Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery 2021 (Birmingham Museums)
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ACE reveals first details of 2023 Museum Estate and Development Fund round

Image: Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery is among recipients of an earlier MEND round

Dates are set for the next round of funding for non-national Accredited museums in England, designed to help in tackling infrastructure and maintenance backlogs.

Arts Council England (ACE) has revealed the first details of the third round of its Museum Estate and Development Fund.

Targeted at non-national Accredited museums, the funding is designed to allow museums to undertake vital infrastructure and urgent maintenance backlogs which are beyond the scope of day-to-day maintenance budgets.

Guidance for the third round of funding is expected to be published early February.

Last year, its second round of funding was open to grants of between £50,000 and £5 million. Decisions about the second round are expected to be announced in March 2023. In the same month, Expressions of Interest for round three open on 6 March 2023, and close 21 April 2023.

Full application forms open on 30 May 2023 and close on 18 August 2023.

ACE will host a webinar to answer questions about the upcoming guidance, criteria and application process for Round 3 on Monday 27 February 2023.

Arts Council England has also revealed early details of its Libraries Improvement Fund (LIF) third round, designed to enable library services across England to invest in a range of projects to upgrade buildings and technology so they are better placed to respond to the changing ways people are using them.

Guidance for the third round of funding will be published early February, with Expressions of Interest opening on 17 April 2023, and full applications opening on 19 July 2023.

More details about the LIF and MEND are available on the Arts Council England website.