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ACE RELEASES RENAISSANCE WINNERS
24.01.2012 / Museums / 0 Comments
Sheffield shock at exclusion
Arts Council England, which took over the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council's responsibilities for museums and libraries last October, has announced the 16 museum groups that will share £20m a year for the next three years from the Renaissance scheme.
But it has walked into a row over the exclusion of Museums Sheffield from the list.
"This is bitterly disappointing news" said Nick Dodd, chief executive of Museums Sheffield. "Funding from the outgoing Renaissance in the Regions scheme has transformed the quality of museum and gallery provision in Sheffield over the past eight years. We know we put together a compelling case for continued funding under the new Arts Council grants programme, which met all the published criteria.
"This decision will have a devastating impact and leaves Sheffield, South Yorkshire and the East Midlands grossly under-funded by the Arts Council in comparison with other parts of the country. We fully intend to appeal and will be questioning the Arts Council's strategic and geographical distribution of this public money". He said 45 jobs were likely to go, the exhibition programme would be cut back as would public facilities.
Responding, ACE's regional director, Cluny Macpherson, said that there had been competing bids from Yorkshire, and applications nationwide amounting to twice the money available. "We recognise the excellent work Sheffield Museums have been doing and we are already speaking to them about how we can support their ambitions for the future through other parts of the Renaissance programme" she said. "Although Renaissance funding was always intended to be additional to core funding, we realise that this is a significant change which is why we will provide transitional funding for next financial year."
There were 29 applications requesting £116.4m over three years between them, with £60m available, and the winners were:
Beamish and Bowes Museum
Birmingham Museums Trust (Birmingham City Council; Think Tank)
Bristol City Council
Cumbria Museums Consortium (Tullie House; Wordsworth Trust; Lakeland Arts Trust)
Horniman Museum & Gardens
Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust
Leeds Museums & Galleries
Manchester Partnership (Manchester City Galleries; Manchester Museum; Whitworth Art Gallery)
Museum of London
Norfolk Museums & Archaeology Service
Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter and Plymouth City Museum & Art Gallery
Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove
Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums
University of Cambridge Museums
Oxford University Museums and Oxfordshire County Museums Service
York Museums Trust.
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