LONDON.- Self-portraits by Lucian Freud, Richard Hamilton, Eduardo Paolozzi and others will travel from the National Portrait Gallery to Rugby as part of the Weston Loan Programme, a £750,000 funding and training programme with the Garfield Weston Foundation and Art Fund.

The portraits will be shown at Rugby Art Gallery & Museum in About Face, opening 30 March, alongside works by the artists, in response to the museums visitors wanting to learn more about the artists in the collection. The exhibition is the first show to be supported by the Weston Loan Programme with Art Fund.

Thanks to the funding programme, this year will see a Rembrandt masterpiece go to Barnsley from the National Gallery, the V&A's famous Beckett Casket journey to Peterborough and works by contemporary British artists Gillian Wearing and Mark Titchner travel to Worcester.

The Weston Loan Programme with Art Fund is designed to directly fund and empower regional and smaller local authority museums to borrow major works or collections of art from the UK’s national museums and galleries.

The 2018 exhibitions for The Weston Loan Programme with Art Fund include:

· About Face, Rugby Art Gallery & Museum, 30 March – 16 June 2018

· The ‘creator of the modern circus’ Philip Astley is celebrated with six original drawings, engravings and prints from the V&A going to Newcastle-under-Lyme for a special exhibition marking 250 years of circus. Philip Astley – His Life and Legacy, Brampton Museum, Newcastle-under-Lyme, 5 May – 15 July 2018.

· Warrington celebrates events from its history by borrowing works by Enrico Coleman and Luke Fildes from National Museums Liverpool. Warrington Art Treasures, Warrington Museum and Art Gallery, 5 May 2018 – 2 March 2019.

· Thomas Chippendale’s 300th anniversary is celebrated in Berwick-upon-Tweed by Paxton House displaying its own Chippendale furniture alongside outstanding and rarely seen pieces on loan from collections including the V&A. The Paxton Style: Neat and Substantially Good, Paxton House, Berwick-upon Tweed, 5 June - 28 August 2018.

· Salford showcases its own works by Royal Academician artists alongside complementary works borrowed from the Royal Academy as part of the RA250 UK celebrations. Royal Academy Takeover: The Exhibition, Salford Museum and Art Gallery, 30 June 2018 - 24 February 2019.

· Rembrandt’s An Elderly Man as Saint Paul (1659) and Jan Steen’s Skittle Players Outside an Inn (1660 – 3) go from the National Gallery to Barnsley to enhance their exhibition of Dutch Old Masters. Dutch Masters, Cannon Hall Museum, Park and Garden, Barnsley, 16 June - 16 September 2018.

· The Becket Casket is loaned by the V&A to Peterborough, reuniting it with the city’s treasures for the 900th anniversary of Peterborough Cathedral, which houses the relics of the famous former Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket. Treasures, Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery, 25 August 2018 - 7 January 2019.

· Works by British artists Gillian Wearing and Mark Titchner from the Arts Council Collection go to Worcester to be shown alongside the museum's historic collection of satirical and political prints. Turner Prize-nominated artist Mark Titchner will also be working with Worcester residents to create new artworks across the city. What do we want? Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum, 22 September - 24 November 2018.

· Kettering brings back Iron Age and early Anglo Saxon objects from the British Museum that were found locally for an exhibition exploring how the beliefs and everyday lives of ancient people living in the area are similar to those of the community today. Local Treasures: British Museum on Tour, Manor House Museum, Kettering, 22 September 2018 -12 January 2019.

· Weston-Super-Mare is staging an exhibition on local artist, Alfred Leete, who created the iconic Lord Kitchener image. The show includes works by Leete borrowed from the Imperial War Museum. Alfred Leete: The Man Behind the Icon, Weston Museum, Weston-Super-Mare, 29 September 2018 - 13 January 2019.

· Jerwood Hastings is working with artist Barbara Walker, the winner of The Evelyn Williams Drawing Award, to present a new solo exhibition exploring the visibility of Black subjects in national collections, drawing on loans from The National Gallery. Vanishing Point, Jerwood Gallery, Hastings, opens 20 October 2018 – 6 January 2019.

All participating museums are recipients of grants through the first year of the Weston Loan Programme with Art Fund. Hawick Museum and Forfar Museum are also year one recipients and will realise exhibitions in spring 2019.

In 2018 the programme is distributing £200,000 in its first year of funding, plus a training programme to support museums borrowing objects. The recipients of the scheme will use their grants towards loans of works of art and artefacts to go on display. Grants range between £1,000 and £25,000 and cover a range of costs, including transport, insurance, conservation, installation, and activities relating to advocacy, marketing and audience development.

The Weston Loan Programme with Art Fund will help widen access to works from the national collections for audiences across the country, strengthen the skills of museum professionals, and distribute resources across the UK.