Jewish Museum London has been awarded nearly a quarter of a million pounds in funding by The National Lottery Heritage Fund to assist in its collection reaching a larger audience.

The grant of £231,000 will go towards supporting the museum as it makes the transition from its Camden premises, where it was based from 2010, to becoming a “museum without walls”, with access to a wider audience.

Jewish Museum London’s award-winning collection, in-person and virtual learning programmes and workshops are currently being adapted for use in London schools, beginning in spring 2024. There are also plans to host “family days” around London and “reminiscence sessions” in care homes featuring the museum’s collections.

The museum is also lending its collections to other heritage projects, including tailoring artefacts to the Fashion City exhibition at the Museum of London, disability objects to the Jewish Deaf Association and fundraising and accounting objects to the newly opened Faith Museum in Bishop Auckland, south of Newcastle. Some of the museum’s Chanukah objects are currently on display in Bradford Synagogue.

Chanukah items from Jewish Museum London on on display at Bradford Synagogue (Photo: Jewish Museum London)

Acting director Sue Shave said the grant would have a “huge impact” on the development of future plans and reaching a wider audience. She said: “Our visitor engagement with this broader presence will increase from 28,000 people a year coming to the Camden Museum to a potential audience of 155,000 people per year including schools and community groups, reaching people in different regions around the UK with physical and online collections for the first time.”

Chair of trustees, Nick Viner, said: “We’re delighted that our objects can already be seen around the country, and this support will enable us to expand further our programme of loans and displays, alongside our educational work. Jewish Museum London exists to celebrate the UK’s diverse Jewish community and heritage. Now more than ever, we need to foster understanding between all cultures.”

Jewish Museum London announced the sale of its Camden building in June 2023, citing mounting losses, with plans to find a more suitable and prominent location for a future premises. Last week, its offices moved to the JW3 centre.

A spokesperson for The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the largest dedicated funder of UK heritage, said they had plans to invest £3.6billion raised by National Lottery players in good causes over the next ten years.