The Grade II-listed Gwynedd Museum and Art Gallery in Bangor, Wales, could receive a new funding package to safeguard the attraction's future for at least the next three years.

Fears that the museum could be forced to close were revised after the Gwynedd County Council cut nearly £1m of the museum's funding for the next three years in January. The council have agreed to financially support the attraction until April 2009, when it faces closure if alternative funds cannot be secured.

The negotiations for new funding are being carried out by representatives from the council, Bangor University – which supplies the museum's collections – the Welsh Assembly Government and the campaign group Friends of Gwynedd Museum.

Councillor Dai Rees Jones, chair of the Museum Working Group, said: "Following negotiations over the past few months, we are hopeful that a new support package to keep the Gwynedd Museum and Art Gallery open for the next three years is a step closer.

"Our hope is that if we can secure the short-term future of this local resource, this will provide us with the time we need to find new and creative ways of securing a sustainable long-term future for the museum."

Discussions are set to continue and a decision is expected in the next couple of months.