Lottery grant will help reopen museums
A four-month emergency grant will see the trial opening of some city museums by the Bath Preservation Trust.
The conservation charity, which is owner-operator of four accredited museums in the city, says the award of a Coronavirus Emergency grant of £177,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund means the trust can finance the staffing and investment required to trial a Covidsecure opening of No 1 Royal Crescent, and to support some other small-scale activities across its other premises and online.
An independent charity, the trust does not receive core funding to support revenue costs from national funders or local government and its loss of 90 per cent of its income with the closure of its museums in March has had an immediate and severe impact.
Solar gazing sessions for individual families/households started at the Herschel Museum of Astronomy on Saturday (July 25). No 1 Royal Crescent is due to open soon. All events must be pre-booked online at www.herschelmuseum.org.uk and www. No1royalcrescent.org.uk.
The trust says far fewer visitors are anticipated, partly because of the need to restrict numbers and partly because of the slow recovery of the tourism market.
Throughout the lockdown, the core advocacy and planningrelated work of the trust has continued with staff working from home and participating in Zoom committee meetings with the local authority, developers and householders.
In addition, work relating to the separately Lottery-funded project for the conservation and re-imagining of Beckford’s Tower has continued.
The trust is consulting with its employees about a significantly smaller organisational structure, reflecting both the reduced activity and income level while enabling the organisation to evolve over the coming years.
Caroline Kay, chief executive of the trust, said: “In the short term we are very grateful, thanks to the National Lottery Heritage Fund, to be looking forward to welcoming visitors back over the summer and sharing with them some of the treasures that we have to offer.
“More widely, there are many cultural and heritage organisations across the UK experiencing similar challenges and we are not alone in taking steps to anticipate a reduced cost-base going forward, however hard this is.
“We are determined to face up to the scale of further change to come, not only to survive but also to develop the vision that will help us thrive once again.”
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