Group for Education in Museums Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 7 April 2021

GEM is one of 2,700 organisations to have received vital support from the Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage. The Culture Recovery Fund is being delivered by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic England, using funds provided by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

This brings the Government’s total investment across grants, capital and repayable finance from the Culture Recovery Fund so far to more than £1.2 billion across over 5,000 individual cultural and heritage organisations and sites.

The funding was reserved in the first round of the £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund to allow the Government to respond to the changing public health picture. With more than 70% of funding going outside of London, it will help organisations across the country as they welcome back visitors and return to normal operating models in the months ahead.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown began GEM has been supporting members digitally through informative webinars and pivoting the training programme to be delivered online. GEM’s One to One Mentoring Programme was also launched during this time, which has supported 200+ mentees and continues with support from volunteer mentors. This new funding will enable GEM to continue to deliver important support for both individuals and organisations and enable further learning programmes to be developed online for the benefit of the sector.

Culture Secretary, Oliver Dowden, said:

“Our record breaking Culture Recovery Fund has already helped thousands of culture and heritage organisations across the country survive the biggest crisis they’ve ever faced.

Now we’re staying by their side as they prepare to welcome the public back through their doors – helping our cultural gems plan for reopening and thrive in the better times ahead.”

GEM Chair of Trustees Caroline Marcus, says:

“GEM is absolutely delighted to receive support from the Culture Recovery Fund. This funding enables GEM to continue supporting our community of colleagues to enable learning in museums, heritage and cultural settings through volunteer training, responsive online workshops, developing a course and case studies focused on community partnerships and preparing to deliver future conferences and courses in an accessible, digital format.

Supporting our vibrant membership network through connecting through best practice and shared experiences is of the utmost importance to GEM as we continue to inspire the sector to connect and learn together; returning post pandemic as an even stronger GEM for a stronger and more resilient sector.”

Museums across the country have also benefited from more than £25 million in this latest round of funding. The London Transport Museum which received £1,750,000 in the first round of the Culture Recovery Fund will get another £875,000 to help the museum reopen to the public in a Covid secure manner. Thanks to government support, the museum will also be opening new exhibitions and community projects including hosting virtual sessions for schools and new virtual reality ways to enjoy exhibitions.

The National Football Museum in Manchester will receive £239,721, building on the £515,965 it received from the first round. The museum holds the largest public collection of football objects in the world and works with sports museums worldwide and provides guidance on collections and exhibitions. The additional funding will be used to support the museum to reopen to the public through the summer.

GEM is incredibly grateful to have received this vital funding and is pleased to see so many museum and heritage organisations across the country benefit from the Cultural Recovery Fund as well.


ENDS

Notes to editors

For further information about GEM, images and interview opportunities, please contact: Devon Turner, GEM Communications Manager at [email protected].

About GEM
GEM is a thriving and vibrant membership network of over 850 institutional and personal members

Our vision is of a connected and equipped community of people enabling learning across museum, heritage and cultural settings, creating inspiring experiences, relevant for everyone; that promote equality – transform and enrich lives.

We at GEM are continually inspired by our members’ creativity, passion and hard work. Whether you’d like to keep up to date with the latest sector news, develop new skills, or find a new job, GEM is here to help. Find out more about how GEM can help you.

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