Closures loom as funding crisis worsens for local museums

Several local authority-reliant museums are earmarked for closure while others are cutting staff and opening hours amid a worsening funding situation for councils and funding bodies across the UK.

The Museums Association (MA) says the civic museum sector is facing an “existential crisis” and has called for a strategic funding approach from government and funders to resolve the issue.

MA director Sharon Heal said: “Civic museums are facing an existential crisis. Once again we are seeing councils across the UK having to make difficult decisions to cut museum services due to budget deficits.

“The MA is making the case for the value of museums to politicians and stakeholders throughout the UK and we need a strategic funding approach from government and other funders to address these issues.”

Auchindrain Township Museum, Argyllshire, Scotland

Auchindrain Township Museum in Argyllshire is among the museums facing closure. The institution’s trustees have announced that it has now closed to visitors and is unlikely to reopen in its present form due to the loss of its public funding beyond March 2025.

The museum is reliant on financial support from Historic Environment Scotland, which has provided £600,000 in grants over the past three years, accounting for about 90% of the museum’s operational budget. However, this funding is being withdrawn in March 2025.

All staff at the rural museum – which preserves the last traditional farming village to survive the highland clearances of the 18th and 19th centuries – have been informed that they are at risk of redundancy.

In a statement, the trustees said: “The museum has existed for 60 years, but during this time the trust has never been able to properly achieve its mission of preserving this unique, important and interesting place for the nation.

“This is because the cost of caring for such a large and complex historic site is far greater than the income that can be generated from visitors or in other ways, particularly in a rural location such as Mid Argyll.

“For many years the museum has received support funding from the public purse, but this is not being continued in its current form if at all beyond March 2025. In the circumstances, the trustees do not consider that the museum can continue to be operated on a solvent basis, and that the trust cannot achieve its charitable purposes.”

According to trustees, discussions about the long-term future of the historic site, which is Category A listed in its entirety and in a designated Conservation Area, and of the museum’s Recognised collections, are ongoing with the Scottish Government and relevant agencies.

Museum of Cannock Chase, Staffordshire, England

Cannock Chase District Council is considering a proposal to close the Museum of Cannock Chase and the town’s theatre in order to save £350,000 a year.

The council is facing a £1.3m gap in its budget for 2025/26.

At a cabinet meeting last week, councillors were told that the closure of the two institutions would help safeguard other key services to residents and businesses and “put the remaining leisure and wellbeing offer onto a sustainable footing”.

More than 100 local residents gathered outside the meeting to object to the plans, the Express and Star reported, with local children holding home-made placards featuring their favourite museum exhibits.

A draft survey of the theatre and museum found that they would require significant expenditure due to the condition of both buildings.

The council says plans are being drawn up to “create a new sustainable heritage offer within the district that does not rely on buildings that are expensive to maintain”.

The museum is located in what was once the Valley Colliery and its grounds were a training pit where miners started their careers in the local coal industry. It features galleries on mining, local history, and toys and games.

Alyth Museum, central Scotland

Alyth Museum is to shut and Perth Art Gallery could move to seasonal opening as part of a package of cuts planned by the independent trust, Culture Perth & Kinross, as it grapples with a 12% cut in its council funding over the next three years.

In addition to libraries and archive services, the trust manages four museums and galleries across Perth and Kinross: the newly opened Perth Museum; Perth Art Gallery; Alyth Museum; and the Crieff Monuments.

Along with closing Alyth Museum, the council is reducing its archive services and removing core funded learning programmes from its museums and galleries. Future savings could include cutting the number of temporary exhibitions and community activities in Perth Art Gallery and Perth Museum.

The trust says job losses are inevitable at its venues in response to the cuts.

A report put before Perth and Kinross Council's Scrutiny and Performance Committee said: "Negotiations with staff are ongoing and trade unions have been informed. Where possible we will try to mitigate impacts on staff however the scale of the savings required is such that it is not possible to avoid compulsory redundancies."

Abbey House Museum, Yorkshire, England

Leeds City Council is proposing to close Abbey House Museum in Kirkstall as it seeks to cut £106m from its budget.

The council says closing the local history museum would save £160,000 a year and that the museum’s existing collection would be made available elsewhere. Councillors say they are hoping a local organisation might take on the building and keep it in community use.

According to the West Leeds Dispatch, council leader James Lewis said this week that visitor numbers to the museum have dwindled in recent years. He said: “We’ll still have seven museums and gallery sites across Leeds that people can enjoy. Sometimes you have to make hard choices.”

The council is also considering the introduction of a “pay as you feel” policy at Leeds city centre museums and galleries.

The proposals will be discussed by the council’s executive board at a meeting on 11 December.

In addition to Abbey House Museum, the council’s museum service manages Kirkstall Abbey, Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds City Museum, Leeds Discovery Centre, Leeds Industrial Museum, and Lotherton and Temple Newsam historic houses.

Dundee Contemporary Arts, Scotland

Dundee City Council is consulting the public on a range of cuts to its services, including cutting core funding to Dundee Contemporary Arts, the art gallery that was nominated for Art Fund Museum of the Year 2024.

The gallery says that the cut, which amounts to 10% of its annual turnover, could lead to its closure.

In a statement, DCA said: “While 10% may seem like a relatively low amount, a significant reduction to or removal of this funding could lead to our closure and any cut will have an impact on jobs and creative programmes.

“Our finances are precarious and our reserves depleted following a perfect storm of inflation and rising costs, year-on-year standstill or reduced funding from our core funders, and reduced attendance post-Covid. We simply cannot afford a significant cut to our core funding.

“Our other core funder, Creative Scotland, has been unable to share a funding decision with us for 2025-28 because they don’t know how much funding they will have from the Scottish Government [the government has since confirmed a £28.6m increase in funding for Creative Scotland in its 2025/26 budget announcement].

“This leaves us in a position of complete uncertainty as we try to plan our work from April 2025 onwards. The consultation suggests that 'Organisations may be able to offset funding reductions through other income sources'. In reality, there are no funding or income generation routes available to us that would come close to filling the gap left by the loss of this funding.”

Hampshire Cultural Trust, South-East England

Hampshire County Council has confirmed plans to reduce its annual grant to Hampshire Cultural Trust by £600,000 from April 2027.

The trust, which operates 24 museums, galleries and arts organisations across Hampshire, previously warned that closures would be inevitable if the cut went ahead.

The trust has already absorbed a 50% real-time reduction in council funding since 2014, replacing that revenue through increased sales and fundraising activity.