‘Non-hubs are the losers’ in Renaissance in the Regions shakedown
Delays and uncertainty over future of regional programme as funding is cut
After yesterday’s announcement that Renaissance funding to hub museums is to be cut to a total pot of £34.5m, hub managers have told Museums Journal that uncertainty over the future of the Renaissance in the Regions programme is jeopardising forward planning.
Janet Thompson, hub manager for Renaissance Yorkshire, said: “This year is being called a transition year, but nobody is quite sure what we are transitioning into.
”We are getting rid of the central hub operations before anything is there to take their place, and the staff at the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) don’t know if they are going to the Arts Council England or the job centre.”
Jo Warr, hub manager for Renaissance East of England, said: “We are waiting to see the guidance on how things develop with the Arts Council, and waiting to find out the road map in terms of core museum guidance.”
A number of hub managers privately expressed frustration with what one described as “announcements that keep rolling backwards”. Another hub manager told the Museums Journal: “There are discussions happening now [over Renaissance] that should have happened in the autumn.”
Coupled with uncertainty over the future, the budget cuts would be most likely to affect smaller museums, said Thompson: “I think the losers in this region are non-hub museums. Previously funds were diverted to non-hubs through programmes that gave them access to sizeable amounts, in the region of £10-15k, and that’s what has gone.
“And looking at the Museum Development Officer budget, the allocation is enough to keep people on, but not enough to provide chunks [of funding] for the rest of the region.”
The MLA was originally going to put the museum development programme out to tender but announced in January this year that it would instead give the programme to hub museums, a move that an MLA spokeswoman said was not a U-turn, but a “gentle use of the footbrake while continuing to move forward”. The budget for museum development remains unchanged at £3m for 2011/12.
The spokeswoman added that most hub business plans for the coming year were now in, but that they would all be signed off by Thursday 31 March.
Purchase Grant Fund
There was more bad news for the English regions in yesterday’s budget as it was announced that the Purchase Grant Fund (PGF) would be cut by 33% and would be funded from Renaissance money.
Stephen Deuchar, the director of the Art Fund, said: “We have recently heard that the already diminished pot of the PGF, which is the only designated fund for regional acquisitions in England and in Wales, is to be chopped further, the presumption being that Art Fund philanthropists and other supporters will step in and fill the gap.
“When responsibility for the PGF is passed to the Arts Council, we hope that this downward spiral in funding, down from a high of £1.6m 30 years ago to a pitiful £600,000 now, will not continue.”
For more news of the Renaissance budget settlement, click here
Janet Thompson, hub manager for Renaissance Yorkshire, said: “This year is being called a transition year, but nobody is quite sure what we are transitioning into.
”We are getting rid of the central hub operations before anything is there to take their place, and the staff at the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) don’t know if they are going to the Arts Council England or the job centre.”
Jo Warr, hub manager for Renaissance East of England, said: “We are waiting to see the guidance on how things develop with the Arts Council, and waiting to find out the road map in terms of core museum guidance.”
A number of hub managers privately expressed frustration with what one described as “announcements that keep rolling backwards”. Another hub manager told the Museums Journal: “There are discussions happening now [over Renaissance] that should have happened in the autumn.”
Coupled with uncertainty over the future, the budget cuts would be most likely to affect smaller museums, said Thompson: “I think the losers in this region are non-hub museums. Previously funds were diverted to non-hubs through programmes that gave them access to sizeable amounts, in the region of £10-15k, and that’s what has gone.
“And looking at the Museum Development Officer budget, the allocation is enough to keep people on, but not enough to provide chunks [of funding] for the rest of the region.”
The MLA was originally going to put the museum development programme out to tender but announced in January this year that it would instead give the programme to hub museums, a move that an MLA spokeswoman said was not a U-turn, but a “gentle use of the footbrake while continuing to move forward”. The budget for museum development remains unchanged at £3m for 2011/12.
The spokeswoman added that most hub business plans for the coming year were now in, but that they would all be signed off by Thursday 31 March.
Purchase Grant Fund
There was more bad news for the English regions in yesterday’s budget as it was announced that the Purchase Grant Fund (PGF) would be cut by 33% and would be funded from Renaissance money.
Stephen Deuchar, the director of the Art Fund, said: “We have recently heard that the already diminished pot of the PGF, which is the only designated fund for regional acquisitions in England and in Wales, is to be chopped further, the presumption being that Art Fund philanthropists and other supporters will step in and fill the gap.
“When responsibility for the PGF is passed to the Arts Council, we hope that this downward spiral in funding, down from a high of £1.6m 30 years ago to a pitiful £600,000 now, will not continue.”
For more news of the Renaissance budget settlement, click here