The policy column
Strategy must relate spending to public needs
Some people in the sector have been pressing for a national strategy for museums for years – not a “ top down” imposition, but a strategy based on the idea that there is a purpose to public spending on museums that is related to public need.
It has long seemed to me that the only argument that might impress Treasury officials when they ask “why do we spend these sums on museums?” and “how are they allocated?” is one that indicates that there is a thought-through policy. They don’t just want to be told: “This is how we have always done it. There is no logic to the pattern of spending.”
Imagine my excitement, then, when the Department for Culture, Media and Sport announced that it would review museum provision in England. I hope that this will presage a national plan of action that will lead to a strategy for relating public spending on museums to public need.
To aid the discussions, the Museums Association has helped to convene the Museums Taskforce, which has already met twice. Its membership is diverse and its work will be research-based, covering a wide range of perspectives including, importantly, those of the audience.
Sharing experience across the four nations of the UK will provide invaluable insight, especially in light of the funding problems that are engulfing some parts of the sector. We hope that the taskforce will present its findings in the spring, and provide some solutions to the challenges that we face.
It has long seemed to me that the only argument that might impress Treasury officials when they ask “why do we spend these sums on museums?” and “how are they allocated?” is one that indicates that there is a thought-through policy. They don’t just want to be told: “This is how we have always done it. There is no logic to the pattern of spending.”
Imagine my excitement, then, when the Department for Culture, Media and Sport announced that it would review museum provision in England. I hope that this will presage a national plan of action that will lead to a strategy for relating public spending on museums to public need.
To aid the discussions, the Museums Association has helped to convene the Museums Taskforce, which has already met twice. Its membership is diverse and its work will be research-based, covering a wide range of perspectives including, importantly, those of the audience.
Sharing experience across the four nations of the UK will provide invaluable insight, especially in light of the funding problems that are engulfing some parts of the sector. We hope that the taskforce will present its findings in the spring, and provide some solutions to the challenges that we face.