A £270m funding package aims to protect struggling cultural venues, with new money for urgent repairs, museum upgrades and heritage preservation across Britain.
Museums, arts venues, libraries and heritage attractions in urgent need of financial support have new lifeline today as the government announces a significant package of cultural funding.
The ‘Arts Everywhere Fund’ totals a combined £270m, and is to be shared between organisations it deems in most urgent need of financial support. It consists of both new and renewed funds for the sector.
Also announced today is a 5% increase to the budgets of all national museums and galleries, which is hoped to increase financial resilience and “help them provide access to the national collection”. Civic museums will be the focus of the new Museum Renewal Fund.
For the next financial year, beginning in April, the funding will be spilt as follows:
£25m: The fifth round of the Museum Estate and Development Fund which will support museums to undertake vital infrastructure projects, and tackle urgent maintenance backlogs
£20m: A new Museum Renewal Fund to help keep civic museums open and engaging, protect opening hours and jobs, continue serving communities, and tell our national story at a local level
£15m: An additional sum for Historic England’s Heritage at Risk, which will provide grants for repairs and conservation to heritage buildings at risk, focusing on those sites with most need.
£5.5m: The fourth round of the Libraries Improvement Fund which will enable public library services across England to upgrade buildings and technology.
£4.85m: A new Heritage Revival Fund to “empower local people to take control of and look after their local heritage”, by supporting community organisations to own neglected heritage buildings.
£120m: Additional capital to continue the Public Bodies Infrastructure Fund, which will ensure national cultural public institutions are able to address essential works to their estate.
£85m: A new Creative Foundations Fund to support urgent capital works to keep venues across the country up and running.
£3.2m: DCMS funding for four cultural education programmes for the next financial year to preserve increased access to arts for children and young people through the Museums and Schools Programme, the Heritage Schools Programme, the Art & Design National Saturday Club and the BFI Film Academy.
The government said details on how to apply to each of the funds and schemes will be made available “in due course”.
Jenny Waldman, Director of Art Fund, called the new £20m Museum Renewal Fund a “vital lifeline for our civic museums, which have a central place in the lives of local communities”.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said the new capital “will allow the arts to continue to flourish across Britain, creating good jobs and growth by fixing the foundations in our cultural venues, museums, libraries and heritage institutions.”
The announcement comes in the same week that the government recommitted millions to major cultural projects, allocated under the previous government, which were until this week under review.
The Culture Secretary is also set to confirm the advisory panel of experts who will be supporting Baroness Margaret Hodge with her independent review of Arts Council England, as well as the scope of the review within the newly agreed Terms of Reference.
