Weston Loan programme announces 2021 lending, from the Galloway Hoard to Lampedusa Cross 4 Feb 2021

The Art Fund has announced the 18 exhibitions that will go ahead this year built around loans from larger to smaller museums made possible through the Weston Loan Fund. Supported by the Garfield Weston Foundation, the £320k support will enable star objects to travel to venues from Sunderland to Hastings. The loans include sending the Galloway Hoard, the richest collection of rare Viking-age objects ever found in the UK, to be exhibited near the site of its discovery at Kirkcudbright Galleries, on loan from National Museums Scotland. Meanwhile, the Lampedusa Cross, created from the wreck of two boats in the seas around Italy in 2013, will be loaned by the British Museum to Hastings Museum for an exhibition co-curated with migrants. The earliest of these exhibitions are scheduled for ‘Spring 2021’ extending the hope of remarkable exhibitions once lockdown is lifted. Art Fund Director Jenny Waldman said “at a time when everyone is staying local, it’s incredibly important for people to have access to great art and objects closer to home.” Museums Journal, Art Fund, Art Fund (Galloway Hoard)