The Harris Museum and Art Gallery hosts the Harris Open

A further £110,000 towards changes to the Harris Museum and Art Gallery has been secured by Preston City Council.

The Arts Council has pledged £95,000 to the Re-imagining the Harris project – which will see a new £75,000-a-year role created to run the museum.

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Documents going to the city council’s cabinet asks them to approve the increase in funding for the project, with £10,000 from Lancashire County Council and £5,000 from the Friends of the Harris Museum.

The money is being used to review the way the venue currently operates and make it a shared enterprise between the city council and Lancashire County Council.

A major funding bid is also being talked up for money from the Heritage Lottery Fund to be bid for by December 2016.

It is not known at this stage whether there will be changes to the venue’s opening times or staffing structures as a result of the project, dubbed “their Harris” by the council report.

Councillor Veronica Afrin, cabinet member for culture and leisure, said in March “this is an important first step in a very ambitious change programme.”

A report to the city council’s cabinet in March called for the Harris to open in the evenings and on Sundays, to help boost the nighttime economy of Preston.

Cabinet is being asked to put £10,000 of city council money in to unlock the Arts Council funding.

The full report can be viewed on the city council website.

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