Arts Council England is administering the Museum Transformation Programme to help museums deliver significant organisational change and strengthen long-term resilience.
The programme is aimed at accredited regional and local non-national museums in England. Applicants must be Arts Council England accredited and have an established relationship with a local authority. The programme also seeks to proactively support eligible museums located in areas with lower levels of cultural investment.
Support is intended to help organisations strengthen financial and operational sustainability, undertake major organisational and business model transformation and adapt to changing local authority and wider funding contexts. The overall purpose is to improve long-term resilience and income generation.
The total budget available is £13.6 million. Individual grants range from £50,000 to £1 million per project, depending on scale and needs.
The funding can be used for digital transformation projects, organisational restructuring or change activity and work that improves income generation and financial sustainability. Wider transformation work that strengthens long-term operations is also within scope.
Eligible expenditure includes staffing and salary costs associated with transformation activity, digital transformation activity and the development of digital systems, plus fundraising and development costs. Museums considering an application are expected to align proposed work to the programme’s focus on sustainability and structural change, rather than short-term delivery activity.
Applications open on 1 September 2026 and close on 30 September 2026 (12:00).
