National Treasures coming to Carmarthenshire

We're thrilled to be one of 11 museums and galleries across the UK bringing national treasures to local communities in inspiring exhibitions, made possible by the latest round of Art Fund's Weston Loan Programme.

Announced on Tuesday 18 March 2025, the latest round of the Weston Loan Programme with Art Fund will see national treasures travel to 11 regional museums and galleries across the UK – reuniting iconic works with the people and places that inspired them. 

Now in its ninth year, the Weston Loan Programme is the first UK-wide grant programme designed to directly fund and empower smaller museums to borrow major works from national or major lending museums and galleries. By supporting the costs of securing loans – from transportation and conservation to community engagement – the programme increases access to notable objects, shares resources across the country and brings lasting benefits to borrowers, lenders and audiences. 

At CofGâr, JMW Turner’s sketches and watercolours from his travels through South Wales will return to the landscapes that first inspired them over two centuries ago in Romantic Wales – JMW Turner in Carmarthenshire (May - November 2026) at Carmarthenshire Museum.

This marks the next phase in CofGâr's ambitious public programmes following on from the incredibly popular National Gallery Masterpiece Tour exhibitions that took place between 2022 and 2024.