Final awards for Renaissance major partner museums and final transitional funding budget announced

The final award amounts for Renaissance major partner museums and the final transitional funding budget for museums exiting the old Renaissance programme have been announced today.

The 16 successful applicants requested £23.5 million a year against an annual budget of approximately £20 million and they will receive £62.6 million of Major partner museums funding over a three year period from 2012-15. The exact amounts of each Major partner museum's award have been negotiated on an individual basis.

Alan Davey, Chief Executive, Arts Council England, said:

'We are pleased to be able to invest more money than anticipated in our Major partner museums. These excellent and innovative museums will work with the Arts Council to contribute to the collective leadership of the museums sector. By building partnerships and sharing skills and expertise, they will work with the wider sector to deliver great museums for everyone.'

The Major partners range from the larger museums such as Museum of London and the consortium of Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester Museum and Manchester City Galleries, to smaller specialist museums such as Beamish Museum, which is an interactive museum telling the story of the North East of England during the Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian periods.

The 24 museum services that currently receive support from the MLA Renaissance programme but who will not become Major partner museums have been awarded approximately £8 million in transitional funds. Funding will also be allocated to the completion of the Stories of the World project for the Cultural Olympiad and the continuation of Museum development work until 31 July.

The Major partner museums awards received over the three years are:

• Beamish and Bowes Museum - £2,203,658
• Birmingham Museums Trust (Birmingham City Council; Thinktank) - £5,091,615
• Bristol City Council - £5,045,000
• Cumbria Museums Consortium (Tullie House; Wordsworth Trust Lakeland Arts Trust) - £3,221,875
• Horniman Museum & Gardens - £3,053,295
• Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust - £2,434,227
• Leeds Museums & Galleries - £5,055,000
• Manchester Partnership (Manchester City Galleries; Manchester Museum; Whitworth Art Gallery) - £5,211,000
• Museum of London - £3,731,447
• Norfolk Museums & Archaeology Service - £3,895,000
• Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter and Plymouth City Museum & Art Gallery - £3,463,595
• Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove - £2,506,752
• Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums - £4,875,791
• University of Cambridge Museums - £4,446,145
• Oxford University Museums and Oxfordshire County Museums Service - £4,500,000
• York Museums Trust - £3,530,000

To find out more about Renaissance Major partner museums visit the funding pages of our website.

Browse all news stories