Museum Transformation Programme offers grants of £50,000 to £1m from £13.6m fund for accredited museums with local authority links.
Arts Council England has opened a £13.6 million Museum Transformation Programme to support museums in rethinking their operational models. The programme was first announced by Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy in January as part of the government’s Arts Everywhere commitment.
The programme builds on the Museum Renewal Fund delivered in 2025-26, which prioritised urgent financial stabilisation for museums across England. According to ACE, there was appetite and demand in the sector for something longer-term, allowing museums to comprehensively rethink their operating models.
The programme, delivered by ACE on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, offers grants of between £50,000 and £1 million to accredited museums in England that can demonstrate an established relationship with a local authority. National museums are excluded. Eligibility is not limited to museums that applied for or received Museum Renewal Fund support.
Applications open on 1 September and close on 30 September, with decisions expected by 27 November. The funding covers activity between January 2027 and March 2030. There is no match funding requirement, though applicants must demonstrate their organisation’s current financial position.
According to the programme guidance, applicants requesting funds for additional fundraising capacity must embed that activity within broader structural changes such as governance, operating models, audience engagement strategies and long-term financial sustainability. ACE states this is intended to prevent scenarios in which organisations seek investment solely to pursue ambitious but ultimately unrealistic income targets without addressing the underlying systems, skills and cultural shifts needed to sustain growth.
Eligible activities include digital transformation such as data analytics, digital access, digitisation of collections and CRM development; organisational change including exploring mergers and shared services; restructuring work including closing some services, merging activities or focusing on fewer priorities; income generation and diversification; co-curation with communities and development of accessibility-first approaches; and collections review and rationalisation.
Capital works, building and maintenance repairs, reflation of reserves or mitigating the impact of financial shortfalls, existing or already committed cultural expenditure, full or partial repayments of government, bank or historic structured loans, and operating costs incurred before 1 January 2027 or beyond 31 March 2030 cannot be funded.
Applications from museums in DCMS Culture Priority Places will receive an additional score during assessment. DCMS recently announced 81 Culture Priority Places, identified using museum and library attendance data alongside deprivation and community need indicators.
DCMS expands Culture Priority Places to bolster museum attendance
The programme will accept consortium applications, with one organisation acting as lead applicant. Grant recipients will be required to provide quarterly update reports and a final activity report providing evidence of the funding’s impact on long-term financial resilience.
