Dr Jody Joy, Senior Curator at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge, has been announced by The Headley Trust and Art Fund as one of the four successful recipients of the second round of the Headley Fellowships with Art Fund, a major national funding programme for museums professionals.
The Headley Fellowships with Art Fund is a three-year programme that was launched in 2018 to give curators the opportunity of focused time to research their institution’s collections, providing £600,000 in funding overall.
Dr Joy, who will be researching archaeology in Cambridgeshire, commented: “The Headley Fellowship is such a great scheme because it gives curators who would never otherwise have had the opportunity in their day-to-day work, to fully study the collections in their care. I am really looking forward to getting to know the hugely important and fascinating Cambridgeshire archaeology collections at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.”
The Headley Fellowship gives funding to back-fill mid-career and experienced curators’ posts in order to allow individuals to take time away from their day-to-day responsibilities and focus on collections research. Each fellow also receives up to £5,000 which can be used for travel, courses and learning opportunities.
The scheme is a response to Art Fund’s own research, which revealed that almost three-quarters (72%) of museum curators spent 15% or less of their time on collections research. It also comes at a time when public spending on museums and galleries in England has fallen by almost £400m over the last eight years.
Helen McLeod, the Headley Trust, said, “The Headley Fellowships with Art Fund provide a unique opportunity for some of the UK’s most talented curators. With this support, they can take time away from the growing day-to-day pressures of their roles to focus on research that will lead to new ways to engage the public with their collections and make connections with their peers in the museum world. We congratulate the four new beneficiaries on their exciting news and look forward to following their progress in the coming months.”
Sarah Philp, Director of Programme and Policy, Art Fund, said, “The UK has some of the richest museum’s collections in the world, but these collections still hold a lot of hidden narratives and knowledge yet to be uncovered. The Headley Fellowships with Art Fund give curators the opportunity to deepen their understanding of the art and objects in their care, which ultimately unlocks new stories for the public.”
The Headley Fellowships programme has previously supported another seven curators from across the UK, resulting in projects including the creation of new exhibitions. A further eleven fellowships will be available later this year in the third round of the programme.
The four curators selected this year are:
• Jody Joy, Senior Curator at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge, who will be researching archaeology in Cambridgeshire.
• Martin Pel, Curator of Fashion and Textiles at Brighton Museum, who will be researching the influence of British artist Martin Battersby on Brighton Museum.
• Georgina Grant, Senior Curator at Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron, in Shropshire, who will be researching the Coalbrookdale Company orders.
• Natalie Murray, Collections and Exhibitions Manager at the Cooper Gallery, who will be researching the French paintings and drawings of the Cooper Collection.
