A UK-wide touring exhibition highlighting women artists has kicked off with an exhibition at Penlee House Gallery & Museum in Penzance, where more than 60 works from the collections of three participating museum will be showcased alongside community responses.
Making Her Mark: A Celebration of Women in Art runs until 27 September in Penzance, before traveling to Worcester City Art Gallery & Museum next year to go on display from January to June. The final stop of the tour will be Kirkcaldy Gallery, part of OnFife, where the works will be shown from June to October 2027.
The exhibition is the first of a series of 12 major touring shows that will travel to museums and galleries over the next five years as part of Art Fund’s £5.36m Going Places programme, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Julia Rausing Trust.
The venues and tour dates for the first six exhibitions, including Making Her Mark, have already been confirmed (see box below).
Each exhibition is developed in collaboration with local communities and aims to widen access to museums and their collections.
At Penlee House Gallery & Museum, care-experienced young people, supported by local charity Carefree Cornwall, have responded to the artworks and themes of the exhibition. Their work will be brought together in a large-scale textile banner and displayed alongside artists such as Tracey Emin, Paula Rego and Barbara Hepworth.
Some artworks involved in the Going Places programme of exhibitions, including Peille, A Hillside Village by Anne Redpath and Midland Landscape II by Prunella Clough, have rarely been seen outside of their respective collections.
Jenny Waldman, director of Art Fund, said: “Going Places is a truly UK-wide collaboration on an ambitious scale. It will bring outstanding works from museum collections to new audiences across the country, with many objects travelling beyond their home institutions for the very first time.
“Going Places demonstrates what’s possible when museums come together to share collections, resources and expertise – forging a more sustainable future for exhibitions and empowering communities across the UK.”
What other exhibitions are touring in the first round of Going Places?
Green Spaces, Shared Places – Past, Present and Future
Curated by young people, this exhibition will explore our evolving relationship with the landscapes.
- National Memorial Arboretum, Staffordshire (11 July to 27 September 2026)
- Dales Countryside Museum, Yorkshire (3 October 2026 to 28 February 2027)
- Creative Smart City Hub Houghton and Rainton Meadows Nature Reserve, part of Sunderland Culture (6 March to 26 June 2027)
- Arlington Court and National Trust Carriage Museum, Devon (24 July to 7 November 2027)
New Faces New Focus
This exhibition brings together community stories and creative responses in dialogue with collections from across the UK to explore the theme of journeys.
- Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool (18 September to December 2026)
- Armagh Museum (17 January to 5 May 2027)
- Aberdeenshire Farming Museum (June to September 2027)
Earthly Paradise: Radical Living in the UK
This exhibition shares how radical homes were used to imagine fairer, more creative ways of living together.
- William Morris Gallery, London (3 October 2026 to 28 March 2027)
- Tŷ Pawb, Wrexham (19 June to 2 October 2027)
- Blackwell – The Arts & Crafts house, Bowness-on-Windermere (October 2027 to February 2028)
- Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh (March to September 2028)
Tracing the Earth: Art, Science and Shifting Environments
Drawing on the collections of Watts Gallery, The Bowes Museum, and Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum, this touring exhibition examines how artists observed, celebrated, collected, and documented nature, using art as a means of knowledge-making and advocacy.
- Watts Gallery, Surrey (27 January to 18 April 2027)
- The Bowes Museum, County Durham (2 May to 3 October 2027)
- Russell-Cotes Museum & Art Gallery, Bournemouth (23 October 2027 to 1 January 2028)
Communities of Making
Co-curated with 16–24 year olds, this exhibition reimagines endangered craft traditions such as Irish linen weaving, Scottish wool and Welsh basketry, for today.
- Inverness Museum & Art Gallery (May to July 2027)
- Carmarthenshire Museum (July to September 2027)
- Irish Linen Centre & Lisburn Museum (October to December 2027)
Each network of museums will create a second exhibition with details to be announced in due course.
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