Royal Cornwall Museum has secured £2.1m in funding to transform its exhibition spaces and create a new programme of activities and workshops.
The project has received support from the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Good Growth Programme, which is managed by Cornwall Council and funded by the UK Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund.
The capital comes after a turbulent few years for the Truro museum and art gallery. In 2022 the museum said it was under threat of closure after Cornwall Council announced it would end its funding.
Cornwall Council later provided £200,000 of transitional funding while the museum put together a “longer-term funding solution”.
The Royal Cornwall Museum ‘facing a very real threat of closure’ after funding pulled
More recently the museum’s fate has improved. Last July the museum was awarded nearly half a million pounds to transform its mineral gallery with the introduction of a new digital lab.
The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Good Growth Programme says the latest funding will enable the transformation of its Heart of Cornwall exhibition, the main gallery of the museum. It will also fund improvements to the nature gallery and the museum entrance and garden.
A programme of activity building skills in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths will also be delivered, including school workshops, careers events, family activities and exhibitions.
Cllr Louis Gardner, Cornwall Council portfolio holder for economy, said the funding “will allow the museum to appeal to an even wider audience and further enhance its role as a
Bryony Robins, artistic director of the museum added: “The main hall and Heart of Cornwall Gallery will see improvements to how we share the story of Cornish heritage and culture, and the Nature Gallery which is extremely popular with families and an essential story to be told in the face of climate change will also be transformed.”
