Regional museums in England are underfunded — and in crisis

Regional museums across England are facing a deepening financial crisis, driven by long-term funding imbalances, rising operating costs, and a policy framework that continues to favour London-based institutions. 

In this article, Tony Butler, the Executive Director of Derby Museums explains that closures will be inevitable if urgent action isn’t taken to support local and civic museums in England's towns and cities.

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The funding crisis facing regional museums in England

It’s hard not to feel like a museum version of a country church mouse as announcements are made of new openings in London. The V&A’s Storehouse and anticipated East Museum in Stratford, two £150m donations for a new wing at the National Gallery, and the repurposing of Smithfield market as the London Museum, to name but a few.

Museum of Making in Derby Silk Mill, formerly Lombe's Mill and built in 1717. Photo Andy Sutherland/Shutterstock

That’s not to say that new developments haven’t happened in the regions. Last year, Norwich Castle, Preston’s Harris Museum and Carlisle’s Tullie House Museum all underwent beautiful transformations.

And regional museums continue to be entrepreneurial too. My own organisation’s collaboration with the National Gallery resulted in the current Joseph Wright of Derby exhibition — of the 20 works featured, 17 are from Derby Museums collections. (This year the show travels to Derby with the triumphant return of Wright’s masterpiece A Bird in the Air Pump, going on show here for the first time in 80 years.) Our learning programme is supported by international firms with local presence such as a Rolls Royce and Vaillant. In 2026, a new collaboration with prestige textile manufacturer John Smedley will explore sustainable fashion.

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But despite the innovations, the reality is that regional museums remain in crisis. The vast majority face financial precarity which has a slow, corrosive effect on their work. Many have reduced opening hours, public programming and temporary exhibitions, or have put off hiring new staff. Many — including Derby — saw fewer visitors in 2025.

Last year’s Museum Renewal Fund administered by Arts Council England (ACE) provided some respite, but the trajectory remains downward. Most regional museum leaders have been muddling through hoping for something to turn up. But there’ll come a point when the Mr Micawber school of management will become untenable.

For a resilient and sustainable model for regional museums, the starting point must be the principle of access to the best cultural heritage for people in the place where they live.

London's museum funding vs the rest of England

It also requires a more equitable funding regime. People living in Greater London benefit nearly ten times more from revenue investment in museums than those living elsewhere. In 2024/25, spend per head in London was around £47, whilst outside the capital it was just under £6.

There’s no quick and easy way to create a resilient ecology for museums in England without a policy-led approach. The recent Hodge review hints at this:

“ACE should work with DCMS [Department for Culture] and the whole museum sector (including those national museums funded directly by DCMS) to develop a strategic framework and create a specific long-term plan for museums.”

The consequences of continued underfunding of regional museums

According to an Art Fund/More in Common survey, 80% of Britons want funding maintained or increased for local museums. My hope for 2026 is that we capitalise on public and political acknowledgement that local museums are a key provider of public good, and that they’re essential to the social infrastructure of every UK town and city.

If we don’t, museums which have been a feature of our public realm and have enriched people’s lives for decades, even centuries, will be gone for good. 🟦

— Tony Butler OBE is Executive Director of Derby Museums which includes the award winning Museum of Making. From 2004 to 2013 he was Director of the Museum of East Anglian Life (now Food Museum) in Suffolk. He is a champion of the value of local and regional museums, and was awarded an OBE for services to the Arts in the King’s New Year Honours List 2025.