Museums across England will receive £25.5m in capital funding through the Museum Estate and Development Fund (Mend) announced by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) on 14 April.

The fund will support 28 museums to address vital infrastructural works and improve visitor experience.

The investment comes as part of the first tranche of the government’s Arts Everywhere Fund, a £1.5bn package supporting cultural infrastructure announced earlier this year. In this first round, 130 cultural venues, museums, and libraries are set to receive a share of £127.8m.

The Mend fund first launched in 2021 and has supported 150 museums over the past four years. In the latest round, projects range from large-scale works at major regional institutions to targeted interventions at smaller sites.

Among those awarded, Dudley’s Black Country Living Museum will receive £454,159 to protect key historic buildings and ensure they remain operational and safe for visitors.

Newstead Abbey, the former Nottinghamshire home of the poet Lord Byron, has secured £1,550,747 for roof and drainage repairs to tackle persistent leaks.

Advertisement

Other significant funding allocations include £3,567,713 for Bristol Museums and £3,080,000 for Walmer Castle on the coast of Kent. Smaller awards include £80,707 to Brading Roman Villa on the Isle of Wight and £94,056 for Lancaster City Museum, showcasing the breadth of the package's reach across the national museum landscape.

Alongside museums supported by the Mend scheme, several galleries and visual arts organisations have been awarded support by the Creative Foundations Fund (CFF), which has allocated £96m to 74 arts and cultural venues.

Beneficiaries of the CFF include the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead (Baltic Flour Mills Visual Arts Trust), which will receive £3,649,800, and Newlyn Art Gallery in Penzance, which has been awarded £726,599.

The Firstsite gallery in Colchester will receive £995,000, while London's Southbank Centre, which houses the Hayward Gallery, was awarded £10m, the largest grant provided by the fund.

The Libraries Improvement Fund also allocated £6.3m to 28 libraries for building and technology upgrades to meet community needs.

Arts Council England’s chair, Nicholas Serota, said: “After significant financial pressures in recent years, this vital investment will help organisations to secure futures where they thrive and not just survive.”

Further rounds of government funding are expected to open for applications in coming months.

Museum Estate and Development Fund recipients:

London

  • London Transport Museum – £999,999
  • Museum of the Order of St John – £413,015

North East

  • Hartlepool Borough Council – £2,458,641
  • Chesters Roman Fort – £476,566

North West

  • Grundy Art Gallery – £357,000
  • People’s History Museum – £2,491,670
  • Port Sunlight Village Trust – £499,999
  • Lancaster City Museum – £94,056
  • Bramall Hall, Stockport Museums – £1,000,000
  • Greater Manchester Transport Society – £244,000
  • The Armitt Museum and Library – £238,098

East of England

  • Natural History Museum, Colchester – £499,477
  • Sheringham Museum – £456,170

South East

  • Walmer Castle – £3,080,000
  • The Brickworks Museum – £280,000
  • Whitchurch Silk Mill – £210,045
  • Brading Roman Villa – £80,707

South West

  • Bristol Museums – £3,567,713

East Midlands

  • Boston Guildhall – £401,112
  • National Tramway Museum – £492,880
  • Creswell Crags – £184,705
  • Newstead Abbey, Nottingham – £1,550,747

West Midlands

  • Black Country Living Museum – £454,159
  • Compton Verney – £794,750

Yorkshire and the Humber

  • Burton Constable Hall – £242,000
  • Oakwell Hall, Kirklees – £1,638,724
  • Yorkshire Museum – £2,000,000
  • Ryedale Folk Museum – £350,676