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London's Autograph ABP has received £499,995 from the government's Creative Foundations Fund (CFF). The Fund has allocated £96 million to 74 arts and cultural venues to help theatres, performing arts venues, galleries and grassroots music venues address urgent infrastructure needs.

The government announced today that 130 cultural venues, museums and libraries are set to benefit from a £127.8 million funding boost, helping to ensure that everyone can access arts and culture in the places they call home. Those organisations receiving funding today mark the first projects receiving cash from the government’s Arts Everywhere Fund. As the cost of living continues to affect families across Britain, funding for these venues will help provide welcoming, affordable spaces for communities to visit, come together and celebrate what makes their local area special.

Autograph's director Professor Mark Sealy told BPH: 'Autograph’s project will replace two failing, business-critical elements at its Rivington Place building – the leaking roof membrane and deteriorating sanitaryware – to safeguard its galleries, collection, studios and tenant spaces. A new insulated Sarnafil roof and fully upgraded accessible bathroom facilities will improve our environmental performance, reduce maintenance needs, and protect both the building and Autograph’s photography collection from risk of damage.

These essential works respond directly to the needs of all our building users, ensuring the organisation can continue delivering high-quality cultural programmes for its diverse audiences and communities.'

Earlier this year, the Culture Secretary committed up to £1.5 billion to the cultural sector over this parliament, with the Arts Everywhere Fund aiming to save more than 1,000 cherished arts venues, museums, libraries and heritage buildings across England. Today’s £127.8 million which is administered and delivered by Arts Council England on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is made up of three funds:

• the Creative Foundations Fund (CFF) has allocated £96 million to 74 arts and cultural venues; 
• the Museum Estate and Development Fund (MEND) has allocated a share of £25.5 million to support 28 museums to undertake vital infrastructure works; and
• the Libraries Improvement Fund (LIF) has allocated a share of £6.3 million to 28 library services to help upgrade buildings and technology to better meet the needs of the community. 

Autograph ABP is the only UK organisation directly involved in photography awarded a grant out of the three funds. 

See: https://autograph.org.uk/

Image: Autograph ABP's building in Rivington Place, London. © Michael Pritchard.

10×10 Photobooks is pleased to announce a new grant cycle and call for applications as part of its annual photobook research grants program to encourage and support scholarship on under-explored topics in photobook history. For this cycle, 10×10 is looking for submissions related to 10×10 Photobooks’ forthcoming publication on the history of photobooks from Africa and its diaspora. We invite proposals for photobook research on Black identity, Africa and the African diaspora. The concept of the photobook for your study can be interpreted in the broadest sense possible: classic bound books, portfolios, personal albums, unpublished books, zines, digital media, scrapbooks, posters, or other ephemera. The evaluation of proposals will consider the importance of the proposed topic, how significant and/or unknown is the subject, and the strength of the proposed approach.

10×10 Photobooks will award three grants for this 5th cycle for 2026-2027 cycle in the amount of $2,500 each, which will be paid in two increments during the course of the project. Grantees are expected to present the result of their research in a 15 to 20-minute Zoom presentation along with an approximate 1500 word printed essay, including illustrations and photographs. Final research needs to be in English and will be due within a year of the grant being awarded.

10×10 will assist where able and desired with in-progress review, identifying information, making introductions, etc. 

See full details here: https://10x10photobooks.org/research-grants-cycle5-call/

Considered one of the most important photo historians of the 20th century, Peter E. Palmquist (1936 - 2003) had a keen interest in the photography of the American West, California, and Humboldt County before 1950, and the history of women in photography worldwide. He published over 60 books and 340 articles and was a strong proponent of the concept of the independent researcher-writer in the field of photohistory. With co-author Thomas Kailbourn, he won the Caroline Bancroft Western History Prize for their book, Pioneer Photographers of the Far West. Professor Martha Sandweiss, Princeton University, wrote, “He (Peter) established new ways of pursuing the history of photography, and with his collections and research notes soon to be accessible at Yale, he will be speaking to and inspiring new generations of students and researchers forever.” Established by Peter’s lifetime companion, Pam Mendelsohn, this fund supports the study of under-researched women photographers internationally, past and present, and under-researched Western American photographers through the Great Depression. 

A small panel of outside consultants with professional expertise in the field of photohistory and/or grant reviewing will review the applications in order to determine the awards. Applications will be judged on the quality of the proposal, the ability of the applicant to carry out the project within the proposed budget and timeline, and the significance of the project to the field of photographic history. Each recipient of the award will agree to donate upon completion of the project a copy of the resulting work (i.e., published book, unpublished report, thesis, etc.) to the Humboldt Area Foundation to submit to the Peter Palmquist Archive at Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library and a report to Humboldt Area Foundation at the end of the grant period. We ask that award recipients acknowledge the financial assistance provided by the Palmquist Memorial Fund in publications or other work products supported by that fund.