The Jewish Museum London, which closed in 2023, has been given a £1 million grant to support its education and outreach work while it searches for a new permanent home, the government has announced.

The funding was unveiled by Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy during a visit to the launch of Two Rooms, the museum’s new temporary exhibition space at JW3 in north London.

The museum closed in July 2023 after its income plunged following the pandemic, and it chose to sell the museum building and look for a cheaper building elsewhere. It has since operated as a “museum without walls”, taking exhibitions, learning programmes and community activities to venues across London. The new funding is intended to help expand those programmes and support plans for a future permanent museum building.

Announcing the investment, Nandy said Jewish culture, history and heritage were “woven into the fabric of this country, and of our national story”.

Nick Viner, chair of trustees at the Jewish Museum London, welcomed the funding, saying it would help the museum expand its education programmes, increase loans from its collection to venues around the country and continue its search for a permanent home.

The Jewish Museum London cares for a nationally significant collection documenting Jewish life in Britain over several centuries. The government said the investment would help preserve that collection while enabling more people across the UK to engage with it.

The funding will be distributed through Arts Council England.

Alongside the support for the London museum, the government has also said it intends to provide £100,000 to the Manchester Jewish Museum. The funding is designed to help offset rising security costs and support the museum’s exhibitions, events and community programmes.