City News

Coventry Transport Museum has been awarded £150,000 towards creating a new gallery focusing on ‘The 1980s to Now’. Thirty one museums and galleries in England have received grants totalling £4 million, announced by Culture Minister Margaret Hodge on Tuesday 26th August. The grants have been provided jointly by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Wolfson Foundation and are intended to improve the quality of museum displays and enhance the experience for visitors.

The City centre attraction is already one of the most visited attractions in the Midlands welcoming over 330,000 visitors a year, and is designated as a collection of National importance. The Museum has exciting plans for developing its top floor galleries and this grant towards the ‘1980’s to Now’ Gallery is an important first stage.

The new gallery will focus on the continuing role of the City’s motor vehicle manufacturers and their impact upon Coventry from a time when the city was growing rapidly and experiencing massive social and economic changes, through a period of national and local economic decline, to current opportunities to ensure Coventry continues to play an important part in the motor industry.

Chief Executive of the Museum Gary Hall said:

“The Museum is always striving to create new and better experiences for our visitors. We are developing a whole range of exciting new ideas and this grant means that we can now start work on this fantastic new gallery.”

Culture Minister Margaret Hodge said:

“This year, as before, the DCMS Wolfson Fund is providing support for museums and galleries from all regions of England, backing projects in national institutions, university collections and well-loved local museums and galleries. I hope today’s awards will help people all over Britain to have improved access to the wonders of the old, new, beautiful and intriguing objects that are housed in England’s museums and galleries."

Paul Ramsbottom, Executive Secretary of the Wolfson Foundation said:

"The awards announced today are a testimony to the quality and diversity of the country’s museums and galleries. The Wolfson Foundation is delighted to be associated with these excellent projects."

Other recipients of awards include the Imperial War Museum, London, Blists Hill Museum, Ironbridge and the National Media Museum in Bradford.