About Us

Thomas Rowlandson: An offshore scene in a stiff breeze (Watercolour on paper). Purchase for the The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery enabled by FUAM (Leeds) and the Arnold Ziff Charitable Trust, 1992

Founded in 1989, Friends of University Art and Music Leeds provides support to the Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery (formerly the University Art Gallery) and the University of Leeds International Concert Series. FUAM has supported various publications in relation to the University's Public Art including, A Short History of the University Art Collection and Gallery (1995), published to coincide with the Gallery's 25th Anniversary, and the guide to Curating the Campus: Public Art Trail (2019). In order to maximise its fundraising activities, FUAM gained charitable status in 2002.

What do we do?

We promote our charitable objectives by:

Sponsoring concerts in the University of Leeds International Concert Series
Providing funds to purchase or assist in the purchase of works for the Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery, a registered museum open to the public
Arranging a variety of activities for members including recitals, events on campus, and visits to concerts, major galleries and collections further afield. Friends receive invitations to pre-exhibition talks held in the Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery and enjoy occasional special events organised in connection with individual exhibitions or acquisitions. Friends also receive a 20% discount on Gallery publications.
Sponsoring an annual lecture, alternately on the themes of music and art. Lectures have included;
- Dr Rachel Conroy on 'Temple Newsam: its people and treasures'
- Professor Brian Newbould on 'Song, sonata, symphony: Schubert's instrumental music vis a vis his songs'
- David Alexander on 'Women printmakers in late Georgian England'
- Professor Peter Holman on 'Handel's 'Messiah' in performance'
- Dr Kerry Bristol on 'A London Site of Sociability: J M W Turner and the Oxford Street Pantheon'
- Dr David Vickers on 'Italian Musicians in Handel's London'
- Dr Rebecca Wade on 'Taxing Knowledge: The Portrait of Richard Cobden by Emma Novello'

Past and varied purchases purchases with Friends' support have contributed to the University's major collections of eighteenth and early twentieth century British art, including works by Vanessa Bell, Thomas Rowlandson, Walter Sickert, Sybil Andrews, and Sutapa Biswas.

How are we organised?

An Annual Meeting of the Friends is held each June to elect a Committee and Officers on behalf of the membership. Those elected have Trustee responsibility for the charity. The work of the Trustees is supported by an Activities Sub-Committee.

The Trustees are: Dr Martin Staniforth (Chair), Dr David Salinger (Acting Treasurer), Janet Juřica (Secretary), Layla Bloom, Professor Joanne Crawford, Jillian Johnson MBE, Professor Barbara Kelly, Dr Oliver Pickering, and Emeritus Professor Julian Rushton.