Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust awarded £864,000 from Arts fund
Arts Council England has announced Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust as one of nine successful museums across the country to receive investment from its Museum development fund.
The successful applicants to the Museum development fund will be provided with a national network of professional advice for museums, particularly supporting smaller organisations.
Together, these nine museum development providers will receive around £3 million a year to ensure that a nationwide network of advice and support is available for all accredited museums, as well as those working towards accreditation, no matter what their size or scope.
The £864,000 will support Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust to work in close partnership with independent and local authority museum services across the region to improve the sustainability and resilience of the museums sector, helping to maximise benefits to audiences and communities.
Anna Brennand, Chief Executive, Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, said:
“The Trustees, staff and volunteers were delighted to hear the exciting news that we have secured funding from Arts Council England to support museum development across the West Midlands and build on the excellent work that has been carried out to date by the Marches Network. This funding will allow us to work with colleagues from across the region to lead, empower and equip the West Midlands museums to build capacity, increase resilience and develop the skills and knowledge to transform and thrive in an exciting and cross-cultural context. We will aim to build learning, strengthen partnerships and support collaboration across the sector, as well as assist museums to build diverse audiences and develop visitor experiences in order to maximise the impact from our work”
Ironbridge Gorge’s success was announced on the same day Arts Council England revealed details of its new Museum Resilience fund. This new fund will help to enhance the sustainability and resilience of the sector to maximize the benefits of museums to their communities. A budget of £10million is available for 2015/16 (with indicative budgets for 2016/17 and 2017/18 remaining at that level).
The aim of the Museum resilience fund is to support museums to become more sustainable and resilient businesses, helping them to adapt to economic, environmental and social changes in order to continue delivering high quality work in line with their mission.
John Orna-Ornstein, Director of Museums, said:
“Significant reductions in public funding mean these are challenging times for many museums. At the same time, museums of all sizes continue to show extraordinary ambition and resilience, and to deliver wonderful services to their communities. This is the most accessible fund we’ve had for museums and is focused squarely on helping the sector adapt at a time of rapid change.”
