HAVING to adapt to the Covid Pandemic has helped Bradford's Museums and Galleries evolve - Councillors have been told.

Bradford Council is currently putting together a bid for Arts Council funding for its museums service, which runs four museums and galleries across the District.

If successful, the venues would get "National Portfolio Status" from the national body by 2023 - which would mean they would be able to offer much more to visitors, as well as do more to attract people who may never have visited a local museum before.

At a meeting of Bradford Council's Regeneration and Environment Scrutiny Committee last week, members were given an update on the Museums Service, as well as the plans for the bid.

Currently, the Arts Council funds Leeds museums to the tune of £1.5 million, York museums get £1.2 million and Wakefield’s museums get £200,000 funding.

Bradford Council currently runs four museums - Cliffe Castle in Keighley, Bolling Hall in Bowling, Bradford Industrial Museum in Eccleshill and Cartwright Hall Gallery in Lister Park, Manningham.

Rosie Crook, interim museums and galleries manager, said with the museums having to shut for much of the past 18 months, the museums held many online exhibitions, further digitised museum collections, and sent out thousands of activity packs to children in the District.

'Portfolio' funding bid could transform Bradford's museum's service

She said: "There is a recognition by the Arts Council that the Bradford District really matters. Getting the status would put us in a very important national context - although it is highly competitive and not easy to get."

The Committee was told that in order to get Arts Council funding, museums have to show they have adapted, and looked at new ways of engaging with local communities. Mrs Crook argued that the changes brought on by the Pandemic had meant the museums and galleries were already doing that.

Explaining the bid process, she said: "It is a competitive process - it is a beauty contest and I can't say we'll definitely get it, but we are in a much better position to get this after the Pandemic.

"We've already introduced some of the changes the Arts Council is interested in so we're already meeting some of the requirements."

Phil Barker, Assistant Director Sports and Culture, said: "In a funny way the Pandemic has been quite helpful for us in the sense that it meant we had to make changes we would have needed to do anyway to get ready for the bidding process."