North West Hub to receive over £7 million in new funding package announced by MLA

The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) have announced how £100 million of funding will be allocated to museums throughout England as part of Renaissance, its national scheme to transform regional museums. Under the new funding allocations announced by MLA, the North West Hub will be receiving over £7 million.

The funding package – spread over the next three years – will help regional museums across the country improve their collections and displays, provide better services to schools, and attract new audiences.

Most of the money will go to regional Hubs: a network of flagship museums in each region which are responsible for setting standards and providing advice. But others are also set to benefit, with £21 million set aside to support smaller or independent museums throughout the country.

The regional allocations for 2005/06 to 2007/08 are:

North West Hub £7.101 million
Yorkshire Hub £5.946 million
East of England Hub £6.189 million
London Hub £7.14 million
East Midlands Hub £5.313 million
South East Hub £7.874 million
North East Hub (pilot) £10.603 million
South West Hub (pilot) £15.601 million
West Midlands Hub (pilot) £16.44 million
Total for Hubs £82.207 million
Other funding £21.007 million
Total 2005/06-2007/08 £103.214 million

Announcing the regional allocations, MLA Chair Mark Wood said: “England has some of the finest regional museums in the world, and with additional funding they have shown they can further increase their appeal to a broad swathe of the population. The Renaissance programme has already achieved remarkable improvements in its first phase and we now want to see all English regions benefit from the targeted investment it brings.”