There will be a significant shift in the museum sector’s funding landscape over the next five years as the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) moves away from awarding very large grants, as its budget declines and it absorbs the recommendations of two major reviews.
The HLF revealed plans to simplify its allocation of grants in late November, including the decision not to award any worth more than £5m in 2019. The funding body said the final major awards will be made in April this year, on applications already submitted. It also announced a series of changes to funding for public parks, landscapes and town centres.
The news followed a flurry of reports into the future of both the museum sector and the HLF last year.
The Mendoza Review of museums, published on 14 November, included proposals related to the HLF. The report was swiftly followed by a tailored review of the HLF by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport at the end of the month.
The tailored review called on the HLF to become more strategic in its thinking and decision-making, for it to strengthen its partnerships both inside the sector and beyond, and for it to focus on supporting the sustainability of the sector and the country’s heritage. It also called on the HLF to better support inclusion and diversity across the sector, and to look to address skills capacity gaps, such as in digital.
The recommendations come as the HLF prepares to launch a public consultation on its next five-year strategic funding framework, which is due to begin in early 2019. The framework will set out its funding priorities until 2024, as well as helping the HLF adopt the proposals made by the tailored review. While it will still distribute £190m in funding during 2018-19, the funding body said it will be a “transitional year”.
Need for simplification
Both reviews call for a simplification of the available funding pots to ensure money is available for the projects and venues that need it most. Although this has broadly been welcomed, the shift away from major grants has already led to concerns.
“It will change the funding landscape,” says museum and heritage consultant Claire Adler. “It will change how institutions plan for the next five years.”
Katie Norgrove, a founder of the Cultural Consulting Network, says the HLF is assessing how to spend its money most effectively and where it is most needed. This comes at a time when lottery sales are falling and there is less money available for good causes.
“The HLF needs to respond to the people who buy the tickets and what heritage they value,” Norgrove says. “That is not always the same as identified heritage sector needs.”
Both reviews also urge the HLF to strengthen its partnerships in the heritage sector, with Arts Council England, for example, and beyond that, such as with other lottery funding bodies.
For Adler, collaboration will be essential, as the focus shifts away from major grant awards. “There has got to be a strategic shift across heritage to get the sector thinking about how to fund projects without the HLF,” she says.
Alistair Brown, the policy officer at the Museums Association, says he expects the HLF to offer different kinds of support in the future . He highlights the long-term sustainability of heritage, a point also raised in the tailored review. “It is much higher on the agenda than it was three or four years ago,” says Brown.
The HLF needs to think carefully about how it funds and supports existing projects, he adds, as it must be “in the bounds of the additionality principle” which stipulates that lottery money should not become a substitute for government funding.
Better use of data
Whatever the HLF’s future structure and priorities, it will be better placed to make decisions if it makes more effective use of its own data. This point is raised in the tailored review and echoed by Norgrove.
“At present, the data and use of evaluation isn’t as well organised or structured as it could be,” she says. “It is not easy to find out about past projects and my impression is that internally, learning occurs quite informally. There needs to be a more effective system in place and training built around that.”
Most importantly for Adler, however, is the continuation of the HLF’s work in funding a varied range of projects, even with increased competition for a smaller pot of money. “We need a varied landscape or we will become mono-cultural,” she says. “It is something the HLF does well already."
The HLF revealed plans to simplify its allocation of grants in late November, including the decision not to award any worth more than £5m in 2019. The funding body said the final major awards will be made in April this year, on applications already submitted. It also announced a series of changes to funding for public parks, landscapes and town centres.
The news followed a flurry of reports into the future of both the museum sector and the HLF last year.
The Mendoza Review of museums, published on 14 November, included proposals related to the HLF. The report was swiftly followed by a tailored review of the HLF by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport at the end of the month.
The tailored review called on the HLF to become more strategic in its thinking and decision-making, for it to strengthen its partnerships both inside the sector and beyond, and for it to focus on supporting the sustainability of the sector and the country’s heritage. It also called on the HLF to better support inclusion and diversity across the sector, and to look to address skills capacity gaps, such as in digital.
The recommendations come as the HLF prepares to launch a public consultation on its next five-year strategic funding framework, which is due to begin in early 2019. The framework will set out its funding priorities until 2024, as well as helping the HLF adopt the proposals made by the tailored review. While it will still distribute £190m in funding during 2018-19, the funding body said it will be a “transitional year”.
Need for simplification
Both reviews call for a simplification of the available funding pots to ensure money is available for the projects and venues that need it most. Although this has broadly been welcomed, the shift away from major grants has already led to concerns.
“It will change the funding landscape,” says museum and heritage consultant Claire Adler. “It will change how institutions plan for the next five years.”
Katie Norgrove, a founder of the Cultural Consulting Network, says the HLF is assessing how to spend its money most effectively and where it is most needed. This comes at a time when lottery sales are falling and there is less money available for good causes.
“The HLF needs to respond to the people who buy the tickets and what heritage they value,” Norgrove says. “That is not always the same as identified heritage sector needs.”
Both reviews also urge the HLF to strengthen its partnerships in the heritage sector, with Arts Council England, for example, and beyond that, such as with other lottery funding bodies.
For Adler, collaboration will be essential, as the focus shifts away from major grant awards. “There has got to be a strategic shift across heritage to get the sector thinking about how to fund projects without the HLF,” she says.
Alistair Brown, the policy officer at the Museums Association, says he expects the HLF to offer different kinds of support in the future . He highlights the long-term sustainability of heritage, a point also raised in the tailored review. “It is much higher on the agenda than it was three or four years ago,” says Brown.
The HLF needs to think carefully about how it funds and supports existing projects, he adds, as it must be “in the bounds of the additionality principle” which stipulates that lottery money should not become a substitute for government funding.
Better use of data
Whatever the HLF’s future structure and priorities, it will be better placed to make decisions if it makes more effective use of its own data. This point is raised in the tailored review and echoed by Norgrove.
“At present, the data and use of evaluation isn’t as well organised or structured as it could be,” she says. “It is not easy to find out about past projects and my impression is that internally, learning occurs quite informally. There needs to be a more effective system in place and training built around that.”
Most importantly for Adler, however, is the continuation of the HLF’s work in funding a varied range of projects, even with increased competition for a smaller pot of money. “We need a varied landscape or we will become mono-cultural,” she says. “It is something the HLF does well already."