Grants worth £60m awarded in latest round of Cultural Investment Fund
The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent and Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens are among 70 recipients of nearly £60m awarded in the third round of the Cultural Investment Fund.
The fund, which totals £200m and launched in 2019, is made up of three separate streams, the Cultural Development Fund, the Libraries Improvement Fund and the Museum Estate and Development Fund (Mend).
It is distributed by Arts Council England and is designed to protect and improve people’s access to culture, regenerate communities, upgrade buildings and digital infrastructure and use investment to promote economic growth.
In the latest round of funding, £32.4m has gone to eight Cultural Development Fund projects, while £21.4m has gone to 36 museums through via the Mend fund.
The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent will receive £5m from the Cultural Development Fund to build a wrap-around extension to improve facilities and accessibility and support local education, health and wellbeing projects. The project will be the third phase of an ambitious redevelopment of the museum.
Bradford, which is the UK City of Culture 2025, will receive £4.9m to redevelop the intercultural arts centre Kala Sangam and other cultural assets, establish a network of local arts hubs and support the delivery of its year as the culture capital.
Meanwhile Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens will receive £350,000 from the Mend fund to improve infrastructure and protect its social and natural history collections. Cannon Hall in Barnsley will receive almost £900,000 to protect its Grade II* listed Georgian country house and collection of fine and decorative art.
Joshua Robertson, the Museums Association’s policy officer, said: “We warmly welcome the announcement of this investment from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The value that museums bring to local communities is immeasurable and this is a much-needed financial boost.
“We are also acutely aware of the financial difficulties that museums are facing, and we call for more strategic investment into local museums to ensure that they are in the best possible financial position to serve their communities.”
Culture secretary Lucy Frazer said: “This investment will help to level up access to arts and culture for everyone, no matter where they live.
“Culture helps us create lifelong memories with our families and friends, provides entertainment and joy, and allows us to explore the world around us in new and exciting ways. It can also boost tourism, support local business and drive local economic growth.
“This funding will support brilliant arts organisations to upgrade their venues and create new projects that will be at the heart of their communities.”
Cultural Development Fund recipients
- £4,490,000 to Basildon Borough Council
- £5,000,000 to East Lindsey District Council
- £3,500,000 to Institute Of Cultural & Creative Industries (Medway)
- £4,998,500 to Kala Sangam (Bradford)
- £2,743,002 to Morecambe Winter Gardens
- £3,000,000 to North Devon Council
- £5,000,000 to The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery (Stoke-on-Trent)
- £3,700,000 to Walsall Council
Museum Estate and Development Fund recipients
- £469,992 to Wollaton Hall in Nottingham
- £518,000 to Papplewick Pumping Station in Gelding
- £68,000 to The West Shed Museum in Ripley, Derbyshire
- £228,850 to Hollytrees Museum in Colchester
- £1,409,600 to The Food Museum in Stowmarket, Suffolk
- £669,873 to Nene Valley Railway in Cambridgeshire
- £381,920 to Norwich Castle Museum in Norwich
- £1,071,616 to The Long Shop Museum in Leiston, East Suffolk
- £811,250 to Valence House in Barking and Dagenham
- £125,000 to Strawberry Hill House in Twickenham
- £311,194 to Dorman Museum in Middlesbrough
- £540,000 to South Shields Museum & Art Gallery in South Shields, South Tyneside
- £349,153 to Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens in Sunderland
- £974,673 to The Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle, County Durham
- £150,410 to Woodhorn Museum in Ashington, Northumberland
- £143,841 to The Fusilier Museum in Bury
- £673,826 to Queen’s Park Stores in Manchester
- £104,865 to Salford Museum and Art Gallery in Salford
- £433,766 to Amberley Museum in Amberley, West Sussex
- £69,000 to Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft in Ditchling, East Sussex
- £2,230,125 to Southampton City Art Gallery in Southampton
- £734,335 to Museum of Farnham in Farnham, Surrey
- £175,000 to Whitstable Community Museum and Gallery in Whitstable
- £495,000 to Coldharbour Mill Museum in Uffculme, Mid Devon
- £498,000 to The Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter
- £185,608 to The Museum of Cornish Life in Helston, Cornwall
- £320,000 to Nothe Fort in Weymouth, Dorset
- £728,985 to SS Great Britain in Bristol
- £367,027 to Tewkesbury Museum in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire
- £1,494,284 to Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro, Cornwall
- £240,000 to Compton Verney near Kineton, Warwickshire
- £2,283,821 to Leamington Spa Art Gallery and Museum in Leamington Spa
- £658,260 to Wightwick Manor near Wolverhampton
- £898,405 to Cannon Hall Museum in Barnsley
- £497,474 to Harewood House, near Leeds
- £166,250 to Shandy Hall in Coxwold, Yorkshire