Sector must work together for long-term sustainability
Addressing the convention of the Association of Cultural Enterprise, the Museums Association's president, Stuart Davies, said that the museums sector needs to work more tightly together to achieve long-term sustainability...
The gap between the big players who are becoming more and more commercially expert and the rest who are struggling to keep up is quite dangerous, said Davies, while fragmentation weakens the sector when seeking investment.
"The MA is a leading member of representatives of the museums and galleries sector that have a regular dialogue with government and other major funders in order to achieve acknowledgement of the social, economic and cultural contribution that museums make to society," he said. "That acknowledgement should, we of course argue, be accompanied by appropriate investment in what we do."
However, he added, investment does not necessarily mean government investment. Commercial activities should not be seen as a bolt-on, he said, but an important part of a museum's sustainability, and increasingly museums are looking to find new income streams.
In conclusion, he said: "The Museums Association wants to work with ACE and prepare a strategy on how to present a convincing case for government public funding and private sector investment in a modern museums service for the nation, for the 21st century."
To download the speech in full, please click here (word)
For more on the MA's work on sustainability, click here
"The MA is a leading member of representatives of the museums and galleries sector that have a regular dialogue with government and other major funders in order to achieve acknowledgement of the social, economic and cultural contribution that museums make to society," he said. "That acknowledgement should, we of course argue, be accompanied by appropriate investment in what we do."
However, he added, investment does not necessarily mean government investment. Commercial activities should not be seen as a bolt-on, he said, but an important part of a museum's sustainability, and increasingly museums are looking to find new income streams.
In conclusion, he said: "The Museums Association wants to work with ACE and prepare a strategy on how to present a convincing case for government public funding and private sector investment in a modern museums service for the nation, for the 21st century."
To download the speech in full, please click here (word)
For more on the MA's work on sustainability, click here
