The grants, jointly funded through a partnership between the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Wolfson Foundation, will be used for renovation and improvement projects in 39 museums and galleries.
These grants will allow institutions across the country to increase access, improve displays and enhance public spaces.
The partnership between DCMS and Wolfson has now committed £44m and funded 382 projects throughout England since the Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund was created in 2001.
In the latest round of grants Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has been awarded £24,000 to improve the visitor experience and will develop new audio resources to help blind and partially sighted visitors explore more of the content at its historic Shakespeare houses, and in its digital collections.
Weald and Downland 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.
Bolton Library and Museum Service (pictured) 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.
And 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.
“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,” said Paul Ramsbottom, CEO of the Wolfson Foundation. “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.”
Ramsbottom also paid tribute to Giles Waterfield who died last year: “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.” Five grants have been made in his memory.
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Bolton Library and Museum Service (pictured) will receive £200,000 towards its First Impressions project which will transform the visitor experience in the 1939 Grade II Listed building
