The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) is cutting the budget for the V&A Purchase Grant Fund by £100,000. The fund, which has stood at £1m since 1995, will be reduced for 2009-10.
Janet Davies, head of the Purchase Grant Fund, said: "The cut reduces our ability to help museums when local funding and funding from other sources is proving hard to secure. It also puts extra pressure on our co-funders such as the Art Fund and Heritage Lottery Fund."
In 2008-09, the fund allocated a total of £1,019,758 to 93 organisations including the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery in Bedford and the Stanley Spencer Gallery in Cookham.
"The grants enabled acquisitions to the value of almost £3m to go ahead," said Davies.
An MLA spokeswoman said: "With our new priority to drive improvement and best practice in museums, libraries and archives, all spending has been re-examined, and it was decided we could put £900,000 aside for the Purchase Fund next year, 10 per cent less than we were able to spend last year, but a significant and highly valued part of our reduced budget."
But Sophie Forgan, chairman of trustees at the Captain Cook Memorial Museum in Whitby, which has used the grant to purchase three paintings by William Hodges and one by Thomas Gainsborough in the past 10 years, said: "We see the V&A Purchase Grant Fund as a lifeline for small, independent museums in the provinces far from the metropolitan orbit.
"The V&A's judgement is always rigorous and highly respected, and a grant from it has enabled us to raise further monies to bid successfully for rare and important material."
Janet Davies, head of the Purchase Grant Fund, said: "The cut reduces our ability to help museums when local funding and funding from other sources is proving hard to secure. It also puts extra pressure on our co-funders such as the Art Fund and Heritage Lottery Fund."
In 2008-09, the fund allocated a total of £1,019,758 to 93 organisations including the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery in Bedford and the Stanley Spencer Gallery in Cookham.
"The grants enabled acquisitions to the value of almost £3m to go ahead," said Davies.
An MLA spokeswoman said: "With our new priority to drive improvement and best practice in museums, libraries and archives, all spending has been re-examined, and it was decided we could put £900,000 aside for the Purchase Fund next year, 10 per cent less than we were able to spend last year, but a significant and highly valued part of our reduced budget."
But Sophie Forgan, chairman of trustees at the Captain Cook Memorial Museum in Whitby, which has used the grant to purchase three paintings by William Hodges and one by Thomas Gainsborough in the past 10 years, said: "We see the V&A Purchase Grant Fund as a lifeline for small, independent museums in the provinces far from the metropolitan orbit.
"The V&A's judgement is always rigorous and highly respected, and a grant from it has enabled us to raise further monies to bid successfully for rare and important material."
