Three English regions have been selected to spearhead an initiative to revitalise the nation’s regional museums and galleries, but this is six fewer than originally planned. Resource (the council for museums, libraries and archives) announced recently that the North East, West Midlands and South West regions will receive priority investment under the ‘Renaissance in the Regions’ scheme. Initially, nine regional ‘Hubs’ around England were earmarked by Resource for establishment under the new framework. The remaining six regions will also receive funding, but the phase one group will receive priority investment, according to a statement from Resource. The decision to prioritise three regions in the first phase of the scheme follows a £30 million windfall in funding to the museums sector. In October 2002, the government announced it would spend £70 million over three years on regional museums – £30 million short of the minimum curators say is needed to rescue the sector. Resource’s Acting Chairman, Mark Wood, remained optimistic that the first phase of the project would be successful in proving the case for further funding, to roll out the initiative across the other six regions. ‘We are convinced that if we can demonstrate this potential in these three regions, we will have a powerful case for additional funding in the government’s next spending review,’ he said. The ‘Renaissance in the Regions’ initiative emerged from a report by the Regional Museums Task Force in 2001, which called for a completely new framework for England’s regional museums. Based on a network of nine regional ‘Hubs’, the scheme aims to develop each group of museums and galleries, to promote models of best practice for the rest of the sector. The total cost was estimated at £167 million over five years, however, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport announced it would allocate only £70 million over three years to support the new framework. For more information, CLICK HERE.