MK Gallery Memphis Selection Rob Harris Image - Daisy Taylor (Bolton & Quinn)
MK Gallery is one of over 100 cultural organisations across the UK to receive significant funding from the Weston Culture Fund. This will help support the gallery’s programmes in 2021.
 
Established in 1958, the Garfield Weston Foundation is a family founded charitable grant-making trust which gives away approximately £80 million a year to charities across the UK. The Foundation’s funding comes from an endowment of shares in the family business.
 
Anthony Spira, director at MK Gallery, said:
“This is fantastic news. With all the uncertainty during these times, this generous grant means that we can keep up our commitment to our communities and audiences when we emerge, finally, out of lockdown. It’s such good news – we are overwhelmed, relieved and extremely grateful to the Weston Culture Fund.”
 
The funding will also be used to develop the gallery’s digital offer; create new opportunities for artists and producers; and refurbish its Event Space facilities to support new activities and projects for families, children and young people across Milton Keynes.
 
In recognition of the challenges the arts sector has faced during these uncertain times, Philippa Charles, director of Garfield Weston Foundation, said:
 
“Our cultural sector is at the heart of our local communities providing not only entertainment but education and inspiration for many. Our Trustees were impressed by the entrepreneurial spirit shown across the arts in response to Covid-19 and it was a privilege to hear what organisations had been doing to not only survive but also to reinvent the way they reach audiences.
 
“What really stood out was the level of collaboration and support they had for each other and the determination to keep going, despite the increasingly difficult situation. Weston Culture Fund 2021
 
“We all want and need our cultural sector to thrive and, if anything, our time away from the arts has shown just how important they are to us – bringing much needed pleasure and enrichment to our lives.
 
“Arts organisations are desperate to re-open and get back to what they do best, and we hope that this new funding will help many of them do exactly that.”

MK Gallery is currently closed,  but it will re-open as soon as permitted with its new exhibition: Memphis: Plastic Field. Over 150 pieces of furniture, lighting, textiles, ceramics, glass and metal objects by Memphis, the radical design group that defined the 1980s.

MK Gallery’s work continues and digital channels remain open. Please visit its website for updates.