Britain’s National Holocaust Museum gets four-fold increase in grant monies

The National Holocaust Centre and Museum in Nottinghamshire has had a massive four-fold increase in funding from Arts Council England as its grant rose from £100,000 to £400,000.

The institution, which is also known as the Beth Shalom Holocaust Centre, was set up by a Christian family and this week celebrated what it described as an “extraordinary” increase, as it announced the renewal of its appointment as a National Portfolio Organisation for a further three years.

“The National Holocaust Centre and Museum has used research and cutting-edge digital technology to keep stories of Holocaust survivors alive,” said Peter Knott, area director for Arts Council England. “We’re delighted to be increasing our investment.”

He added that the museum’s educational programmes “ensure that the next generation can learn from the past and it’ll be great to see them continue to educate and inspire people in Nottinghamshire and beyond”.

Henry Grunwald, who chairs the board of trustees, said the decision was “an endorsement of our work to date and an encouragement for our future plans”.

The centre works with primary and secondary school students, as well as older learners, across a range of physical and digital channels, and described itself as “a significant contributor to levelling up the local community”.

It was founded by the Smith family nearly 30 years ago and is now a major heritage and educational attraction in the area, offering interactive experiences which lets visitors have a Q&A with a Holocaust survivor, even when they are no longer alive.

In other exhibitions, visitors use Virtual Reality goggles to “step into” the Warsaw Ghetto, while others tell survivors’ stories through the medium of hip hop music.

“As storytellers, we pride ourselves on relating the lessons of the Holocaust in the visual and verbal language of now,” said museum director Marc Cave. Arts Council England have always been wonderfully supportive of the creative skills to do that.”