Arts Council England (ACE) has announced details of a new £20m fund aimed at English civic museums looking to safeguard community access to their collections and invest in upgrading their services.
The Museum Renewal Fund follows the announcement from the culture secretary in February of the £270m Arts Everywhere Fund, which aims to deliver on the government’s Plan for Change to boost economic growth and increase opportunities for people across the country.
The funding is targeted at museums owned and directly maintained by local authority funding, or with a governance link to a local authority. The arts council says the money is an “urgent intervention” to support “at risk” museums facing serious budget pressures or at risk of closure.
Examples of budget pressures include reducing staff numbers, reducing operational budgets and reductions in programming, collections, management and public benefit.
Applicants must demonstrate an evidenced shortfall within their 2025-26 budget and identify costs for development activity that will boost their financial and business sustainability by March 2026. The maximum grant award is £1m.
“Regional museums make a vitally important contribution to the way people engage with culture where they live and gain a deeper understanding of their communities and place,” said Nicholas Serota, the chair of the arts council. “It is therefore vital that access to their collections is protected for generations to come.
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“The Museum Renewal Fund will help these cherished institutions address immediate pressures and enable them to look ahead and plan a sustainable future serving their communities.”
The online portal to apply for the Museum Renewal Fund opened earlier today. Further guidance is available on ACE’s website.
The arts council said it would measure the outcome of the programme across three outputs:
- Increasing financial resilience of civic museums (by March 2026)
- Maintain levels of audiences/visitors and protect public access to museum collections (to March 2026)
- Maintain levels of employment across grant holders (to March 2026)
Applicants will be expected to report on footfall, staffing numbers, programme and days open to the public through the monitoring and evaluation of the programme.
Process timeline
Application: 9 April – 22 May 2025 (deadline 1200 noon)
Eligibility check: Within five working days of application deadline
Assessment and decision: 23 May – 26 June 2025
Funding period: 4 August 2025 – 31 January 2026