Struggling English museums, galleries and theatres get £270m rescue fund from government

Museums, theatres and other cultural venues in England are to receive £270m funding to stay afloat and fix their crumbling buildings, the government has said.

The money will go to attractions “in urgent need of financial support to keep them up and running, carry out vital infrastructure work and improve long term financial resilience”, according to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

It comes after warnings that museums in places such as Derby, Birmingham and Hampshire “face a perilous financial position” with the “imminent threat of sale of collections or closure”.

Core funding for UK arts and cultural organisations fell by 18% between 2010 and 2023.

The money announced on Thursday includes a pot worth £120m, which will be available to 17 major institutions such as the British Museum, National Gallery and National Museums Liverpool, which all get their regular annual funding from the DCMS.

Those venues will also receive a 5% increase in their annual grants, worth more than £15m.

However, that rise hasn’t been extended to hundreds of other cultural organisations that get grants via Arts Council England, many of which have struggled with near-standstill funding for the past decade.

There will also be £85m for the 2025/26 financial year “to support urgent capital works to keep venues across the country up and running”.

Last year, the body representing UK theatres warned that 40% of venues risked closure over the next five years without significant capital investment.

And in October, the English Civic Museums Network called for an emergency injection “to rectify some of the damage inflicted by austerity”.

Local museums will now have a dedicated £20m fund “to help keep cherished civic museums open”.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy will announce the funding in Stratford-upon-Avon on Thursday to mark the 60th anniversary of the first arts White Paper.

She told BBC Breakfast: “£270m today will shore up those institutions that are at risk of closure. It will help with infrastructure.

“We’ve got very crumbling infrastructure. Anyone who’s visited a local theatre recently will have seen buckets on the floor catching drips, and stages closing at some of our national institutions because of those problems.

“It will make sure that libraries can remain open in parts of the country, and most of all will shore up our local museums, which are at risk of closure.”

Jon Finch, chair of the English Civic Museums Network and head of culture at Barnsley Council, welcomed the news.

“ECMN is delighted that the government has recognised the compelling case for investment in local museums as part of its growth agenda,” he said.

“Civic museums are a fundamental part of England’s cultural, creative, and social fabric and are a catalyst for growth on all our high streets.”

However, the Night Time Industries Association criticised the package for “failing to support contemporary and countercultural spaces”.

“Once again, the government has placed traditional and heritage culture at the forefront while completely ignoring the vital creative spaces that fuel innovation, inspire younger generations, and contribute significantly to our economy,” chief executive Michael Kill said.

“Live music venues, clubs, festivals, and grassroots nightlife are integral to Britain’s cultural identity and international reputation, yet they have been shut out of this funding package.”

Also on Thursday, Nandy spoke about arts courses being referred to as “Mickey Mouse” degrees was “economic madness” during a UK film and TV boom.

“The last decade has been disastrous for the arts,” she said.

“We’ve seen a narrowing of the curriculum, government ministers branding arts subjects ‘Mickey Mouse’ subjects, the number of students taking arts GCSEs has dropped by nearly 50%.

She said that had come “at a time when the likes of Warner Bros, Amazon, Disney are clamouring to invest more in the United Kingdom, when the film industry is taking off in places like Sunderland at the Crown Works Studios”.

“It’s economic madness, but it’s also taking from a generation what is theirs by birthright – the chance to live richer, larger lives and to access the arts.”