£3m Welsh Government fund to boost museums, libraries and archives across South West Wales

The investment, part of the Priorities for Culture Capital Grant Scheme, is designed to make cultural spaces more accessible, sustainable and welcoming. Culture Minister Jack Sargeant said the aim was to protect “vital community assets” and ensure they continue to serve as visitor attractions, learning hubs and wellbeing spaces.

Swansea: lighting up the city’s heritage

Swansea Museum
(Image: Swansea Museum)

In Swansea, the city’s oldest museum will be literally brighter. Swansea Museum is receiving funding for its Illuminate project, which will replace outdated lighting in the History Gallery and temporary exhibition space with modern, energy‑efficient systems. Swansea University’s cultural collections will also benefit, with new environmental monitoring and accessibility improvements to safeguard rare items and open them up to more visitors.

Neath Port Talbot: greener libraries

Baglan Library
(Image: Stephen Kinnock MP)

In Neath Port Talbot, Baglan Library will undergo building improvements with new front windows to boost energy efficiency and create a more comfortable space for readers and community groups.

Bridgend: preserving and delivering culture

Porthcawl Museum will use its grant to conserve artefacts and refresh exhibitions, working alongside Glamorgan Archives. Meanwhile, the Awen Cultural Trust, which runs libraries across Bridgend county, will make its Books on Wheels service more sustainable by switching to a zero‑emission electric vehicle to deliver books to housebound residents.

Porthcawl Museum
(Image: Porthcawl Museum)

Carmarthenshire: archives and museums reimagined

Carmarthenshire is seeing some of the most ambitious projects. Carmarthenshire Archives will create a new exhibition space to bring hidden collections into public view. At Carmarthenshire Museum, two projects will improve both physical and digital access: new interpretation and lighting in galleries, and a revamp of the CofGar website to make collections easier to explore online.

At Dinefwr’s Newton House, run by the National Trust, visitors will benefit from new lifts, braille interpretation and audio‑visual guides, ensuring the historic site is accessible to all.

Carmarthenshire Archives
(Image: Carmarthenshire Council)

Pembrokeshire: Tenby’s new chapter

In Pembrokeshire, Tenby Museum & Art Gallery will transform a storage area into a new public gallery, creating space for fresh interpretation and exhibitions.

Tenby Museum and Art Gallery
(Image: Peter Broster / CC BY-SA 4.0)

A wider vision for culture

The Welsh Government says the £3m is just the first wave of investment, with a further £2.5m available for bids over the next year and £15m in total to be distributed by March 2026.

The Priorities for Culture strategy emphasises that culture is not just about heritage, but about regeneration, inclusivity and wellbeing. From greener libraries to more accessible museums, the projects in South West Wales reflect that ambition.

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Museums launch new bilingual app to support LGBTQ+ communities living with dementia

Launching during LGBTQ+ History Month, LGBTQ+ in Wales will evoke memories of queer Welsh history, as Swansea Museum and West Glamorgan Archive Service join with other organisations across Wales to support LGBTQ+ people living with dementia in their communities.

The app package uses the real memories of community members in Swansea and Neath Port Talbot and from across Wales, as well as spotlighting key items from queer culture found in Welsh museum collections.

Created alongside National Museums Liverpool’s House of Memories dementia programme, Swansea Museum and West Glamorgan Archive Service have contributed their own items and memories to create a digital archive or LGTBQ+ content.

The main aim of this project is to spark conversations between people living with dementia and their loved ones. Using items found in the app as cues and talking points, people living with dementia can have meaningful conversations, as well as personalising the app to focus on items that hold particular significance to them.

LGBTQ+ in Wales is a digital archive of memories from Wales’ LGBTQ+ communities, with experiences of nightclubs, Pride marches, queer activism, drag acts and more. This new package is an addition to the House of Memories Cymru programme, which was launched at the Senedd in 2023.

Highlights from Swansea Museum and West Glamorgan Archive Service collections that feature in the app package includes programmes for the first gay marriage in Swansea, “Pits and Perverts” event poster, theatre programmes for drag acts and a Swansea University LGB society newsletter.

Programme cover of a show by Swansea performer Ceri Dupree part of the West Glamorgan Archive collection.A Swansea Vikings rugby jersey, part of the Swansea Museum collection.A poster publicising an event held to benefit the South Wales mining community during the UK’s 1984-85 miners’ strike, part of the Swansea Museum collection.

Other museums across Wales have supported and contributed to the project to create a selection of memory prompts from queer culture in Wales. The museums involved are: Conwy Culture Centre, Swansea Museum, National Museum Wales, Glamorgan Archives, West Glamorgan Archives, Cyfarthfa Castle Museum and Art Gallery and Museum of Cardiff.

Other highlights for people to explore include court registers, inclusive rugby team shirts and flags and memorabilia from Pride events using a mixture of audio, video and images.

House of Memories Cymru is available through National Museums Liverpool’s My House of Memories app. Alongside the dementia community, the app is co-created through the award-winning House of Memories programme and features memories from a range of community groups in the UK and further afield.

The LGBTQ+ in Wales package will contain items that relate to specific areas of Wales. Already existing items from museum collections will be brought together to showcase the country’s rich and diverse queer history.

Jack Sargeant, minister for culture, said: “This LGBTQ+ in Wales app package will be such an insightful resource, celebrating the rich history and lived experiences of LGBTQ+ communities throughout our country.

“This Welsh Government-supported initiative not only helps preserve our shared heritage but also provides an invaluable support for people living with dementia and their loved ones to connect through meaningful memories. Projects like this demonstrate the power of heritage and inclusive storytelling in strengthening communities across Wales.”

“Wales is striving to be the most LGBTQ+ friendly nation in Europe. Our LGBTQ+ Action Plan sets out steps to strengthen equality, challenge discrimination, and create a safer, more inclusive society.”

(Lead image: Swansea Council)

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