Family Friendly Award longlisted museum under threat of closure - Museums Association

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Family Friendly Award longlisted museum under threat of closure

Moray Council defers decision on £44,500 grant for Elgin Museum
Patrick Steel
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The Elgin Museum in Moray, Scotland, which is on the longlist for the Telegraph Family Friendly Museum Award 2015, faces closure if it fails to secure a three-year grant of £44,500 from Moray Council.

The museum’s grant of £13,000 a year, which went towards running costs, heating, lighting and insurance, was cut in March following a council restructure at the end of last year that saw the museum service move to the economic development department.

The museum is largely staffed by volunteers, alongside a museum assistant who works two and a half days a week, and a part-time janitor.

The museum has not had a curator on staff for several years.

The Moray Society, which runs the independent museum, is now applying for a three year grant to cover the museum’s running costs. A council decision on the grant, due to be made last night, has been deferred.

Janet Trythall, the Moray Society’s spokeswoman, said: “We are applying for the grant on a three-year basis, but the council has told us that it wants us to be self-sustaining.

“We wouldn’t be closing the doors tomorrow [if we didn’t secure the grant] but I worry about how we are going to go forward without council funding. We need in order of £15,000 a year going forward and it is difficult to find people willing to fund the museum to that extent.”

The longlist for the Telegraph Family Friendly Museum Award 2015 was announced this week. This is the second year in a row that the Elgin Museum has been nominated.

Selected by museum visitors, the longlist includes a number of independent museums alongside national museums and Major Partner Museums.

Dea Birkett, the director of Kids in Museums, which runs the award, said: “The award is important because it gives a real voice to visitors, families and children.

“The visitors are saying what works for them, and they determine the nominations and winners, so it is an important measure.

“Museums don’t have to be wealthy to be nominated or win the award, it goes to museums all over the country and can include any museums, from volunteer-run museums to regional museums and celebrates the work of smaller museums.”

A shortlist of six museums will be announced on 12 July, with a winner announced on 24 September.

The museums on the longlist are:

Beamish Museum, Durham

Black Country Living Museum, Dudley

Compton Verney Art Gallery, Warwickshire

Cutty Sark, London

Diving Museum, Gosport, Hampshire

Elgin Museum, Moray

Gallery Oldham, Greater Manchester

Geffrye Museum, London

Hampton Court Palace, Surrey

Haslemere Educational Museum, Surrey

Milton Keynes Museum

National Coal Mining Museum, Wakefield, West Yorkshire

River & Rowing Museum, Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire

Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter, Devon

Science Museum, London

Tiverton Museum of Mid Devon life

Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery, Carlisle, Cumbria

William Morris Gallery, London

The Winding House, Caerphilly

Woodhorn Museum, Northumberland



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