One-off £20m Fund for Civic Museums in England Opens for Applications

The new, one-off, one-year £20 million Museum Renewal Fund, provided by the Government and delivered by Arts Council England, is accepting applications until 22 May 2025.

Regional and local museums that are owned and directly maintained by local authority funding, who hold collections of national or local significance and whose financial position is of significant concern, can apply for grants of between £10,000 and £1 million.

The funding aims to improve public access to collections and buildings, as well as community and educational programmes which will help ensure they are fit for the future.

This programme is intended to help these museums meet the shortfall between operating costs and income throughout their 2025-26 budget, where the shortfall results in a reduction of programming, footfall and days the museum(s) are open to the public.

The shortfall could include costs incurred through staffing, overheads, reflation of reserves.

To be eligible, organisations must meet one of the following criteria:

• Wholly owned by or operated by a Local Authority.
• Manage the majority (75% or more) of collections and buildings on behalf of a Local Authority.
• Have been previously owned or operated by a Local Authority and now operating as an independent trust.
• Have a governance link to a local authority defined in their current governing document (for example the local authority has the right to nominate members to the Board).

Museums must be Accredited and demonstrate their local authority’s commitment to maintaining funding at the same level as 2024-25 funding.

The funding period is for activity within 4 August 2025 to 31 January 2026. All funds should be committed /spent by 31 January 2026.

There is only one funding round.

The deadline for applications is 22 May 2025 (12noon).

Further details can be found here: Museum Renewal Fund 2025-26 | Arts Council England