Nandy announces £1.1m boost for Jewish museums amid rising antisemitism

The culture secretary Lisa Nandy has announced new funding for two Jewish museums as part of her department’s efforts to fight antisemitism and support the Jewish community.

The Jewish Museum London, which has been without a home for the past three years, will receive up to £1m towards its outreach and engagement programmes with schools and communities, and to accelerate its search for a new permanent home.

The museum is hoping to develop into a “national platform” for Jewish cultural heritage.

Manchester Jewish Museum will get £100,000 to support its community outreach work.

The announcement came at a launch event for Two Rooms, a new interim exhibition space for the Jewish Museum London at JW3 cultural centre in Finchley.

At the event, Nandy spoke about her determination to respond to rising antisemitism in the UK.

The announcement coincided with the end of the UK’s first-ever Jewish Culture Month, which saw events and exhibitions spotlighting Jewish cultural heritage held across the country.

Nandy said the month-long event had been a “joyous celebration” but had also highlighted the growing threat faced by the Jewish community, with some events cancelled or postponed due to security concerns amid a wave of antisemitic violence.

“We're gathering at a time, frankly, where in every corner of our country we're seeing the ties that bind us fraying, and nowhere is this more apparent than the appalling attacks we've seen on the Jewish community,” said Nandy.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s (DCMS) investment came out of discussions with Jewish leaders following a Downing Street summit on antisemitism last month, Nandy said.

“I was really pleased, after those discussions at the antisemitism summit, to work with many of you in this room to work out what we could do in this moment to start to turn this around,” she said.

The culture secretary said the Jewish Museum London funding was an investment “not in a building, but in the stories, the connections, and the understanding that are the basis of a cohesive society and the future of our country”.

She said the £100,000 grant for Manchester Jewish Museum would help expand its “community outreach for young people to break down barriers and forge connections for future generations”.

Two Rooms is the Jewish Museum London’s first dedicated physical space since it vacated its former building in 2023 due to rising costs. The institution hopes to open a new permanent home ahead of its centenary in 2032.

The museum’s director Charles Ross, who joined the institution at the end of 2025, outlined the institution’s vision to transform into a “national platform”.

The opening of Two Rooms “is a milestone on a much longer journey”, said Ross.

“We are now creating the next chapter for Jewish Museum, a new museum that will celebrate Jewish life, resilience, contribution, and culture as part of Britain's national story.

“The audiences we serve today already extend far beyond our walls through education programmes, touring displays, partnerships, and digital engagement,” he said.

“The new museum will bring these strands together into a national platform combining exhibitions, heritage, education, dialogue and contemporary culture in ways that are ambitious, public, and deeply human.”

“This vision has long mattered, but at a moment when social division is deepening, and many Jews feel increasingly vulnerable and misunderstood, its importance has become even more urgent as the Jewish Museum approaches its centenary,” added Ross.

“We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity not simply to preserve Jewish history, but to secure its visible place in Britain's future. And today's announcements of up to £1m support [...] is an important step on that journey.

“We are enormously grateful to Lisa, to DCMS, and to everyone who has shown confidence in the museum and its future.”

Two Rooms displays two new temporary exhibitions: Tree of Life: Stories from Jewish Museum London's Collection, and Legacy: The Story of the Jewish Family who Founded J Lyons and Fed Britain. Both are open to the public until 18 October.

The interim space will continue to run a rotating programme of temporary exhibitions and collection displays until the museum moves into a new permanent home.

An analysis on antisemitism and museums will be published in Museums Journal next month. If you would like to talk about this issue in confidence please email geraldine@museumsassociation.org