Department for Culture Media and Sport
sponsored museums and galleries
We sponsor a wide range of museums and galleries across England, from very large establishments, such as the British Museum, to smaller bodies, such as the National Football Museum in Preston.
Of the 22 museums and galleries we sponsor, 14 are defined as ‘nationals’ (marked with *), as they are founded by Act of Parliament. The remaining 8 are classed as ‘non-nationals’.
These institutions receive Grant-in-Aid funding from us. Altogether the museums will receive around £320 million of funding in 2006-07. Details of how much funding individual museums will receive can be found in the DCMS Annual Report.
Funding agreements set out how the institutions have agreed to use this financial aid towards helping us meet our strategic objectives, and how their performance will be measured.
Each DCMS sponsored museum is run by an independent Board of Trustees. The majority of these Trustees are appointed either by the Prime Minister or the Secretary of State.
The Boards of Trustees are responsible for caring for, preserving and adding to the objects in their collections, ensuring that the collections are exhibited to the public and available for study, and to promote the public’s enjoyment of science, history, art or design through their collections.
The DCMS’s stewardship of its sponsored museums is on the “arm’s length” principle. The Department does not intervene in their day-to day business operations. The boundaries and responsibilities of the relationship between the Department and the sponsored national museums are set out in the Management Statement and Financial Memorandum for each museum.
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The 22 museums and galleries we sponsor are:
British Museum *
Home to one of the world's finest collections of art and antiquities from ancient and living cultures, spanning two million years of human history.
Design Museum
One of the world's leading museums of design, fashion and architecture. Its mission is to excite everyone about design.
Geffrye Museum
Shows the changing style of English domestic interior design and decoration using a series of period rooms dating from 1600 to the present day.
Horniman Museum and Gardens
Seeks to encourage a wider appreciation of the world, its environments, its peoples and their cultures, through its collections, exhibitions and events.
Imperial War Museum *
Covers conflicts, especially those involving Britain and the Commonwealth, from the First World War to the present day. Includes Headquarters in Lambeth, Duxford Airfield, the Cabinet War Rooms, HMS Belfast and IWM North.
Museum of London *
The world's largest urban history museum. It maintains and exhibits collections of the history of London from prehistoric times to the present day.
Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester
Situated in the oldest passenger railway buildings in the world, the Museum tells the story of the history, science and industry of Manchester – the world's first industrial city.
National Coal Mining Museum for England
The Museum provides insight into the working lives of miners throughout the ages, as well as the chance to travel 140 metres underground, into one of Britain's oldest working mines.
National Football Museum
Located in Preston, Lancashire, the Museum preserves, conserves and interprets the greatest collections of football memorabilia in the world.
National Gallery *
Houses one of the greatest collections of European painting in the world.
National Maritime Museum *
The museum works to illustrate the importance of the sea, ships, time and the stars, and their relationship with people.
National Museums Liverpool *
England's only national collection based entirely outside London. Eight unique venues cover everything from social history to space travel, entomology to ethnology, dinosaurs to docks.
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National Museum of Science & Industry *
NMSI cares for the national collections of science and industry. It incorporates the Science Museum, the National Railway Museum at York and Shildon, the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television at Bradford and the Wroughton outstation in Wiltshire.
National Portrait Gallery *
Founded in 1856 to collect the likenesses of famous British men and women, the collection is now the most comprehensive of its kind in the world.
Natural History Museum *
The UK's national museum of nature, and a centre of scientific excellence in taxonomy and biodiversity.
People's History Museum
The national centre for the collection, conservation, interpretation and study of material relating to the history of working people in Britain.
Royal Armouries *
Cares for the national collection of arms and armour. The main museum is in Leeds, with displays at the Tower of London and the Museum of Artillery at Fort Nelson near Portsmouth.
Sir John Soane's Museum *
Displays the antiquities, furniture and paintings collected by the architect Sir John Soane in the house he designed for his private residence in Lincoln's Inn Fields.
Tate Galleries *
Houses the national collection of British art from the 16th century to the present day. Tate is a family of galleries, comprising Tate Britain, Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives.
Tyne & Wear Museums
A major regional museum and art gallery service, consisting of Arbeia Roman Fort & Museum, Discovery Museum, Hancock Museum, Laing Art Gallery, Segedunum Roman Fort & Museum, South Shields Museum, Shipley Art Gallery, Stephenson Railway Museum, Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens and Monkwearmouth Station Museum.
Victoria and Albert Museum *
Housing one of the greatest collections of decorative arts in the world, the V&A displays everything from fashion and textiles through to furniture and paintings. The V&A in South Kensington is part of a family of museums including The Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green and The Theatre Museum in Covent Garden.
Wallace Collection *
Both a national museum and the finest private collection of art ever assembled by one family. Among its treasures are one of the best collections of French 18th century pictures, porcelain and furniture in the world, a remarkable array of 17th century paintings and a superb armoury.
Sponsored Bodies Funding Agreements - Museums and Galleries 2005-06 – 2007-08
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has published its funding agreements with its sponsored museums and galleries.
* defined as ‘nationals’
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