Horniman Museum central government grant scrapped. Museum becomes responsibility of “local community”

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport has announced that from 2015, eight museums including Horniman are to lose their government grant. The department has said that these museum are “local” not national museums and should therefore find suitable sponsors to ensure a sustainable future or be supported by local councils.

In a statement, a DCMS spokesperson confirmed that the funding of all its sponsored museums was secure until the end of 2014-15. “We are now exploring whether the department’s non-national museums may be more effectively sponsored through other bodies or programmes in the longer term. As part of the transfer arrangements the department will seek to be satisfied that new sponsors can offer a sustainable future for these museums.”

One of the museums on the list, the People’s History Museum in Manchester, has said that it may have to abandon its policy of free entry from 2015 as a result of these cuts.

The eight museums on the list are: Horniman, the Geffrye Museum, Museum of Science and Industry Manchester, the National Football Museum, the Tyne and Wear Museums, the Design Museum, the People’s History Museum and the National Coal Mining Museum.