The Grundy Art Gallery is celebrating a £478,000 cash injection to protect its collection and repair and upgrade the building.
The funding is coming from two government pots – £357,000 from the Museum Estate and Development Fund (MEND) and £121,000 from the Pride in Place Impact Fund and will include replacement of ageing boilers, electrical improvements, structural wall and roof repairs and enhancements to environmental conditions needed to display major works in the gallery’s £5 million collection safely.
Founded in 1911 by local artists John and Cuthbert Grundy, with the aim of bringing high-quality art to the people of Blackpool, the gallery’s 2,000+ piece collection spans more than a century of artistic production – from Victorian paintings and modern and contemporary works.
Significant artists namechecked in the collection include Augustus John, Paul Nash and Laura Knight, alongside works reflecting Blackpool’s own social and cultural history.
The gallery’s current displays include Claude Monet’s ‘The Petit Bras of the Seine at Argenteuil’ (1872) as part of the National Gallery Masterpiece Tour.
Long-term the Grundy has ambitions to do more than maintain its building and collection. The gallery sits at the centre of ambitious plans for a £10m culture hub, creating additional exhibition space, improved facilities and better access for visitors. It’s also expected to play an important role in Blackpool’s bid to become City of Culture in 2029.
The vision would position the Grundy to host a broader programme of national and international work, while also creating more space for community activity, learning and events.
For now, the gallery is one of 28 museums across England to receive MEND support in this funding round – the first within a much larger national Arts Everywhere Fund. Announced last year, it will see £1.5 billion invested in cultural infrastructure over the coming years. The first £127.8 million has now been allocated, not just to museums and galleries but also to theatres, grassroots venues and libraries through the Creative Foundations Fund and the Libraries Improvement Fund.
With further rounds of Arts Everywhere funding expected to open in the coming months, there’s hope that more organisations across Blackpool could benefit.
