The Vindolanda Trust receives Art Fund grant to deliver a Roman Holiday Project. 

The Vindolanda Trust has secured a grant of £30,000, awarded through Art Fund’s Respond and Reimagine programme for a Roman Holiday Project. The project includes delivering online content based around both famous and forgotten Roman festivals, and focuses on many of the things that we still share with our Roman ancestors today.  

A series of blogs written by a dedicated team of volunteers will be published to celebrate the festivals and linked online activities which have been specifically developed while the Trust's sites are closed due to Covid-19 restrictions. When Roman Vindolanda and the Roman Army Museum can re-open a programme of events will take place with highlights including Roman pottery demonstrations, Roman cooking and the return of the world famous Ermine Street Guard.   

Penny Trichler, the Trust's Activity Officer commented "This funding gives the Trust a vital boost which will enable the activity and engagement to continue, despite the two attractions being physically closed. We are now also able to plan and be ready to deliver some exciting new activities once we reopen to the public."

Art Fund’s Respond and Reimagine grants offer responsive funding to help museums adapt to the challenges of the Covid-19 crisis and reimagine future ways of working. The UK’s museums provide inspiration, joy, and education, enriching lives and bringing communities closer together, but the impact of Covid-19 has been catastrophic for many. Since the first lockdown began, Art Fund has awarded a total of £2.25m in emergency funding, enabling 67 institutions to respond with innovation to the pandemic. Unfortunately, this amount isn’t nearly enough – only 15% of applicants have been successful, with Art Fund receiving a total of 451 applications totalling £16.9m. With six in ten (60%) museums Art Fund surveyed worried about their survival, and the new national lockdown likely increasing this figure, the charity is urging the public to support their fundraising appeal Together for Museums, which aims to raise £1 million to help more museums. Art Fund is appealing to the public to make donations of any size. From just £15, unique objects and artworks are available as rewards, donated by leading artists including Cornelia Parker, Jeremy Deller, Lubaina Himid, Anish Kapoor and David Shrigley. 

www.artfund.org/together

ENDS

 

Media enquiries:

Press Information

Sonya Galloway, The Vindolanda Trust, Communications Manager

[email protected] // 01434 344277

Notes to editors:

Vindolanda Trust

The Vindolanda Trust is an independent archaeological charitable trust, founded in 1970. The Vindolanda Trust does not receive any annual funding and relies on the visitors to both Roman Vindolanda and the Roman Army Museum to fund its archaeological, conservation and education work. Roman Vindolanda is regarded as the most exciting archaeological sites in Europe with its wealth of archaeological remains and ongoing excavations. Vindolanda is home to the world famous Vindolanda Writing Tablets, voted as Britain’s top archaeological treasure by the British Museum, these thin hand written wooden notes have revealed an astonishing amount of first-hand information from the people who lived at this site 2000 years ago.

Art Fund

Art Fund

Art Fund is the national fundraising charity for art. It provides millions of pounds every year to help museums to acquire and share works of art across the UK, further the professional development of their curators, and inspire more people to visit and enjoy their public programmes. In response to Covid-19 Art Fund has made £2 million in adapted funding available to support museums through reopening and beyond, including Respond and Reimagine grants to help meet immediate need and reimagine future ways of working. Art Fund is independently funded, supported by the 159,000 members who buy the National Art Pass, who enjoy free entry to over 240 museums, galleries and historic places, 50% off major exhibitions, and receive Art Quarterly magazine. Art Fund also supports museums through its annual prize, Art Fund Museum of the Year. In a unique edition of the prize for 2020, Art Fund responded to the unprecedented challenges that all museums are facing by selecting five winners and increasing the prize money to £200,000. The winners are Aberdeen Art Gallery; Gairloch Museum; Science Museum; South London Gallery; and Towner Eastbourne.  www.artfund.org