A unique partnership of Cornish museums has scooped funding of more than £250,000 from Arts Council England.
The For Cornwall partnership of Falmouth Art Gallery, the National Maritime Museum Cornwall, Penlee House Gallery and Museum and Porthcurno Telegraph Museum was established last year and has been carrying out a programme of work with funding from Arts Council England.
It recently grew to include the Royal Cornwall Museum and has won a further £253,000 from Arts Council England's Strategic Fund.
The money will be spent on projects designed to help the museums to be more sustainable, to extend the scope of their activities and to help lead the museum sector in Cornwall.
These include a cultural tourism marketing campaign, education projects, fundraising and income-earning projects, energy conservation and collections work.
Alison Bevan, director of Penlee House Gallery and Museum, who leads the partnership said: 'It has been a busy year for museums in Cornwall.
"With support from Cornwall Council, we worked up a Museums Strategy for the county which was launched last autumn.
"This coincided with the announcement of our first For Cornwall bid which allowed us to implement some of the things in that strategy.
"Now that partnership has grown by the addition of the Royal Cornwall Museum and we have been supported with even more money.
"The benefits of partnership working are obvious and we are trying to spread those benefits to other museums within the county. We have learned a lot from working together.
"The latest grant shows that Arts Council England are supportive of our approach. People in other parts of the country have begun to notice and are seeking to emulate our approach which is well-suited to a rural area like Cornwall with dispersed small and medium-sized museums."
The For Cornwall partnership of Falmouth Art Gallery, the National Maritime Museum Cornwall, Penlee House Gallery and Museum and Porthcurno Telegraph Museum was established last year and has been carrying out a programme of work with funding from Arts Council England.
It recently grew to include the Royal Cornwall Museum and has won a further £253,000 from Arts Council England's Strategic Fund.
The money will be spent on projects designed to help the museums to be more sustainable, to extend the scope of their activities and to help lead the museum sector in Cornwall.
These include a cultural tourism marketing campaign, education projects, fundraising and income-earning projects, energy conservation and collections work.
Alison Bevan, director of Penlee House Gallery and Museum, who leads the partnership said: 'It has been a busy year for museums in Cornwall.
"With support from Cornwall Council, we worked up a Museums Strategy for the county which was launched last autumn.
"This coincided with the announcement of our first For Cornwall bid which allowed us to implement some of the things in that strategy.
"Now that partnership has grown by the addition of the Royal Cornwall Museum and we have been supported with even more money.
"The benefits of partnership working are obvious and we are trying to spread those benefits to other museums within the county. We have learned a lot from working together.
"The latest grant shows that Arts Council England are supportive of our approach. People in other parts of the country have begun to notice and are seeking to emulate our approach which is well-suited to a rural area like Cornwall with dispersed small and medium-sized museums."
