Jonathan Ruffer Curatorial Grants

Here are details of an exciting grant programme for curators. Don't miss out!

Claire Blakey of the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery has passed on details from Rachael Browning of the Art Fund about the Jonathan Ruffer Curatorial Grants programme.

Claire says 'having been a recent beneficiary of this programme I encourage you to apply, it's a really good way of being able to carry out research that you would not normally have the funding for'.

Rachael is the chief Art fund contact for the Ceramics Network and gives the details of this grant programme here:

In 2012 the Art Fund launched a new £50,000 annual funding stream aimed at helping maintain and develop curatorial expertise in UK museums. The Jonathan Ruffer Curatorial Grants programme provides funding for travel and other practical costs to help curators from museums large and small undertake collection and exhibition research projects within the UK or anywhere in the world.

Since the scheme has launched we have been very encouraged by the number and quality of applications received - supporting nearly 40 curators to undertake research projects of all sizes, in nearly 30 institutions across the United Kingdom. As the funding is awarded to individuals, we are happy to accept simultaneous applications from curators who work within the same museum or museums service. 

Full details on the programme and some of the awards we have already made can be found on our website. Click HERE.

Rachael says 'we want to make sure that as many museum and gallery professionals as possible know about this scheme and benefit from it'.

While we want to encourage applications for relatively small grants to cover all aspects of curatorial research in its widest sense we also accept applications for £2,000 or over to support more extensive, ambitious or far-flung research projects.

Applications can also be made jointly by two or more curators who wish to work on a project together. The next deadline for large applications is on 15 May. Following this deadline there will only be one more for applications above £2,000 in 2013.

We would encourage any curators or researchers who have a project they would love to sink their teeth to get in touch to discuss their ideas, and for advice about how and when to apply for funding.

Pier Arts Centre were awarded a grant to visit Frieze Art Fair in London

Details about contacts are:

Rachael Browning: Programmes Manager (Projects)

E: RBrowning@artfund.org

D: 0207 225 4816

M: 07944 887 367

The Art Fund

Millais House

7 Cromwell Place

London

SW7 2JN

'From Object to Concept: Global Consumption & the Transformation of Ming Porcelain'

Lecture/Book Launch

Stacey Pierson: Senior Lecturer, SOAS, University of London

From Object to Concept -

Global Consumption and the Transformation of Ming Porcelain

When? 18:00-19:30, Thursday, 25th April 2013

Where? Museum of East Asian Art, 12 Bennett Street, Bath BA1 2QJ

Tickets? £4 for public; £2.50 for Museum Friends and students

Please book and pay by Tuesday, 23rd April by calling 01225 464640

Book cover

Ming porcelain is among the world’s finest cultural treasures. From ordinary household items to refined vessels for imperial use, porcelain became a dynamic force in domestic consumption in China and a valuable commodity in the export trade. In the modern era, it has reached unprecedented heights in art auctions and other avenues of global commerce.

This book examines the impact of consumption on porcelain of the Ming period and its transformation into a foreign cultural icon. The book begins with an examination of ways in which porcelain was appreciated in Ming China, followed by a discussion of encounters with Ming porcelain in several global regions including Europe and the Americas. The book also looks at the invention of the phrase and concept of 'the Ming vase' in English-speaking cultures, and concludes with a history of the transformation of Ming porcelain into works of art.

'The book has an impressive historical scope, from the 14th to the 21st century. Secondly, it ranges over a variety of interesting topics relevant to the history of a famous commodity - in addition to discussing the economic production, social use, and reception of Ming porcelain throughout the world, it has a novel and often amusing account on the treatment of Ming porcelain in modern popular UK and US culture. 

It presents an extensive coverage of recent English-language work on Chinese porcelain, and attempts to put the study of Ming, and by extension Chinese, porcelain in a wider conceptual framework, that of transcultural shifts in the use and meaning of art objects.'

Joseph P. McDermott, University of Cambridge