Blackburn Museum & Art Gallery receives even bigger boost!

Blackburn Museum was one of the first purpose built free museums to open outside of London, in 1874. Over 150 years later, its success continues.

The Museum & Art Gallery in Blackburn plays a key part in the borough’s ever growing cultural offer. In 2022, it was one of four organisations in Blackburn with Darwen to be awarded National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) status by Arts Council England. This has enabled it to secure £592,000 of investment to expand the reach of the museum and be able to tell the borough’s history in new and accessible ways.

One element the team has been working on is the significance of one of the best collections of manuscripts and coins in the country, left to the Museum by local rope maker R.E Hart. This has culminated in a collaboration with the British Library, securing an exhibition of a national profile to be held at Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery in Autumn 2025, which will include the largest number of British Library loans to a museum outside of London.

The Council was also successful in securing £365,000 of capital grant funding through the Museum Estate and Development fund to contribute to essential roof works, which were completed in 2024.

And now, as a result of a legal case (Allen (VO) v Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums [2022]) which determined that Museums should not pay business rates, apart from £1.00 per annum; the council has received £445,000 from the District Valuation Office, backdated to 2015.

The investment will focus on providing internal upgrades at the Museum, enabling the team to upgrade the environmental and display conditions of the museum’s many rare and interesting artifacts, as well as improving the visitor experience. It will also ensure that the Museum complies with the British Library requirements to receive the hugely valuable loan objects as part of the national exhibition in Autumn 2025.

The key areas for investment are: –

• Hart Gallery – refurbishment and upgrade of the display cabinets to meet the detailed specifications required by the British Library
• Upgrade of lighting rigs to LED throughout the building – improving the illumination of contents and exhibits and supporting the Council’s environmental commitment to energy efficiency and carbon reduction by 2030
• Improved visitor facilities, to be informed by site visits and condition survey
• Marketing and publicity including waymarking & additional banners
• Specialist support and extra security requirements for the British Library loans exhibition

The improvement work will also ensure that the Museum, its facilities and its display environment is fit for the future, creating a foundation for the next round of submissions for NPO status, in July 2025.

Councillor Quesir Mahmood, Executive Member for Growth and Development said:

I’m so glad that the Museum & Art Gallery has continued to receive funding to future proof it for the next generation. It’s integral that we are able to look back and see how far we have come to be able to look forward.

The variety of history, exhibitions and activities on offer is impressive and I hope residents will continue to appreciate its importance not only locally, but also on a world stage.