£16.9m government funding up for grabs for cultural venues

Matt Warman, the MP for Boston and Skegness, says the new funding from the Museum Estate and Development Fund is to level up access to culture in our communities.

This cash boost will help museums to conduct maintenance work to improve their building infrastructure for the benefit of visitors, staff, and their collections – preserving it for communities to enjoy across the country.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is contributing the extra funding for the second round of the Museum Estate and Development Fund.

Museums can enter Round 2 from 9 May 2022 and bid for grants of between £50,000 and £5 million. 31 museums across England were supported by the fund in its first round.

Museums and galleries benefitting from the Fund’s investments have improved access for communities to their local history. Funding awarded has helped to complete structural work, prevent flooding, and increase public access, so that more people can visit their collections

and enjoy our national heritage.

Funding from the previous round supported museums across the country including Bletchley Park near Milton Keynes, as well as museums in Birmingham, Bristol, Leicester, and Norfolk.

The funding is part of the Government’s commitment in its Levelling Up White Paper to increase cultural spending outside the capital to widen access and boost cultural opportunities.

Commenting, Matt Warman said: “We have a rich national heritage showcased in our local museums, of which we can all be

proud, and we must preserve them for future generations to enjoy.

“The Government’s extra £16.9 million in funding from the Museum Estate and Development Fund will protect and widen access to the historic collections in our museums and galleries.

"I urge museums and cultural venues across Boston & Skegness to apply from 9 May 2022.

“This Conservative Government is levelling up access to culture across the country – I am pleased that Boston in particular has already received funding through the Towns Fund and Levelling Up Fund - safeguarding the best of our local history so that wherever people live

they can be proud of our heritage.”