Funding in store for Beamish Museum to help increase access to collections

16th December 2025

Beamish, The Living Museum of the North is celebrating being awarded £49,000 from Art Fund, the national charity for museums and galleries, to improve access to its collections.

The funding is part of a total of £1.3million awarded through the latest round of Art Fund’s Reimagine programme, supporting innovative collections projects in museums and galleries across the UK.

Beamish’s Reclaim the Stores project will make the museum’s stored collections more accessible, and work towards the reopening of its popular Open Store, which has been closed since the pandemic, giving access to previously unseen parts of the collection.

Rhiannon Hiles, Beamish’s Chief Executive, said: “We are extremely grateful to Art Fund for this funding that will enable us to widen access to our collections and bring a significant, long-term impact for our communities, staff, volunteers, visitors and partners.

“Beamish is a charity and independent museum, with communities and our people at the heart of all we do, so we are delighted that this funding will allow increased opportunities to connect with our collections, broaden the stories we tell, work with communities to co-create displays, increase skills and help towards the reopening of our Open Store.”

Beamish was named Art Fund Museum of the Year 2025, the world’s largest museum prize, and cares for around three million objects in its Designated and Accredited collection.

Helen Barker, Beamish’s Executive Director – Collections and Programmes, said: “Thanks to this funding from Art Fund we will Reimagine what our stored collections can be, making them accessible for display, research, inspiration, learning and enjoyment.

“We will carry out work on our small object stores to optimise use of space, increase understanding of, and access to, the collection not currently on display, build on our community engagement work and invest in additional skills and training for staff.

“We will revisit our Open Store, which has remained closed since Covid, to showcase previously unseen parts of the collection and highlight diverse regional stories.”

Beamish welcomed nearly 839,000 visitors last year and is the North East’s most visited attraction, and among the top paid-for attractions nationally.

The museum has completed its Remaking Beamish project, the biggest capital development project in its 55-year history, and is now looking ahead to exciting and ambitious plans for its future.

Launched in 2020 in response to the pandemic, Reimagine was developed to address the most urgent challenges facing UK museums. This latest round focuses on collections – a cornerstone of Art Fund’s mission and one of the areas of museum practice with the greatest demand for funding. Art Fund’s Museum Directors Survey in 2024 found that 56 per cent of museums cite lack of funding for collections as a major barrier to essential work such as digitisations, collections reviews and acquisitions.

Jenny Waldman, Director, Art Fund, said: “At the core of Art Fund’s purpose is supporting museums to develop, care for and share the collections that enrich people’s lives. I'm delighted we've been able to support Beamish, Art Fund Museum of the Year 2025, through our final round of Reimagine funding, enabling museums to explore their collections, connect with communities and ensure that works of art, objects and their stories are shared and preserved for future generations.” 

This funding has been made possible thanks to support from The Kirby Laing Foundation, Art Fund members and supporters of Art Fund's Expanding Horizons appeal.