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Department for Culture, Media and Sport 2-4 Cockspur Street
London SW1Y 5DH
www.culture.gov.uk
78/01 15 March 2001
ALAN HOWARTH ANNOUNCES FURTHER CASH BOOST OF £6M FOR BEST REGIONAL MUSEUMS
AND GALLERIES
57 institutions across the country to receive funds to improve access to
collections and create new exhibitions
Over £6m has been awarded to outstanding regional museums and galleries to
help fund projects which will raise standards and create major benefits to
the public, Arts Minister Alan Howarth announced today.
The awards, the third wave of the annual DCMS / Resource Designation
Challenge Fund (DCF), will be used to complete projects around England.
Thirty-six projects will see increased electronic access to collections and
databases and 14 projects involve the creation of new or enhanced
exhibitions. Examples include:
* nearly £100,000 to establish a comprehensive electronic database and
stage a major exhibition on the Victorians at the Ironbridge Gorge Museum;
* £63,500 to the Horniman Museum in London to create an inventory of
the ethnographic collections, develop their website and continue with their
education outreach programme;
* £122,000 to Manchester's Whitworth Art Gallery to extend access to
their collections and improve storage conditions;
* £160,000 to create additional gallery space at Northampton Museum
and to continue conservation of their outstanding boot and shoe collection
;
* £82,000 of ongoing support for the development of an interactive
family trail at Bovington Tank Museum, Dorset and;
* Birmingham City Museums and Art gallery, awarded £188,000 to fund a
major IT project which will lead to public access to collections via
electronic media by March 2002.
Welcoming the announcement, Alan Howarth said:
"This is great news for these museums and galleries and the hundreds of
thousands of people who visit them. The awards announced today will mean
better facilities for visitors to England's wide range of collections and,
whether from at home or from the classroom, greater access to this
information via the web.
"The government is committed to improving the public's access to their
heritage and the arts, to maximising the educational benefits this access
can bring, and to promoting excellence amongst our museums and galleries.
Today's awards will build on to the £9m committed through the DCF over the
past two years. This money, coupled with the budget announcement of free
access for all to our national museums, is an important boost for other
outstanding collections across the country."
Loyd Grossman, Chairman of the Designation Challenge Fund Committee, said:
"Through the Designation Challenge Fund, standards of care, presentation and
access to some our nation's most outstanding collections have been greatly
improved. This year many of the grants awarded to museums for major
documentation projects will result in on-line access to collections and
collections information, which will be available to the general public for
the first time."
Notes to editors
1. The aim of the Designation Scheme is to draw attention to non-national,
pre-eminent museum collections in England. The Designation Challenge Fund
is a three year funding stream which began in 1999 is worth a total of £15
million, and is administered on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media
and Sport by Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries.
The core aims of the Designation Challenge Fund are to promote excellence
and raise standards of the care of designated collections. A full list of
awards with outlines of the projects are available from the DCMS press
office.
David Dawson
Senior ICT Adviser
Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries
Fifth Floor, 19-29 Woburn Place London WC1H 0LU
email: [log in to unmask] tel: 020 7273 8757 (direct line)
www.resource.gov.uk www.peoplesnetwork.gov.uk
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