The money has come from the Museum resilience fund

The aim of the funding is to help them become more sustainable and resilient businesses.

Hampshire Cultural Trust and Southampton City Council will both benefit from the fund, which launched last September and aims to support a step change for the museums sector.

Hampshire Cultural Trust has been granted £885,500 to develop a sustainable, dynamic business model that will generate innovation, secure investment and create bigger, better and deeper cultural experiences for a wider audience.

Phil Gibby, south west area director, Arts Council England, said: "By making a significant investment, we are showing our confidence in the Trust and acknowledging their future contribution to achieving our goal of great art and culture for everyone.

"The programme of work they are proposing is highly ambitious and will go a long way towards establishing Hampshire Cultural Trust as a vibrant, sustainable business as well as securing the future of the museums in the county."

A grant of £21,000 has been awarded to Southampton City Council to support audience research to inform future development work.

The museums are part of a group of 15 museums across the south west who will receive a total of £2,424,275 in the first round of Arts Council England’s Museum resilience fund.

The total budget over the funding period 2015-18 for round one is just over £17 million.

The 15 museums to receive funding in the south west are:

Burton Art Gallery and Museum

Glenside Hospital Museum

Gloucester Museums Service

Gloucester County Council

Hampshire Cultural Trust

Holburne Museum of Art

Holst Birthplace Museum

Plymouth City Council 

Poole Museum Service

Royal West of England Academy

Southampton City Council

South Western Federation of Museums and Art Galleries

SS Great Britain

The Jenner Trust

The South West Heritage Trust