The announcement of the Comprehensive Spending Review was receiving a cautious welcome from the sector as Museums Journal went to press.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport's (DCMS) budget will increase from £1.6bn now to £1.8bn by 2010-11, but a large proportion of the extra money will be swallowed by the Olympics, meaning that spending in other areas will only keep pace with inflation.
There was good news for Arts Council England (ACE), which was allocated £50m extra over the next three years. But most national museums will receive an inflationary increase of just 2.7 per cent a year over the same period.
Four projects - the new Museum of Liverpool, the second phase of the Natural History Museum's Darwin Centre, the Victoria and Albert Museum for running the Sackler Centre for Arts Education, and the Museum of London for the cost of merging with the Museum in Docklands - will receive a total of almost £10m in additional funding.
There was no breakdown of funding for the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) and culture minister James Purnell said he wanted to discuss the funding of Renaissance in the Regions with the MLA.
Louise de Winter, director of the National Campaign for the Arts, said: "It has proved that when the arts sector comes together, it can make a coherent case for funding. But we still have to work out how we make up for loss of funds in relation to the Olympics."
She added that as funding for the cultural Olympiad had been put in museums' baseline budgets, it will have to be found from existing money.
Mike Dixon, director of the Natural History Museum, said: "I think James Purnell and Margaret Hodge did a fantastic job. I don't think even the DCMS expected this outcome six months ago."
Sharon Heal
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport's (DCMS) budget will increase from £1.6bn now to £1.8bn by 2010-11, but a large proportion of the extra money will be swallowed by the Olympics, meaning that spending in other areas will only keep pace with inflation.
There was good news for Arts Council England (ACE), which was allocated £50m extra over the next three years. But most national museums will receive an inflationary increase of just 2.7 per cent a year over the same period.
Four projects - the new Museum of Liverpool, the second phase of the Natural History Museum's Darwin Centre, the Victoria and Albert Museum for running the Sackler Centre for Arts Education, and the Museum of London for the cost of merging with the Museum in Docklands - will receive a total of almost £10m in additional funding.
There was no breakdown of funding for the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) and culture minister James Purnell said he wanted to discuss the funding of Renaissance in the Regions with the MLA.
Louise de Winter, director of the National Campaign for the Arts, said: "It has proved that when the arts sector comes together, it can make a coherent case for funding. But we still have to work out how we make up for loss of funds in relation to the Olympics."
She added that as funding for the cultural Olympiad had been put in museums' baseline budgets, it will have to be found from existing money.
Mike Dixon, director of the Natural History Museum, said: "I think James Purnell and Margaret Hodge did a fantastic job. I don't think even the DCMS expected this outcome six months ago."
Sharon Heal
For an update on this story, including details of MLA's settlement and the Renaissance programme, please click here
