LONDON.- The Royal Academy of Arts has been awarded a grant of £1 million from the Clore Duffield Foundation for the new Clore Learning Centre, which forms part of the major redevelopment to transform Burlington Gardens and enable the RA to share and interpret its heritage for a broad 21st century audience.

The Burlington Project is the Royal Academy of Arts’ most ambitious transformation since its move to Burlington House in 1868. The Masterplan, led by the award-winning architect David Chipperfield CBE RA, will see the major expansion of the RA’s current visitor and learning facilities, including a new central link between Burlington House and Burlington Gardens (the former Museum of Mankind), a grand double-height lecture theatre, and a Clore Learning Centre within Burlington Gardens. The redevelopment will create a united arts campus of just over 2 acres in the heart of central London for new and existing audiences to enjoy by 2018 – the 250th Anniversary year of the RA.

Charles Saumarez Smith, Secretary and Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Arts, said: “We are extremely grateful to the Clore Duffield Foundation for their generosity towards The Burlington Project. With their support of the Clore Learning Centre, we can create a dedicated new state-of-theart home for learning, where visitors can take part in a vibrant and enhanced programme of activities, events and workshops throughout the year from 2018 onwards.”

Founded in 1964, the Foundation is a grant-making charity which concentrates its support on cultural learning, creating learning spaces within arts and heritage organisations, leadership training for the cultural and wider charitable sectors, and enhancing Jewish life. The Foundation is chaired by Dame Vivien Duffield, the daughter of the founder, Sir Charles Clore.