In May, the Foundation contributed £90,000 over three years towards a dedicated Art and Environment programme, bringing together artists, scientists and the community to create and showcase artwork that addresses the climate emergency. Turner Contemporary is a locally-embedded, nationally-significant gallery located on Kent’s North coast in Margate. Since opening in 2011, it has had over 4 million visitors, making it one of Kent’s leading attractions.
We committed to this grant because of its interesting interdisciplinary curatorial approach. Situated right on the seafront, Turner Contemporary is the UK’s closest public art gallery to the sea, which is an inspiration for much of its work. The team aim to capitalise on the gallery’s unique location to increase public awareness of the marine environment; when combined with their large visitor footfall, and plans to widen access to the gallery through free entry. We could see significant potential held by this grant, both in terms of access to the arts, and environmental impact.
On their experience of applying to us, Sanjivan Kohli, Head of Development at Turner Contemporary said: “John Ellerman Foundation’s support is enabling vital curatorial research for Turner Contemporary’s Art+Environment programming strand. The two stages of application and clear guidelines helped us demonstrate how our plans align with the Foundation’s funding goals. Meeting the team at interview to explain our proposal in our own words was invaluable.”