Exciting News: Dean Heritage Centre Awarded £58,285 from the Museum Renewal Fund

We’re thrilled to share that the Dean Heritage Centre has been awarded £58,285 from the Museum Renewal Fund, administered by Arts Council England.

This vital funding will help us strengthen our work and enhance the visitor experience across our site. With the grant, we’ll be able to:

• Support our financial resilience by topping up income and safeguarding our reserves.

• Collaborate with an interpretation consultant to develop engaging, professional content for new QR-code interpretation, accessible through a smartphone app.

• Invest in staff time to work closely with both the consultant and the app development team, ensuring the creation of dynamic new content.

• Expand Wi-Fi coverage throughout our galleries, enabling visitors to easily access the QR code features.

• Create flexible, ever-evolving displays as we uncover new and fascinating stories during our current National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF)-supported Collections Review.

  
  

These improvements will help us share even more of the Forest’s incredible heritage — bringing hidden stories to light and offering visitors fresh reasons to return again and again.

Mark George, Centre Manager at the Dean Heritage Centre, said: "This is great news! Thanks to Arts Council England, this grant will allow us to create new, flexible online interpretation for our galleries. We know our visitors want to discover more about recent Forest history, as well as the lives of women in our community. This funding means we can finally begin telling many of those stories that have remained hidden within our collection.”

We can’t wait to bring these exciting developments to life and look forward to welcoming you to explore them soon.