DCMS/Wolfson Museums & Galleries Improvement Fund Grant for Barber Building Project

The Barber has been awarded a £150,000 grant from the DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund to help realise our ambitious building improvement scheme.

Work is now underway to make the Barber a more welcoming and accessible building for our visitors, return music to the building, enhance the display of our world-class collection, and better accommodate our thriving learning and engagement programme.

The main collection galleries will be refurbished, with new lighting and air-handling systems, while the faded and worn-out fabric wall coverings are also to be replaced. A prestigious new learning wing will accommodate up to 50 people for seated workshops and other public activities, as well as provide a smaller drop-in space for visitors of all ages to explore and be inspired creatively by art and music.

The Barber’s Director, Professor Jennifer Powell, said:

“We are extremely grateful for this DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund grant in these financially challenging times.

It will help us make our building and collection, our programme of exhibitions, concerts and related events, far more accessible and appealing to our visitors and equip us to be a truly 21st-century gallery and concert hall. We can’t wait to welcome people back to the Barber.”

Published 13 April 2026.