Cornwall Council pulls funding to main museum sparking closure fears
Cornwall's main museum which houses millions of objects and treasures of the county could be forced to close after its funding from the council was dropped.
Yesterday (July 4) The Royal Cornwall Museum (RCM) announced to its supporters that it might have to shut.
The museum, based in Truro, was one of 51 arts organisations to apply for funding from Cornwall Council. The authority said the applications totalled just under £7million, when less than £2million is available for culture and the arts over the next four years.
Executive Director of the RCM Jonathan Morton said: “We have been overwhelmed by the support in letters, emails, phone calls and on social media following the news that Cornwall Council have decided to remove funding to Cornwall’s Museum.
“The support for the museum from people across Cornwall and beyond has been incredible and reflects how people feel about their museum.
“The Royal Cornwall Museum is a community hub – it holds the story of Cornwall, and it is a resource for the whole of Cornwall.
“We are the keepers of a million objects, manuscripts, and artefacts that document 4,000 years of our story. We hold the treasures of Cornwall in this building. We are also a centre for education – 6,000 young people from almost every primary school in Cornwall visit us every year.
“The museum is a key part of the tapestry that makes Cornwall unique and draws people, tourism and funding to Cornwall and to Truro.”
Artistic Director Bryony Robins added: “We are bewildered that after supporting our transformation and being so positive about the huge developments the museum has made, the council has now done this.
“Month by month we are seeing an increase in visitors, and an increase on what we saw before Covid, despite this being a really difficult time for museums.
“To cut funding during a financial year is unprecedented and leaves us unable to approach alternative funders and facing a very real threat of closure.
“This move is even more confusing because of the level of positive support the council has shown recently, supporting us in applying for national funding and making us central to their Town Fund bid.
“We’re asking people to continue to show their support and fight for their museum by writing to the council and supporting us on social media.
“In the meantime, we will continue to seek urgent dialogue with Cornwall Council.”
More than 20 cultural organisations across Cornwall got a lump of the council's £1.8million Culture and Creative Investment funding, but the museum is not one of them.
Cllr Carol Mould, Cornwall Council's portfolio holder for neighbourhoods, said: "In the past week Cornwall Council has contacted applicants to let them know the outcome of their funding bid to the Council’s Culture and Creative Investment Programme 2022-26 (CCIP), which replaces the former Culture Revenue Grants scheme.
"We opened the scheme to applications in April. Officers in the Culture Team have been undertaking a full assessment of each one and have scored them against criteria that were set out in the application pack, including ensuring value for money for taxpayers.
"The programme was very popular and heavily over-subscribed. We received 51 applications requesting a total amount of £6,905,437, competing for a £1,868,000 budget allocation for the four years 2022-26.
"We have been mindful in selecting a portfolio of high-quality projects that between them achieve geographical spread, expertise across many artforms, and work with communities across Cornwall.
"Inevitably there will be some organisations that the council has financially supported in the past whose applications have not been successful, or who are being offered less than they bid for in this round of funding.
"I hope residents will understand the complex set of choices and the thorough process that has been undertaken in coming to these decisions."