News release
Wednesday 8 October 2025
Worcester City Council warmly welcomes the announcement today that its museums have been successful in an application for grant funding of £239,922 through the Arts Council-funded Museum Renewal Fund.
The Museum Renewal Fund is targeted at museums owned and directly maintained by local authority funding, or with a governance link to a local authority. The Fund is an urgent intervention to enable rapid delivery in 2025/26, to safeguard the vital community engagement and impact which public access to museums enables.
The funding will support the conservation and protection of Worcester’s outstanding art collection to enable commercial activity such as weddings and corporate events to take place in the Art Gallery & Museum; the development of new learning sessions to enable the city museums to provide better support for schools; and a programme of events at The Commandery to commemorate the 375th anniversary of the Battle of Worcester and attract more visitors to the historic site.
The key aims of the national funding programme are to increase the financial resilience of civic museums, maintain levels of audiences, protect public access to museum collections and support employment. The funding period is for the financial year 2025-26, with all funds to be committed/spent by 31 January 2026.
Museums Worcestershire’s Head of Museums, Philippa Tinsley said “We are absolutely delighted to receive this vital funding from Arts Council England. It will increase the resilience of our city museums and ensure we can continue to welcome visitors and bring to life the historic buildings and collections for residents and those from further afield.”
Liz Johnson, Midlands Area Director at Arts Council England said: “Museums can inspire, empower and enrich people’s lives. DCMS’s Museum Renewal Fund aims to help museums become more financially resilient so they can continue to be enjoyed by their communities for years to come.
“We’re pleased to be supporting Museums Worcestershire with almost £240,000 to improve access and participation opportunities at Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum. A civic museum in the heart of the city, the funding will allow them to improve spaces in their Victorian building and open up opportunities for new displays and income generation.”
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Notes to Editors
Museums Worcestershire is the Joint Museum Service of Worcester City and Worcestershire County Councils.
For further information please contact: Helen Large at Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum, email Helen.Large@worcester.gov.uk
For visitor information please see: www.museumsworcestershire.org.uk
Why is Arts Council England introducing this Fund now?
In 2023, Arts Council England commissioned DC Research and Wavehill to collect the latest data and insight so the sector can have the tools they need to advocate for sustained public investment. The research highlighted that reductions in local authority funding for museums and other cultural organisations has been happening for some time and this, coupled with other challenges such as the increase in energy and utilities costs, has had a significant impact on museums. It is vital that we provide support to museums to become more resilient and sustainable in the face of reduced income and increasing costs, and the Museum Renewal Fund will enable this.
For more information please see: Museum Renewal Fund 2025-26 | Arts Council England