Funding boost for arts and cash-strapped museums
Culture Secretary gives details of £270m investment plan
The Government this week put its money where its mouth is, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy stressing the importance of arts and culture and explaining how £270 million will be invested from April.
Almost £25 million of that is to be allocated to 29 museums via the fourth round of the Government’s Museum Estate and Development (MEND) Fund which targets non-national museums.
The North East’s share is £1.6 million destined for four cultural organisations, all in the south of the region.
The MEND acronym is appropriate. Making her announcement, Lisa Nandy spoke of England’s “crumbling” cultural infrastructure, of buckets on floors and local museums at risk of closure.
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Weardale Museum, a Grade II listed former Methodist chapel and manse on the A689 near Ireshopeburn, is to get £499,655.
A relieved Allan Percival, development lead on the project, said volunteers were looking ahead to the venture’s 40th anniversary in May. “What better impetus to these celebrations?”
He said a Covid-interrupted three-year development plan had begun in 2019, during which critical structural work had seen the 18th Century chapel reduced to a shell.
The MEND award would facilitate restoration ahead of an intended reopening in 2026 as a much expanded Weardale Museum & Heritage Centre.
Sunderland Winter Gardens will get £488,705 towards tackling corrosion and glazing and mechanical problems, thereby protecting the tropical plant collection and a key museum asset.
Councillor Beth Jones, cabinet member for communities, culture and tourism at Sunderland City Council, said: “This is all about ensuring the vitality of one of our most loved venues for future generations to enjoy.”
She added that the council plans to submit a bid to the National Lottery Heritage Fund in May for a multi-million pound redevelopment of Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens.
On Teesside, Preston Park Museum at Stockton is to receive £366,300 for urgent repairs and renovation of sections of the Grade II listed building, including the Winter Gardens and Victorian Street.
The museum is owned and managed by Stockton Borough Council whose leader, Bob Cook, said: “All work will be carried out by specialists to maintain the historic integrity of the buildings and protect the longevity of the museum and its collection.”
He added that it would complement wider park improvements funded by £20 million investment from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and due to be completed later this year.
Hartlepool Art Gallery is to receive £302,383 for repair work which will mean the tower of the imposing Grade II* listed building, formerly Christ Church, can reopen to the public.
Councillor Pamela Hargreaves, chair of Hartlepool Borough Council’s economic growth and regeneration committee, said the art gallery tower, closed since 2018, was a much-loved landmark.
“Thanks to this funding, visitors will once again be able to enjoy the spectacular views and make the visual connection between our major regeneration projects around the town, as well as being able to see the lovely bells and fascinating clock mechanism.”
Rebecca Ball, north area director, Arts Council England, and formerly head of Sunderland Culture, said: “This fourth round of MEND comes at a vital time for our region's museums.
“The North's heritage and cultural assets are second to none. They offer so much to their local communities as well as attracting significant levels of tourism, helping to grow the local economies of our towns and cities.
“The immensely important redevelopment work that these funds will support will be a welcome boost to cultural organisations across the North and will help make sure that more people can access the amazing creativity and culture our region has to offer.”
Revelation of the latest MEND Fund beneficiaries comes as part of much wider support for the arts and heritage sector announced by Lisa Nandy’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
The proposed £270 million boost includes a fifth round of the MEND Fund (£25 million), a new Creative Foundations Fund (£85 million) to help venues undertake capital work, an additional £120 million to help national institutions – which are to get a 5% boost to their budgets - and further money to help restore local heritage sites, such as shops, pubs, parks and town halls, and to upgrade library services.
The DCMS has also pledged £3.2 million for four cultural education programmes to preserve increased access to the arts for children and young people.
It will be distributed through the Museums and Schools Programme, the Heritage Schools Programme, the Art & Design National Saturday Club and the BFI Film Academy.
Lisa Nandy said: “Arts and culture help us understand the world we live in, they shape and define society and are enjoyed by people in every part of our country.
“They are the building blocks of our world-leading creative industries and make a huge contribution towards boosting growth and breaking down barriers to opportunities for young people to learn the creative skills they need to succeed.”
She said the funding would allow the arts to continue to flourish across Britain, creating good jobs and supporting growth.
Also this week she announced the names of the experts who will be supporting and advising Baroness Margaret Hodge, appointed by the Government to lead an independent review of Arts Council England.
One of the seven is Paul Callaghan, co-founder and chair of The Leighton Group and also of the Sunderland Music, Arts and Culture (MAC) Trust.
A longtime champion of the arts in the region, his inclusion will please the North East Culture Partnership which has waged a long campaign for investment in arts and culture via its Case for Culture.
It has just launched two new surveys, one looking at international working and the other at capital repairs, replacement and renewal, and is keen to feed into Baroness Hodge’s review.
It will also be looking closely at how Lisa Nandy’s funding promises benefit the North East in the coming months and years.