Museums Sheffield suffers devastating budget blow

Museums Sheffield has vowed to appeal after discovering today it has been unsuccessful in its funding application to the Arts Council England’s Renaissance Major Grants programme. Museums Sheffield had applied for £1.4m per year for the next three years – cash which would have replaced and built on an outgoing national funding stream the Trust has received since 2004. Museums Sheffield, which has suffered significant reductions in funding from other sources in the past three years, must now manage a crushing 30% reduction in its overall budget from 1 April 2012.

The reduction in funding will have a huge impact on museum and gallery provision in Sheffield. Museums Sheffield is responsible for the Millennium Gallery, Graves Gallery, and Weston Park museum. Though Sheffield City Council have pledged that the annual funding they provide for Museums Sheffield will mean no museums or galleries in the city will close, the quality of service offered to visitors in those buildings will decline significantly. Large scale staff redundancies, major reductions in exhibition programmes, and scaled down learning provision for schools/adults are all now inevitable.

More on the Museums Sheffield website http://www.museums-sheffield.org.uk/blog/2012/1/museums-sheffield-suffers-devastating-budget-blow

one aspect could be to start charging, other have had to, why not sheffield?

The money squandered by museums and other similar extravagances should be saved. For goodness sake the world is facing a depression as never seen before. If the museums cant fund themselves close them.

but all the invaluable treasures would be sold to the highest bidder, and they would be almost certainly overseas.

one aspect could be to start charging, other have had to, why not sheffield?

I agree. That and seeking commercial sponsorship. In times of plenty we could probably afford these museums funded by the taxpayer, nowadays a few quid to get in and some corporate logos won't be the end of the world.

yes and save the artifacts for future generations.

I agree. That and seeking commercial sponsorship. In times of plenty we could probably afford these museums funded by the taxpayer, nowadays a few quid to get in and some corporate logos won't be the end of the world.

Would Sheffielders pay "a few quid" to get in the museums?

Western park museum is crap anyway, i preferred it before the refurb.

At least Leeds got their grant.

I've never understood why museums don't charge, it doesn't have to cost the Earth but most people would understand the need for them to raise much needed revenue.