Government launches new £250m Cultural Investment Fund 6 Nov 2019

The Government has launched a new £250m Cultural Investment Fund. 

The money includes:

• £125m for major infrastructure and maintenance work at museums and libraries in England.
• £90m to extend the work of the Cultural Development Fund for another five years, enabling another 20 locations to transform cultural and creative industries infrastructure.
• Additionally, there will be £18.5m towards new galleries at the National Railway Museum, York and £7m for Coventry’s year as City of Culture.
  
  

Last month, Art Fund, NMDC and the MA called for greater Government investment in at risk museum infrastructure. Responding to the extra funding, Science Museum Director and NMDC Chair Sir Ian Blatchford said “this fund will make a huge difference to regional museums that are doing superb work and is a welcome recognition of the importance of investment in our cultural heritage.” Kim Streets, Chief Executive of Museums Sheffield is among those hoping to take advantage of the fund. She said “this is very welcome news…new investment would potentially put an end to ad hoc closures [at the Graves Gallery]. We would be in a position to display more great art in this city, more often, and people from all walks of life would be inspired to spend more quality time in their gallery.” Gov.uk, Arts Industry, The Art Newspaper, Arts Professional, Arts Professional (background from Jan 2019 – first round of Culture Development Fund), Museums Journal