Civic arts funding boost for The Whitworth

19 Mar 2021

Finalists were chosen for the ways in which they have adapted to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic

Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (UK Branch), together with King’s College London, are pleased to announce the recipients of the first Award for Civic Arts Organisations. The four outstanding awardees were chosen from 260 high quality submissions from arts organisations of all sizes across the UK. The main recipient is London-based organisation, Heart n Soul, who will receive £75,000; the other three awarded organisations, who will each receive £25,000, are: Inverness-based Eden Court; the Museum of Homelessness in London; and The Whitworth in Manchester.

Each awardee surpassed their usual roles, adjusting their practices and missions using bold and imaginative ideas which served their communities in ways relevant to them. The Whitworth reframed their mission to cover three principles – learning through making and doing, creating a place of care, consideration, and community, and taking action.

As the UK comes up to a year since the first COVID-19 lockdown, the organisations are celebrated for the outstanding ways in which they adapted to the pandemic despite the hardships they themselves faced as institutions. Coming from all around the UK, across the cultural spectrum and with differing ways of operating at different scales, the recipients are all unique examples of how arts organisations are helping to shape the future: culture, creativity and the arts are manifesting stories that enable us to realise what it means to be fully human, individually and collectively.

The awarded organisations were chosen from a shortlist of ten announced in January 2021; they will be provided with support to continue their work and share learning with the sector.