Horniman and Museum of London to receive Arts Council Renaissance funding

Horniman and Museum of London to receive Arts Council Renaissance funding

24 January, 2012
by: Spoonfed Arts Team

Good news for two of London's museums!

Staff at the Horniman Museum and Museum of London will be celebrating tonight after the two London institutions were included in Arts Council England's sixteen-strong list of Renaissance Major partner museums. The selected museums will receive a total of around £20 million a year in funding over the next three years.

The announcement comes after the Arts Council was given responsibility for museum development following the abolition of the Museums Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) in the coalition government's 'bonfire of the quangos'. In line with the Arts Council's focus on transparency, this is the first time that major Renaissance grants have been decided through an open application process with published criteria.

The criteria focus on five categories: Excellence, Audiences, Resilience, Leadership and Diversity and Children and Young People. Both the Horniman (with its awesome stuffed walrus) and the recently revamped Museum of London were particularly praised for “broadening engagement with young people”.

The 16 Major partner museums are:
Beamish and Bowes Museum
Birmingham Museums Trust (Birmingham City Council and Think Tank)
Bristol City Council
Cumbria Museums Consortium (Tullie House; Wordsworth Trust; Lakeland Arts Trust)
Horniman Museum & Gardens
Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust
Leeds Museums & Galleries
Manchester Partnership (Manchester City Galleries; Manchester Museum; Whitworth Art Gallery)
Museum of London
Norfolk Museums & Archaeology Service
Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter and Plymouth City Museum & Art Gallery
Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove
Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums
University of Cambridge Museums
Oxford University Museums and Oxfordshire County Museums Service
York Museums Trust

Image credit: Infernalfox.

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Spoonfed Arts Team