The V&A Purchase Grant Fund and the PRISM Grant Fund for the preservation of industrial and scientific material may be closed to museums in Wales in April.
The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), which funds both schemes and administers the PRISM fund, and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), are in talks with the Museums, Libraries and Archives Wales (CyMAL) and the National Museum Wales (NMW) over the future of the schemes after it emerged that, since devolution in 1998, funding for acquisitions has been included in the culture element of the block grant to Wales from Westminster.
Talks are centring on whether this constitutes double funding and whether the two grant funds were originally intended for England and Wales, as CyMAL believes. Also under discussion is whether a similar, but separate, scheme could be administered in Wales for Welsh museums.
Janet Davies, head of the V&A Purchase Grant Fund, said: "Our only concern is that museums continue to get funding for acquisitions."
NMW director Michael Houlihan, in a letter last July to Mark Jones, director of the V&A, wrote: "Ideally, from Wales's point of view, the continuation of the existing arrangements would be the preferred option."
Louise Ingham, arts and culture coordinator at Powys Museum Service, which has received £63,367 from the V&A Purchase Grant Fund, said: "Without the V&A and the Art Fund, we would be unable to make acquisitions. We rely on them entirely."
Welsh museums have received more than £445,000 from the V&A Fund since 1991, and £31,000 from the PRISM Fund since 2003.
Patrick Steel
The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), which funds both schemes and administers the PRISM fund, and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), are in talks with the Museums, Libraries and Archives Wales (CyMAL) and the National Museum Wales (NMW) over the future of the schemes after it emerged that, since devolution in 1998, funding for acquisitions has been included in the culture element of the block grant to Wales from Westminster.
Talks are centring on whether this constitutes double funding and whether the two grant funds were originally intended for England and Wales, as CyMAL believes. Also under discussion is whether a similar, but separate, scheme could be administered in Wales for Welsh museums.
Janet Davies, head of the V&A Purchase Grant Fund, said: "Our only concern is that museums continue to get funding for acquisitions."
NMW director Michael Houlihan, in a letter last July to Mark Jones, director of the V&A, wrote: "Ideally, from Wales's point of view, the continuation of the existing arrangements would be the preferred option."
Louise Ingham, arts and culture coordinator at Powys Museum Service, which has received £63,367 from the V&A Purchase Grant Fund, said: "Without the V&A and the Art Fund, we would be unable to make acquisitions. We rely on them entirely."
Welsh museums have received more than £445,000 from the V&A Fund since 1991, and £31,000 from the PRISM Fund since 2003.
Patrick Steel
