We want the V&A to matter to more people and to inspire them wherever they live. We are committed to providing the best possible physical and intellectual access to all our collections and expertise throughout the UK, as well as at South Kensington and Young V&A in Bethnal Green.
Here are just some of the ways in which we enable as many people as possible to interact with our collections all over the country.
Contact
Tel: +44 (0)20 7942 2536
Email: uksection@vam.ac.uk
V&A Dundee
V&A Dundee is Scotland’s first museum dedicated to design, telling the story of Scotland's design heritage and bringing the most important international exhibitions from the V&A to Scotland. The first ever dedicated design museum in Scotland and the only other V&A museum anywhere in the world outside London, V&A Dundee provides a place of inspiration, discovery and learning, presenting the brilliance of Scottish creativity and the best of design from around the world.
The V&A Wedgwood Collection
The V&A Wedgwood Collection is one of the most important industrial collections in the world and a unique record of 260 years of British ceramic production. Owned by the V&A following a successful fundraising campaign spearheaded by Art Fund, it is on display at Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent where an imaginative public programme celebrates the diversity, creativity and depth of the collection, within its local context of North Staffordshire and the Potteries.
V&A and RIBA Architecture Partnership
The V&A and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) partnership promotes the understanding and enjoyment of architecture. The Partnership brings together the RIBA's drawings and archives collections and the V&A's collections of architectural drawings and photographs at one location – the V&A in South Kensington, London. It also brings together the expertise of each institution in an exciting new programme of temporary exhibitions at the V&A, at the RIBA, and on tour.
The Arts Council England/V&A Purchase Grant Fund
The Arts Council England/V&A Purchase Grant Fund helps regional museums in England and Wales acquire objects relating to the arts, history and literature. The Fund is provided through Arts Council England Lottery Funding and has been managed by the V&A since 1881.
Each year the Fund considers about 150 applications and enables acquisitions of around £3 million to go ahead. The V&A is immensely proud of the Arts Council England/V&A Purchase Grant Fund, which is unique and unrivalled in its scope. It is vital part of the V&A’s national activity.
The grants budget for 2021/22 is £730,000.
Loans
The V&A supports an ambitious programme of loans as a key means of making our collections more widely available to the public. In any one year, some 2,500 V&A objects can be seen in many venues throughout the UK.
Young V&A, Bethnal Green
We're creating Young V&A, the UK's premier national museum dedicated to young people, from early years to teens – a space to imagine, play and design.
Touring exhibitions
About 200,000 visits are made to our touring exhibitions each year. Touring exhibitions are perhaps our most high profile off-site activity, enabling as many people as possible to engage with the V&A and its collections.
Learning
We work with a range of educational, cultural and community organisations, both formally and informally, to bring long term benefits to the institutions concerned, to the public – internationally and in the UK – and to the wider economy.
We have developed Design Lab Nation to support the teaching of the Design and Technology GCSE to secondary school students. Working with Culture Coventry, Museums Sheffield, The National Glass Centre, Sunderland and the Potteries Museum, Stoke-on-Trent bringing together secondary schools in partnership with local museums and regional creative industries to inspire students, train teachers and preserve the essential role that Art, Design and Technology plays in education for young people.
V&A Innovate is a teachers' resource hub and annual National Schools Challenge, asking students in years 7, 8 and 9 to work in teams to design a solution to a real-world problem. Combining the shared knowledge of today's leading designers with our world-leading collections, this Key Stage 3 initiative will energise the next generation of creative, thoughtful and change-making young innovators.
Supporting collections and research
Curators, educators, conservators, students and research fellows have built up a vast resource of knowledge, skills and expertise which form the basis of our advice to government, sectoral colleagues, national and international audiences. We develop collaborative partnerships and links both academic and practical, formal and informal to widen access to our collections and their stories across the UK.