Our Chair, Phil Crabtree, recently shared his views on the Autumn Statement in The Yorkshire Post, highlighting the potential of the arts to transform struggling communities and sharing our own campaign for a new home for Malton Museum.
Read the full piece below, or visit the Yorkshire Post website.
Last week, the Chancellor’s Budget announced new powers for Metro Mayors to introduce a visitor levy that can fund local growth. No one could benefit more than the struggling arts and cultural venues that are the lifeblood of high streets across Yorkshire.
For 90 years, Malton Museum has served the district of Ryedale, including the bustling market towns of Malton and Norton. We have been at the heart of the community, creating a sense of place for residents and a key attraction for tourists. We’re one of hundreds of historic places in Yorkshire and the Humber for memorable family days out and major local events like our family-focussed Roman Festival that draws in over a thousand people in a single day every year.
Like us, over half of the more than 1,700 accredited museums across the country are independent according to Arts Council England, contributing £838.7 million in gross impact to the UK economy. Our changing exhibitions have told the story of Malton from before the Roman invasion to our newest growing Eastern European community. Through schools outreach and a lively events programme, Malton Museum has played its own role in the town’s revival over the past two decades to become a regional tourist destination, but the hopes for post-COVID recovery are starting to fade.
We receive no core funding from Government or local authorities so it’s a struggle to keep the doors open and the lights on. Like 39% of independent museums, we’re almost entirely volunteer run. We have just two rooms for our temporary exhibitions and kids’ activities, meaning most of our nationally significant collection remains hidden. We’ve had to find ways to diversify our income. We introduced our first paid exhibition in 2023, showcasing an iron age shield that was excavated nearby and described by Prof. Melanie Giles from the University of Manchester as “the most important British Celtic art object of the millennium”. We know how important we are for local people and visitors alike, yet it’s getting harder to keep operating in the current economic climate.
A new home for Malton Museum
Time is ticking for us as our current lease expires in 2027; that’s why earlier this year we unveiled plans for a new home. We want to repurpose a disused, partially Grade II-listed building at the heart of Malton’s historic market square, bringing it back into use for the town and create a new community-focussed venue. Operated as an inn since the year rugby was invented, parts of the building date back to Richard the Lionheart’s reign: this building has been mostly empty for at least 20 years. We’re designing it with and for the people of Ryedale, introducing a new contemporary collecting approach to tell the story of modern-day Malton and ensure we’re more relevant than ever. It will give us space to bring schools in, hire spaces out, expand our retail offer, create our first permanent exhibition, and provide a hub for local creatives. 
Community spirit is at the heart of our town and our work: Malton Museum’s new home will be at the heart of community-led regeneration where initiatives can incubate and flourish. We are restoring a key heritage asset to house a major cultural institution right on the prosperous York to Scarborough transport corridor – it’s a prime example of the county’s potential. We’re delivering for priorities in North Yorkshire’s Growth Plan, Cultural Strategy, Destination Management Plan, and the Malton and Norton Neighbour Plan but there’s a funding crisis in the museum sector that is hitting local communities hardest. Now York and North Yorkshire Mayor David Skaith has the power to introduce an overnight visitor levy that could fund a £52 million-a-year transformation in support for the independent arts and cultural organisations that enrich our daily lives.
Currently, only two major public funders can support capital costs of independent museums, and with a restoration price tag of £6m we have our work cut out for us. We’ve secured feasibility grants from the UK Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund to demonstrate the transformational benefits of our new home. Now we need to secure the cash to realise those ambitions. Community support has been nothing short of overwhelming, with packed out consultations and a growing fundraiser campaign. We will save an iconic part of Malton’s local heritage and revive a community hub, but we can’t wait for the visitor levy: we need Yorkshire behind us now.
A sense of place
We are just one of the 138 museums in the towns, villages, and remote parts of our county that tell the story of the places where we live, give children and young people their sense of identity, provide a place for friends and family to meet, and help create a sense of purpose for volunteers. We rely on you – our visitors, local businesses, charitable foundations, philanthropists, and communities to keep us going. So find out where your nearest independent museum is today: pay them a visit this weekend, explore their online shop for that Christmas gift with purpose, or donate to their fundraiser knowing it really does keep our lights on.
Come and celebrate our centenary in 2035 at our brand new (very old) home: we’re here for you, but we need your support too.
Donate now
You can add your donation to our new museum kickstarter campaign here, and help us make a new home for Malton Museum a reality.
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