Sponsored institutions
DCMS sponsors a wide variety of institutions across England, from very large establishments such as the British Museum and the British Library to smaller bodies, such as the National Football Museum in Preston and the National Coal Mining Museum for England in Wakefield.
The sponsorship of museums contributes to all DCMS strategic priorities :
- Enhancing access to a fuller cultural and sporting life for children and young people and giving them the opportunity to develop their talents to the full. DCMS supports a wide range of museum education programmes.
- Opening up our institutions to the wider community to promote lifelong learning and social cohesion. DCMS is committed to increasing visitors to national and regional museums by under-represented groups.
- Maximising the contribution which tourism and the creative and leisure industries can make to the economy. DCMS works to ensure that sponsored Museums maximise their ability to attract both domestic and international visitors.
- Modernising delivery by ensuring our sponsored bodies are set, and meet, targets which put the customer first. Close attention is paid to ensure museums and galleries provide real value for money.
DCMS supplies sponsored institutions with financial assistance by paying Grant-in-Aid. These payments are controlled and regulated through the use of Funding Agreements. These make clear how the relevant institution will work towards meeting our aims and objectives, and provide a structured means of measuring performance.
Sponsored Bodies
British Museum
The British Museum is home to one of the world's finest collections of art and antiquities from ancient and living cultures. Housed in one of Britain's architectural landmarks, the collection spans two million years of human history.
Current major exhibitions: "Michelangelo drawings - closer to the master" (until 25 June 2006).
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Design Museum
The Design Museum is one of the world's leading museums of design, fashion and architecture with a mission to excite everyone about design.
Current major exhibitions: "Designer of the year" (until 18 June 2006).
Geffrye Museum
The Geffrye Museum shows the changing style of the English domestic interior in a series of period rooms from 1600 to the present day.
Current major exhibtions: "Domestic archaeology - an installation by the light surgeons" (until 28 August 2006)
Horniman Museum and Gardens
The Horniman, through its collections and related exhibitions and events, seeks to encourage a wider appreciation of the world, its peoples and their cultures, and its environments.
Current major exhibitions: "Amazon to Caribbean" (until 23 October 2006).
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Imperial War Museum
The Imperial War Museum - including Duxford Airfield, the Cabinet War Rooms, HMS Belfast and IWM North - is unique in its coverage of conflicts, especially those involving Britain and the Commonwealth, from the First World War to the present day.
Current major exhibitions : "The children's war" (IWM London, until 2008); "Great escapes" (IWM London, until 3 September 2006); "Soviet times: highlights of the RIA Novosti archives" (IWM North, until 4 June 2006)
Museum of London
The Museum of London is 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.
Current major exhibitions: "Marsquest - exploring the red planet" (until 1 October 2006)
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National Coal Mining Museum for England
Located at Caphouse Colliery, near Wakefield, on the western edge of the Yorkshire coalfield, the Museum provides insight into the hard working lives of miners throughout the ages. Amongst a range of experiences, it offers a unique opportunity to travel 140 metres underground, into one of Britain's oldest working mines.
National Football Museum
The National Football Museum in Preston, Lancashire, preserves, conserves and interprets the greatest collections of football memorabilia in the world.
National Gallery
The National Gallery houses one of the greatest collections of European painting in the world.
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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
National Museums Liverpool is England's only national collection based outside London. Eight unique venues cover everything from social history to space travel, entomology to ethnology, dinosaurs to docks.
Current major exhibitions: "George Stubbs - a celebration" (until 30 July 2006)
National Museum of Science & Industry
Incorporating 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, NMSI cares for the national collections of science and industry.
Current major exhibitions: "Pixar - 20 years of animation" (Science Museum, until 10 June 2006); "Inside the Spitfire" (Science Museum, until January 2007); "Myths & Visions - the art of Ray Harryhausen" (National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, until 24 September 2006)
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National Portrait Gallery
The National Portrait Gallery was founded in 1856 to collect the likenesses of famous British men and women. Today the collection is the most comprehensive of its kind in the world.
Current major exhibitions: "Icons and idols - commissioning contemportary portraits" (until 18 June 2006)
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 People's History Museum in Manchester is the national centre for the collection, conservation, interpretation and study of material relating to the history of working people in Britain.
Current major exhibitions: "Carrying the colours - banners from our collection" (until 29 October 2006)
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Royal Armouries
The Royal Armouries cares for the national collection of arms and armour. It has a major museum at Leeds in addition to its traditional base at the Tower of London and the Museum of Artillery at Fort Nelson near Portsmouth.
Sir John Soane's Museum
The 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.
Current major exhibitions: "Soane's magician - the tragic genius of Joseph Michael Gandy" (until 12 August 2006)
Tate Gallery
Tate houses the national collection of British art from the 16th century to the present day. Tate is a family of galleries, comprising of Tate Britain, Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives.
Current major exhibitions: "Albers & Moholy-Nagy - from the Bauhaus to the new world" (Tate Modern, until 4 June 2006)
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Tyne & Wear Museums
Tyne & Wear Museums (TWM) is 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.
Current major exhibitions: "Modernism - designing a new world (1914-1939)" (until 23 July 2006)
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.
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