UK national museums are set to receive a 5% funding boost and regional museums at risk of closure will get financial support as part of a new £270m funding package announced today by the UK government. Aimed at supporting “financial resilience” and keeping arts venues, museums, libraries and heritage buildings across England “up and running”, the Arts Everywhere Fund will benefit organisations in “urgent need of financial support”.
The announcement follows calls from across the culture sector for more money and a clearer vision from the recently elected Labour government.
UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told BBC Breakfast that the new package will “shore up our local museums” via “practical help”. She went on to criticise the previous Conservative government’s austerity policies, which she said “erased our heritage, history and culture”.
Between 2010 and 2023, grant-in-aid funding for UK arts and cultural organisations fell by 18%, according to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). A DCMS spokesperson confirmed that this latest…
