UK galleries offered £5m art fund

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Regional UK galleries and museums are being offered a slice of a new £5m fund to buy more foreign contemporary art.

Independent charity The Art Fund wants to promote the work of international artists in the UK's regional centres.

Only venues outside London or Edinburgh can apply because the organisation says a lot of modern art from overseas is already held in these two cities.

The Art Fund director David Barrie said he wanted to ensure British galleries looked beyond UK artists.

"We've all too often turned our backs on the most exciting works being made by living artists from overseas," he said.

"It's too late to put that right, but this scheme is designed to make sure we don't make the same mistakes going forward."

A committee of nine people will decide how the money - obtained entirely through public donations - is allocated.

Interested institutions have until 22 June to register with the charity, which has helped with the acquisition of more than 850,000 works of art since its foundation in 1903.