# Fundraising campaign for Titanic artefacts launched

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2018/07/23/fundraising-campaign-for-titanic-artefacts-launched/
- Published: 2018-07-23T12:10:00+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**A £14 million fundraising campaign has been launched to secure the Titanic Artefacts
Collection for public exhibition.**

Titanic Belfast, the Titanic Foundation, National Museums Northern Ireland and the
National Maritime Museum have teamed up for the the multi-million pound [Titanic Artefacts Collection](http://www.titanic-foundation.org)
campaign.

The 5,500 artefacts were recovered from the seabed over the course of seven deep
sea expeditions between 1987 and 2004.

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**Dr Robert Ballard**, the oceanographer who discovered the RMS Titanic wreck in
1985, and **James Cameron**, director of the Oscar-winning 1997 movie and a deep-
see diver, have offered their backing for the plan. Mr Cameron, who has added his
support to the bid through his Avatar Alliance Foundation, said he feels a “deep
responsibility” to Titanic.

Speaking at the campaign’s launch in Belfast, National Geographic Society chief 
executive Michael L Ulica also announced his organisation’s support for the campaign
with a pledge of **$500,000** towards the fund.

**Conal Harvey**, deputy chairman of Titanic Belfast, explained the focus of the
campaign. He said:

> “The essence of our proposal is that we want to secure [the artifacts] in public
> ownership in perpetuity, we want to make them available to the people of the world,
> and we want to honour the memories of the people who lost their lives in that 
> unfortunate tragedy. We don’t want the artifacts to be otherwise exploited by 
> people in a way that we think is inappropriate.”

There are other bidders for the collection, including US private equity firms and
a group of shareholders of the company that owned the items before it went backrupt.

The **Avatar Alliance Foundation** is a nonprofit organisation founded by James 
Cameron and his wife, Suzy Amis Cameron, which often focuses on sustainability, 
ocean conservation, and indigenous rights.

 * **[600 to attend Belfast philanthropy conference](https://fundraising.co.uk/2012/05/30/600-to-attend-belfast-philanthropy-conference/)(
   30 May 2012)
 * **[Queen’s Belfast launches £140 million campaign](https://fundraising.co.uk/2012/10/24/queen039s-belfast-launches-140-million-campaign/)(
   24 October 2012)
 * **[First Circle of Change fundraising event held in Northern Ireland](https://fundraising.co.uk/2019/04/25/first-circle-of-change-fundraising-event-held-in-n-ireland/)(
   25 April 2019)**