Successful grant bid for the Royal Cornwall Museum comes less than two years after it faced closure following a loss of council support.
Mutney via Wiki Commons
Royal Cornwall Museum (RCM) has received £2.1m of funding to overhaul its main gallery and improve accessibility.
The grant comes from Cornwall and Scilly's Good Growth Programme, managed by Cornwall Council and financed by the UK government’s Shared Prosperity Fund.
The announcement comes 18 months after the Truro museum warned it was facing closure following an unsuccessful funding application to Cornwall Council. Since then, the museum has won a series of funding bids designed to secure its future and broaden its appeal.
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Shortly after rejecting RCM's request in 2022, Cornwall Council granted it £200,000 of transitional funding. This was then followed by £250,000 from Heritage Lottery Fund and £1.5m from Arts Council England’s Museum Estate and Development Fund, which is financed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to address the infrastructure and urgent maintenance needs of the museum sector.
In July last year, the museum was awarded a further £460,000 from the Truro Town Deal to refurbish its Mineral Gallery, creating a “more interactive experience”.
The latest funding will also be used to support improvements to the museum's nature gallery as well as deliver skills-building activities in science, technology, engineering, arts and maths.
Bryony Robins, Artistic Director at RCM, said the grant would have "a positive impact on so many people, enabling us to continue our transformation, and improve the experience for our visitors and allowing us to become more accessible to more people.
“The main hall and Heart of Cornwall Gallery will see improvements to how we share the story of Cornish heritage and culture, and the Nature Gallery, which is extremely popular with families and an essential story to be told in the face of climate change, will also be transformed.”
Phil Gibby, Area Director for Arts Council England South West, also welcomed the announcement: "This funding is the latest in several significant investments that will help creativity flourish in Cornwall."
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