North Wales cultural landmark receives major funding injection

The Welsh Government has announced an additional £3.3m boost to support the re-development of a museum dedicated to preserving north Wales’ slate quarrying heritage.

The redevelopment of the National Slate Museum in Llanberis will create a new learning centre, play area, shop and café at the museum, as well as making the whole site more accessible. There will be more opportunities to discover and enjoy the slate story through new exhibitions and interpretation.

The funding will also enable the site to continue to develop its role as a living museum by offering training and opportunities for people from all backgrounds to enjoy, learn about and develop traditional heritage skills.

The museum has temporarily closed to safely carry out the conservation and renovation work. But Amgueddfa Cymru is taking the museum on the road around local attractions and community events in north Wales and through ‘pop up’ museums at the Quarry Hospital and Penrhyn Castle.

Communities Facilities Program

Today’s announcement consists of an additional £3m plus the award of a £300,000 Communities Facilities Program grant towards the construction of a new café, Learning and Volunteering Center and Changing Places facilities. This brings the Welsh Government’s total contribution to the project to £5.8m (with £2.5m previously awarded).

Culture Minister, Jack Sargeant, visited the site recently to meet Amgueddfa Cymru staff and see the ongoing developments. He said: “As Culture Minister and a proud north Walian, it’s been an ideal summer for me – visiting one exciting development or event in the North after another.

“The almost-finished, new-look Theatr Clwyd; the National Slate Museum at the beginning of its own transformation journey; the Maes of the National Eisteddfod in Wrexham where I joined tens of thousands of other visitors to celebrate all things Cymraeg and was updated on the progress of the new Football Museum for Wales within Wrexham Museum.

“We have increased day-to-day spend on culture by 8.5% this year and tripled investment in venues and sites compared to a decade ago. But our spend on culture goes far beyond this – it is woven into budgets across Welsh Government.”

Community regeneration 

He continued: “Our investment in the National Slate Museum today is an excellent example of how this works in practice with £5.5m from my department’s budget combined with community regeneration funding to ensure the redeveloped museum offers a world class experience for visitors to the slate landscape of north-west Wales – a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2021.”

The Welsh Government allocated over £230m this year to culture and cultural programs outside of the Culture Minister’s portfolio – across departments including education, local government, economy, health, the Welsh language, energy and social justice.

This includes funding for familiar and culturally significant projects like the National Music Service, the Urdd, National and Llangollen Eisteddfodau, the summer reading challenge across all libraries in Wales, the investment in our film, TV and live music sectors and high-profile events like Tafwyl and the year-long 2025 Richard Burton Centenary programme.