Blackpool Museum to become a reality

Blackpool Council has today been allocated £4 Million from the National Lottery Heritage Fund for the development of the Blackpool Museum Project.

This is this final piece in a £13 Million funding jigsaw that will see the project become a reality.

The Blackpool Museum Project will celebrate Blackpool as the UK’s most popular seaside destination and its role in the development of British popular culture. Located in the Sands Building on the Promenade, it will be a hybrid between museum and visitor attraction, capturing the spirit of this amazing town.

Visitors will be able to discover more about Blackpool’s links with dance, comedy, live variety, illumination, circus and sideshows. Get up close with the entertainers who put Blackpool on the map – the comedians, dancers, acrobats, performers and larger-than-life characters who turned a seaside resort into the world capital of show business.

The £13 million Project had already secured more than £7 Million external funding.

The year-round visitor attraction will be a fully-immersive, family-friendly experience, filled with memorabilia, film, music and live performance, and giving visitors an opportunity to look behind the scenes as what it took to make Blackpool special.

Cllr Gillian Campbell, Deputy Leader of Blackpool Council, said: “This is fantastic news, it’s the final piece in the jigsaw and now our dreams can become a reality.

“It has been six years since I first sat down with council officers and discussed the concept of a museum celebrating Blackpool’s rich heritage and its unique place in the nation’s heart.

“We did not want to just create a display of Blackpool’s history, we aspired to do something completely unique that you would only experience here.

“Thanks to the effort and expertise of our volunteers and supporters and the commitment of hard-working council officers we finally have an amazing concept that is financially viable.

“The official launch of our plans will follow in the autumn.”

In partnership with the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) London, and private owners, it will display, collect, research and celebrate collections related to popular entertainment.

The museum is expected to open in 2021

About The National Lottery Heritage Fund

Using money raised by the National Lottery, we Inspire, lead and resource the UK’s heritage to create positive and lasting change for people and communities, now and in the future. www.heritagefund.org.uk.

Follow @HeritageFundUK on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and use #NationalLotteryHeritageFund

In addition to this announcement the funding is made up of:

Northern Cultural Regeneration Fund – £4m

Growth Deal from the LEP – £1.5m

Coastal Communities Fund – £1.75m

Blackpool Council £1m

Heritage Lottery Fund – £400,000

Other fundraising – £675,500