Deadline: 5-Jul-21
The Arts Council England is seeking applications for its Museum Estate and Development Fund (MEND), an open-access capital fund targeted at non-national accredited museums and local authorities based in England to apply for funding to undertake vital infrastructure and urgent maintenance backlogs which are beyond the scope of day-to-day maintenance budgets.
The criteria for the Museum Estate and Development Fund have been set by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), Arts Council England, Historic England (HE) and The National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF).
The grants are administered, awarded and monitored by Arts Council England. Funding has been provided by DCMS.
Aims
The impacts they expect this fund to achieve are that:
- Museums across England improve their core infrastructure by tackling their maintenance backlogs
- Museums across England reduce the immediate risks to buildings, visitors, staff and collections due to improved core infrastructure
Funding Information
- MEND has a budget of £18.8 million for 2021/22.
- Between £50,000 (minimum) and £5 million (maximum). Grants close to the maximum value are likely to be made only by exception.
- For grants between £50,000 to £499,999 – 5 per cent of the total project costs must come from other sources.
- For grants from £500,000 to £5 million – 10 per cent of the total project costs must come from other sources.
Outcomes
The outcomes they expect to see from recipients of this investment are:
- Museums are more financially resilient and environmentally responsible by developing and implementing maintenance plans
- Environmental performance of buildings and equipment is increased, supporting the reduction in carbon emissions in the museum sector
- Improvement in museums ability to offer independent access for disabled people and accommodation of diverse user needs
- Museums have strengthened their contribution to local community and regeneration by preserving landmark buildings and ensuring locally treasured collections are accessible by the public
Eligibility Criteria
MEND is an open-access capital fund, which invites non-national Accredited museums and local authorities based in England to bid for funding to make long-term strategic investments in museums’ core infrastructure. Applicants must be:
- non-national Accredited museums based in England
- local authorities based in England who are responsible for the maintenance of non-national Accredited museum buildings
- partnerships between a local authority and a non-national Accredited museum based in England
Ineligible
- individuals
- DCMS-sponsored museums
- non-Accredited museums
- historic royal palaces
- organisations without a registered address in England
- organisations that have not secured the minimum partnership funding for their application
- applicants who have not completed RIBA Work Stage 3 as a minimum before applying, if relevant
- applicants who do not own the land or buildings where the proposed project will take place
- applicants who do not have a recent costed condition survey undertaken by an appropriately qualified professional
For more information, visit https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/museum-estate-and-development-fund-mend#section-1