RECOGNITION from the Arts Council could transform services provided by Bradford Council’s Museums and Galleries, a new report has claimed.

And it is hoped the district’s four Council-run museums could get such recognition - and the funding that comes with it, by Spring 2023.

Shortly before the Covid Pandemic it was announced that the way the four museums and galleries in the district were run could soon be undergoing a major shake up.

Hugely controversial plans to cut £500,000 from the museums budget were put on hold in late 2019, with Council bosses saying they would review the museum offer over the next year and return with a new plan to secure their future.

In early 2020, the Council announced that one way of doing this was to get “national portfolio status” from the Arts Council.

Such a status would mean the museums would get regular funding from the Arts Council.

Currently, the Arts Council funds Leeds museums to the tune of £1.5 million, York museums get £1.2 million and Wakefield’s museums get £200,000 funding.

Bradford’s Museums, Cartwright Hall in Lister Park, Bolling Hall in Bowling, Cliffe Castle in Keighley and Bradford Industrial Museum in Eccleshill, get no such funding - and are entirely funded by the Council.

The Council had hoped to make a bid for National Portfolio status last year - with funding starting in Spring 2021.

But, like many things, the pandemic halted these plans.

At a meeting of Bradford Council’s Regeneration and Environment Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday, members will be given an update on the museum service, including the Arts Council plans.

A report to the committee says the bid for National Portfolio Status could be made as soon as February.

Park and museum in Keighley is recognised as being ‘bee friendly’

It says: “NPO funding is hard to obtain but extremely important; it puts the organisation amongst a national quality standard,delivering on Arts Council’s objectives around community engagement, diversity and quality. These objectives align well with the Council’s objectives and would give Bradford District’s Museums and Galleries funding for community engagement, new staff, projects and exhibitions and a place in the group of significant services in the region.

“Due to the pandemic, the Arts Council has rescheduled the NPO process for 2022, with information about the Fund going live from the end of January, applications open from February to April and decisions are due by Autumn 2022 for funding starting from April 2023.

“To achieve this funding the Service needs to prove, amongst other things, that it is meeting Arts Council principles in four key areas: Ambition & Quality , Dynamism, Environmental Responsibility and Inclusivity & Relevance.

“The Service is making progress in each of these areas, despite limited development funding.”

Members will be told that during lockdown the museums, which had to close for months on end, produced a series of online exhibitions, and activity packs were sent to thousands of children.

This summer the service was given a £208,000 grant from the the Government’s Cultural Recovery Fund. This has helped make the museums and galleries Covid safe, improve museum shops and develop a community space at the Industrial Museum.