17 January 2017

Grants totalling £4 million have been awarded to improve displays and facilities at museums and galleries across England, Matt Hancock, Minister of State for Digital and Culture, announced today.

The grants, jointly funded through a partnership between the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and the Wolfson Foundation, will be used for renovation and improvement projects in 39 museums and galleries.

It will allow institutions across the country to increase access, improve displays and enhance public spaces.

Matt Hancock, Minister for Digital and Culture, said:

“Our museums and galleries are among the best in the world and we should be rightly proud of these institutions.

“We want people to be able to enjoy world-leading culture wherever they live and whatever their background. These grants will make an important contribution toward increasing access to their wonderful collections and improving the visitor experience at museums right across the country.

“I applaud the Wolfson Foundation’s generosity in once again matching the Government’s investment pound for pound in this important work.”

Paul Ramsbottom, CEO of the Wolfson Foundation, said:

“This is a wonderful example of how a charity and government can work fruitfully together in partnership and we are grateful to government for matching our funding. The awards demonstrate the richness and variety of the country’s museum collections.

“From Egyptian mummies in Leicester to a Roman fort on Tyneside, this is a gloriously diverse set of projects – but all demonstrate excellence and all will improve the visitor experience.

“In announcing these awards I also want to pay tribute to Giles Waterfield. He was a brilliant advisor to the programme from its inception and sparkled at an expert panel meeting in the very week in which he tragically and unexpectedly died. We all owe him a great deal.”

Sarah King, Curator of Natural Science, said:

“With support from the DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund, we are pleased to announce our new exhibition on Jurassic Yorkshire, opening spring 2018. York Museums Trust has one of the best collections in the country of Jurassic fossils, and this display will show them off in a whole new way.

“Visitors will be centre stage, exploring Yorkshire’s land, sea and air as it was over 150 million years ago. What would ancient animals have been able to see, hear and smell? What would they have eaten, and what would have eaten them? Join us for an unforgettable experience, using the latest research and beautiful fossils that will give you the chance to really ‘walk with dinosaurs’.”

Successful grants include:

The Weald and Downland Museum in Chichester will receive £224,500 towards an exciting project to reconstruct two significant but currently dismantled historic buildings dedicated to the production of food. The project will develop the museum’s educational programme and the accessibility of its collections.

The Bolton Library and Museum Service will receive £200,000 towards its First Impressions project which will transform the visitor experience in the 1939 Grade II Listed building by creating a new welcoming and engaging space in which their collections can be viewed.

Leicester Arts and Museum Service will receive £145,000 to refurbish its Ancient Egyptian Gallery. The refurbished space in the upstairs gallery will house its Ancient Egyptian collection, one of the most significant in the country, and help increase family and school visitors.

National Football Museum in Manchester will receive £102,156 to extend its main galleries and create two new exhibition spaces. The fund will allow the museum to put the Chris Unger HIstory of Women’s Football Collection and its expanded football toys and games collection on public display for the first time.

The partnership between DCMS and Wolfson has now committed £44 million and funded 382 projects throughout England since the Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund was created in 2001.