The aim of the grant is to enable museums to share their collections more widely with other institutions, to ensure that museum objects are not simply acquired and preserved, but that items in store get used.

The grant will establish Brighton & Hove’s museums’ service as a champion to be called upon by the wider museum community for advice and support in developing new uses for their collections. The scheme will ensure that people have greater access to what museums contain, and perceive them as places to learn and enjoy.

Initially RPM will work in partnership with Bexhill Museum , Horsham Museum and Worthing Museum & Art Gallery. In the first 12 months of the project, half a dozen more museums will take part from across East and West Sussex, and Surrey .

Concentrating on natural history collections, the first activities will:

• create outreach boxes examining the coast’s natural environment
• initiate an exhibition on taxidermy

use collections to explain why natural sciences specimens were collected during the Victorian period

Councillor David Smith , Cabinet Member for Culture and Tourism, said: “C ollections need to be used, not locked away in a museum store hidden from public view. The Booth Museum of Natural History houses collections of national importance and we are delighted at this further opportunity to share our expertise with partners across the region.”

Brighton & Hove’s service was one of only seven museums and museum services across the country to be awarded funding under the scheme.