The Friends of Kettle’s Yard were formed in 1984 by a group of local modern art enthusiasts to provide vital financial support to Kettle’s Yard. For over forty years, their membership fees and successful programme of events have provided essential funding, supporting conservation projects in the house, grants to the learning and community programme alongside other core running costs.
In 2024, funding from the Friends enabled the delivery of a Britten Sinfonia concert in the house during Twilight at the Museums, an annual event providing free, creative activities for families during half term. They have also funded the creation of the Art Cart, a key resource offering arts and crafts materials to children, enabling them to engage with Kettle’s Yard in an accessible and engaging way. Additionally, the Friends have supported essential conservation work in the house including the removal of asbestos from several Alfred Wallis paintings and the associated reframing costs, allowing these much-loved works to remain on display for the public to enjoy.
The future of Kettle’s Yard is at a critical moment. While we receive some annual funding from the University of Cambridge, we are responsible for raising more than 80% of the income needed to meet our running costs. To strengthen our foundations, we need to double our existing endowment by raising £5million by the end of 2027. In 2023, the Jim and Helen Ede Fund, Kettle’s Yard’s endowment campaign, was launched.
The Jim and Helen Ede Fund will:
- Endow the post of Senior Curator. This key post will be secured in perpetuity, ensuring the house and collection is always the beating heart of Kettle’s Yard: a place of inspiration and creativity and a catalyst for new art and research.
- Provide guaranteed annual funding for our work with local communities, schools and young people. Our vital Community and Learning Programme is funded through project grants, by their nature short term and insecure. The Jim and Helen Ede Fund will provide dedicated annual funding, enabling us to plan ahead and deepen our impact.
- Commission new art and music each year. Jim and Helen Ede were friends with and supported some of the pioneering artists of their day. The Fund will give us the resources to commission artists and composers to make new work to be premiered at Kettle’s Yard each year.
In a Friends of Kettle’s Yard Committee meeting in April 2026, the Committee generously voted to donate £100,000 towards the Jim and Helen Ede Fund. This transformational major gift will contribute significantly to the endowment fund which will ensure the future of Kettle’s Yard is secured for future generations to enjoy.
The gift was announced to members of the Friends of Kettle’s Yard at the 2026 Annual Party on 1 October by Nicci Steele-Williams (Chair of the Friends Committee), Susie Biller (Assistant Director), and Holly Kavanagh (Senior Associate Director).
In her speech at the party, Nicci Steele-Williams referred to the Friends of Kettle’s Yard’s terms of reference, citing that the Friends’ purpose is “promotion, support, assistance and improvement of Kettle’s Yard … the scope of Friends’ Committee activity is to raise funds to support the collections, programmes, activities and operations of Kettle’s Yard”.
The major gift to the Jim and Helen Ede Fund is therefore tremendously fitting as it will enable us to provide support for three key elements of Kettle’s Yard in perpetuity while being entirely in-keeping with the Friends’ purpose.
We are extraordinarily grateful to the Friends of Kettle’s Yard for this major gift. Their loyalty and commitment to preserving Kettle’s Yard mean that we can ensure it continues to thrive as a place of inspiration and creativity, just as Jim and Helen Ede intended.
Andrew Nairne, Director
Alongside this major donation, the Friends agreed to support a number of upcoming projects, including two community open days at Kettle’s Yard, a new publication focused on the house, and annual funding to support the house and collection. We hope to share more news with the Friends members as the projects progress.
We are eternally grateful for the support of the Friends, from 1984 to now.
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