SHAKESPEARE’S international legacy is being explored thanks to a funding win.
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has successfully secured funding for the wide-reaching project, which will take place to mark the 400th anniversary of the publication of the First Folio.
The project will last 18 months and develop a new perspective on Shakespeare’s work and its legacy, through the use of its international collections.
Prof Charlotte Scott, director of Knowledge and Engagement at SBT said: “As the national museum for Shakespeare, our core charitable objective is to share Shakespeare’s work, life and times with everyone. We are grateful to have the support of the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and Museums Association which allows us the opportunity to address our interpretation in new and more transparent ways, working with underrepresented communities to ensure our exhibitions and collections remain relevant.
“We are looking forward to collaborating with wider audiences in the West Midlands and developing our interpretation strategies to reflect critical and cultural encounters and engagements with Shakespeare in more interrogative ways. We are looking forward to hearing multiple perspectives on how our international collections are currently interpreted, to make the experience more inclusive for future audiences.”
The project, which has been awarded £70,200 of funding from the Esmée Fairburn Collection Fund, administered by the Museums Association, will use the 400th anniversary of the publication of the First Folio as the frame within which the work will be delivered.
Specifically, the team is interested in exploring ‘The Tempest’, which is one of the plays that would have been lost without the publication of the Folio in 1623.
Prof Scott continued: “The Tempest is a profoundly important play in the history of exploring a wide range of cultural and societal themes, so, it is a significant beginning, both in terms of the chronology of the First Folio, and our project, from which to develop our engagement with the histories and legacies of Shakespeare’s work.”
The project will launch later this year as part of the Trust’s year-long programme to celebrate the First Folio anniversary.
