opportunity to examine local artefacts and consider aspects of the area's past, bringing their unique creative viewpoints to reinterpret Sleaford's stories. The project will revisit the Hub's commitment to 'togethering' - looking at ways that artists and our local community shape and inform our artistic programming.”
Launched in 2020 in response to the pandemic, Art Fund’s Reimagine programme was developed to address the most urgent challenges facing UK museums. This final round focuses on collections – one of the areas of museum practice with the greatest demand for funding.
ArtFund’s Museum Directors Survey in 2024 found that 56 per cent of museums cite a lack of funding for collections as a major barrier to essential work such as digitisation, collections reviews and acquisitions.
Art Fund is the national charity for museums and galleries. For over 120 years, it has helped institutions across the UK to develop and share their collections, invest in people and expertise, grow their audiences and inspire the next generation.
Jenny Waldman, Director at Art Fund, said: “At the core of Art Fund’s purpose is supporting museums to develop, care for and share the collections that enrich people’s lives. I’m delighted we’ve been able to support Sleaford Museum through our final round of Reimagine funding, enabling museums to explore their collections, connect with communities and ensure that works of art, objects and their stories are shared and preserved for future generations.”