The government has unveiled a £270m funding package for the arts, culture, libraries and heritage sector in England, including more than £100m of new funding and a 5% increase to the budgets for national museums and galleries.
New investment schemes in the announcement include an £85m Creative Foundations Fund designed to support venues in need of urgent capital works and a £20m Museum Renewal Fund for civic museums that aims to protect opening hours and jobs.
In addition, Labour will introduce a new £4.85m Heritage Revival Fund for neglected buildings that it says will “empower” local people to take control of their local heritage.
Further to a 5% increase in their annual grants, worth more than £15m, 17 organisations funded by the Department for Culture Media Sport will benefit from £120m to continue the Public Bodies Infrastructure Fund, which helps national cultural public institutions address essential works on their estates.
The package also includes further investment for other existing funding programmes, including £25m for the…
