Heritage lottery funding safeguards Wolverhampton's Victorian galleries
Released: 6 February 2008
The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has awarded a grant of £249,000 to the Wolverhampton Arts and Museums project Cultural Connections.
Wolverhampton’s public collection of Victorian art and artefacts, which includes Asian Decorative Arts and 19th Century Genre Painting, will be redisplayed between Wolverhampton Art Gallery and Bantock House, two of the city’s most treasured venues.
The project will involve forming a community panel to help choose the exhibits and discover the stories behind them.
Councillor John Reynolds, Wolverhampton City Council’s cabinet member for leisure and culture, said: “We are delighted that the Heritage Lottery Fund will enable the redevelopment of the Victorian Galleries to take place.
“We are proud of our city’s collection of fine and decorative arts, and this will give us the opportunity to share it with more visitors from Wolverhampton and beyond.
“The Victorian Collection is especially important as it represents the diverse community of Wolverhampton by showing how the East and West have influenced Victorian arts and manufacturing.
“By exploring these links we hope the exhibitions will appeal to a wide section of the community and show a shared sense of heritage in our city.”
Explaining the importance of the award, HLF West Midlands Regional Manager Anne Jenkins said: “Cultural Connections is an exciting and interesting project that we are very pleased to support.
“The Victorian Galleries are extremely important to our heritage as they provide insight and learning into the diverse nature of our community going back through history.”
Issued by the press office. |