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New Clore Learning Spaces announced following £30m gift to foundation
The Courtauld and V&A Storehouse to benefit from new spaces
The Clore Duffield Foundation has announced its support for a number of cultural education projects across the UK – including new Clore Learning Spaces – as it marks its 60th anniversary.
Vivien Duffield, the chair of the foundation, has made a major gift of £30m to support the work.
Paisley Museum, the Natural History Museum and Kensington Palace are among the eight organisations that will open new Core Learning Spaces this year, and further spaces have been announced at the Courtauld, the V&A Storehouse and Trent Park, a country house in London. More announcements are expected later in 2024.
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Learning spaces at Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge and the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh are set to receive funding to be refurbished. And the National Gallery in London will receive funding for its 2024 bicentenary celebrations.
“To celebrate our 60th anniversary, we are making a major new investment in cultural learning projects across the UK” Duffield said. “I believe passionately that children and young people deserve the very best opportunities to benefit from the transforming power of our world class cultural organisations.
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"I am delighted that we have been able to support such outstanding projects created in some of the best museums, galleries, theatres, gardens and historic sites across the country – even in royal palaces. Now more than ever, I believe that culture should be at the heart of our children’s learning.”
The foundation was established by Vivien Duffield’s father Charles Clore in 1964, and supports UK charities working in the arts, education, social welfare and health. Since 2000 it has funded more than 70 Clore Learning Spaces in national museums, performing arts centres and heritage sites across the UK.
Earlier this year, the foundation announced it would fund a new Clore Garden at Tate Britain. Landscape designer Tom Stuart-Smith Studio and architects Feilden Fowles have been appointed to realise the project, which is a partnership with the Royal Horticultural Society and expected to open in 2026.