Brighton & Hove Museums receive vital funding from Arts Council England for next three years

Brighton & Hove Museums are thrilled to have been awarded funding for the next 3 years by Arts Council England.

The museums service has received all the grant we applied for as part of the 2023-26 Investment Programmes for National Portfolio Organisations (NPO) and Investment Principles Support Organisations (IPSO).

Over 1,700 organisations submitted applications for funding although not all were successful. We are pleased and relieved to receive funding of £2,134,08 for three years which is the full amount we applied for and on the same level as previous years.

Arts Council England said that the announcement today will provide £446 million per annum of investment to bring art, culture, and creativity to more people, in more places, across the country. The organisation believes that the funding is more important in tough economic times, when arts, museums and libraries offer comfort, distraction and everyday wonders to communities, and investment in creative talent and organisations will drive growth in our world leading creative industries.

Brighton & Hove Museums have an ambitious three-year plan with our focus on education & enhanced community involvement alongside a culture change programme focusing on becoming an anti-racist, socially engaged organisation.

Our aims for the next three years include:

• an expanded learning offer reaching a wider range of people across all ages.
• a focus on rebranding Hove and Booth museums as centres for creativity, craft and filmmaking and environmentally focused research.
• creating more opportunities for individuals to participate in creative and cultural activities.
• partnerships with two local universities to support and co-deliver university qualifications.
• ambitious programming, incorporating more cross-artform experiences.
• exploring new technology solutions for museums in collaboration with key partners.
• creating opportunities for creative practitioners through supporting formal qualifications, apprenticeship roles, and mentoring and employment opportunities for artists.

CEO of Brighton & Hove Museums Hedley Swain said: “We are incredibly grateful to Arts Council England for this vote of support. Despite continuing to be exceedingly difficult and unpredictable times this funding will allow us to deliver high quality and innovative museum programmes to the people of Brighton & Hove and beyond for the next three years.”

Arts Council England Chair, Sir Nicholas Serota, said: “As well as continuing our commitment to our many established and renowned cultural organisations, I am deeply proud of the support we will be giving to those new organisations which will help ignite creativity across the country. We are facing economic pressures at present but this funding is about an investment in our future. This portfolio will support the next generation of visionary inventors, makers, performers and artists. In particular, the growth of our funding for organisations that support and develop work for children represents a profoundly important long-term investment in our country’s talent.”

Arts Council England Chief Executive, Darren Henley, said: “Together, each of the 990 organisations offered funding today will contribute to a portfolio that is rich, varied and truly national. This is our widest ever spread of investment across the country, ensuring that many more people will have access to a wider choice of exceptional art, culture and creative opportunities on their doorsteps. We are in tough times but we must remember creativity brings with it extraordinary dividends, boosting our country’s economic growth, creating jobs, bringing communities closer together, and making us happier as individuals. Everyone deserves to enjoy the benefits it brings, and with this investment, we believe we’ve taken a decisive step towards making that vision a reality.”

Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan said: “Thanks to this new government funding package, spreading more money to more communities than ever before, people living in areas from Wolverhampton to Wigan and Crawley to Chesterfield will now get to benefit from the deep economic and social rewards culture can bring.

“We continue to support our icons such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Royal Shakespeare Company, but today’s announcement will see organisations in places all too often overlooked get the support they need to transform access to the arts for everyone – no matter where they live.”