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Jewish Museum London Secures Government Funding

Jewish Museum London receives lifeline grant from Government’s £1.57bn Culture Recovery Fund

Jewish Museum signageOutside of the front

Jewish Museum London has been awarded £249,126.00 as part of the Government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund (CRF) to help face the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic and to ensure they have a sustainable future, the Culture Secretary has announced today.

Jewish Museum London is one of 1,385 cultural and creative organisations across the country receiving urgently needed support. £257 million of investment has been announced today as part of the very first round of the Culture Recovery Fund grants programme being administered by Arts Council England. Further rounds of funding in the cultural and heritage sector are due to be announced over the coming weeks.

Under the leadership of Chair Nick Viner and Interim Director Frances Jeens, the Jewish Museum London has been focusing on how to deliver unique benefit to its audiences, communities and participants. Over the last six months the museum has achieved engagement numbers of over 50,000 through its innovative Virtual Classrooms for schools progamme, livestreamed object talks with global reach, and a public tours programme founded in seeing objects that usually stay behind the scenes.

The Jewish Museum London has been hugely successful in this virtual work. This new funding will secure the future, both in continuing to build on this digital achievement and in drawing up plans for its phased reopening, taking into account the safety requirements of staff, volunteers and audiences – especially given the intergenerational nature of its work. The initial stages of the phased reopening of the museum will be under the programme of “The Museum to Myself”. From October 2020, the Museum will open to pre-booked priority groups which include:

  • Schools
  • Researchers – both academic and those doing personal research
  • Selected community groups including Jami (Jewish mental health) workshops
  • Private visits

The Museum expects to be in this phase of reopening until Spring/Summer 2021 with details on how to book a visit to be released within the next few weeks.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said:

“This funding is a vital boost for the theatres, music venues, museums and cultural organisations that form the soul of our nation. It will protect these special places, save jobs and help the culture sector’s recovery.

“These places and projects are cultural beacons the length and breadth of the country. This unprecedented investment in the arts is proof this government is here for culture, with further support to come in the days and weeks ahead so that the culture sector can bounce back strongly.”

Chair, Arts Council England, Sir Nicholas Serota, said:

“Theatres, museums, galleries, dance companies and music venues bring joy to people and life to our cities, towns and villages. This life-changing funding will save thousands of cultural spaces loved by local communities and international audiences. Further funding is still to be announced and we are working hard to support our sector during these challenging times.”

Interim Director, Jewish Museum London, Frances Jeens said:

“I’m delighted to share this news that the Jewish Museum London is to be supported by the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund. Since March we have been working hard to deliver unique benefits to our audiences and to reorient our engagement programme by opening our doors virtually. This funding shows support for how the museum has adapted, and importantly, now provides us with the resources to re-open our physical doors and welcome back our visitors safely under the Museum to Myself programme, designed to make the most of the building while social distancing remains paramount. Through this new programme, the Museum will be open to solo-audiences only, meaning when you come, you will be the only visitors on-site, and you will have an extraordinarily personal experience.”

Chair, Jewish Museum London, Nick Viner said:

“The Jewish Museum London is honoured to be one of the cultural and creative organisations receiving this extremely generous and much appreciated support.  The Museum has delivered an extraordinary programme of virtual events throughout lockdown and will continue to do so. Thanks to this new funding, we can now move to our first stage of reopening: we will welcome priority groups back into the Museum, focusing initially on education, both for young people and academics, and on those working with the community. This funding, benefitting the museum and our wider community, will ensure that access to our unique collection and expert staff can both continue and develop.”