"Collections in Motion: Touring Exhibitions in Museum Practice in the UK and Germany" brings together museum professionals from Germany and the United Kingdom to explore how museums are rethinking access to their collections through touring exhibitions, collaborative display formats, and models of collection sharing.

The research trip will take participants to London, Liverpool and Edinburgh. The UK museum sector benefits from long-established infrastructures that support touring exhibitions. International lending networks, public funding frameworks, and partnerships between institutions of different scales enable collections to be shared across boundaries. This approach is firmly embedded in institutional practice and contributes to audience development, regional access, and international collaboration.

Throughout the programme, participants will gain first-hand insight into how museums develop, circulate, and adapt exhibitions for different institutional contexts. Discussions with UK colleagues will provide practical inspiration for how touring exhibitions can create new opportunities within their own institutions including institutional sustainability and income-generating activities. 

Who can apply?

• You are currently employed at a museum or exhibition venue based in Germany in a leadership or decision-making role, and
• Your work relates to international or touring exhibitions, institutional strategy and development

Applications can be submitted online via our application platform until 28 September 2026, 6.00 pm (CEST).

This research trip is part of the museum agency’s programme Open perspectives. One of the programme’s goals is to initiate cooperation through the organisation of research trips to regions with dynamic museum landscapes and the facilitation of initial in-person meetings amongst international museum professionals.

Partners: National Portrait Gallery