Cumbrian museums win major funding for arts project (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Cumbrian museums win major funding for arts project

1:53pm Wednesday 25th January 2012 in Bowness news By Adrian Mullen, Arts correspondent

Three major players in the region’s arts world have landed a multi-million pound Arts Council grant.

The Cumbria Museums Consortium – Grasmere’s Wordsworth Trust, Lakeland Arts Trust and Carlisle’s Tullie House – could receive a £3 million-plus boost over three years for a key project focusing on children and young people, aimed at bringing employment and tourism benefits across Cumbria.

The consortium’s application to the Arts Council was successful but the final figure is yet to be agreed.

Gordon Watson, chief executive of the Lakeland Arts Trust, said: “We plan to use the grant funding to do more activities which involve local people in Abbot Hall and at the Museum of Lakeland Life and Industry in Kendal and Blackwell at Bowness.

“We want young people, families and older people who live locally to enjoy visiting the museums and galleries that we run.”

Wordsworth Trust director Michael McGregor said: “This award is a huge vote of confidence in Cumbria’s museums. The funding will allow us to build on a strong partnership, helping us to reach out and benefit more people, in Cumbria and beyond.”

The consortium is one of 16 major Arts Council England partner museums which will together receive approximately £20 million a year in funding from April 2012 to March 2015 as part of a Renaissance programme for regional museums.