Museums, art galleries and historic houses across the UK face crisis, with 60% worried about survival. National and local lockdowns, social distancing limiting visitor numbers, have all been catastrophic. Only 55% of museums have had any emergency funding, and 56% of those believe they could not have survived without it.
Word from the Cabinet
Cllr Sonia Winifred, Lambeth Council Cabinet member for Equalities and Culture, said “Museums and art galleries are essential to Lambeth’s community culture. It is vital for our local places that they make it through this crisis.”
Respond & Reimagine
The Cinema Museum is volunteer-run
The grant comes from Respond & Reimagine, Art Fund’s dedicated Covid-19 support fund helping museums find future ways of working. The £2.25 million fund could only reach 15% of all applications, so grants represent what Art Fund judge to be some of the best and most imaginative museum and gallery practice in the UK. Art Fund’s Director of Programme and Policy, Sarah Philp said: “This unique, volunteer-run space fell through the gaps of other emergency funding. Art Fund’s grant will help the museum welcome back visitors safely when allowed to reopen, as well as ensure their development into the future, supporting the museum’s aim of putting audience and community at the centre of its activity.”
Believe in our work
The Cinema Museum said: “It’s wonderful to receive a grant from ArtFund – it’s a sign that they believe in our work and our future and that’s uplifting.”
More information
- Art Fund is the national charity for art, operating a membership scheme with discounted entry to museums, galleries, and historic houses. They invest in
Charlie Chaplin’s ‘Little Tramp’ – unbreakable links with Lambeth and the history of cinema
buying art for the nation. “Museums are responding with such creativity and innovation to the crisis, but need support to help them adapt and thrive. Our #TogetherforMuseums crowdfunder aims to help even more museums.” To find out more or to donate see their website.
- London’s Cinema Museum is based in the workhouse where Charlie Chaplin went as a child and houses unique artefacts, memorabilia and equipment that preserves the history and grandeur of pre-multiplex cinema from the 1890s to the present day. The Museum has also been running its own Crowdfunder, spearheaded by British actors who love the museum.
- All photos with thanks to Francesco Zavattari, taken from the Cinema Museum’s Cinema Paradiso styled ‘Love Letter’ film.
