We are winning the argument for Renaissance funding, says Clare
Patrick Steel, 06.09.2010
MLA chief responds to MA survey findings
Following the publication of the MA’s survey last week, which found that a 25 per cent cut to Renaissance funding would have a devastating impact on regional museums, Roy Clare, chief executive of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), said he thought the MLA was winning the argument for sustained Renaissance funding.
He said: “I understand the tactical attraction of making dire public warnings about the consequences of severe spending cuts, but that doesn’t detract from the need to deal with the realities.
”Maybe it’s an inevitable consequence of a box ticking questionnaire, but it read to me as if the respondents had been stuck in a box immune to all the public debate that has happened since the credit crunch.
”I do not believe the best way to make the case for Renaissance (certainly in talks with ministers and local government leaders) is to threaten that a withdrawal of funding will lead to regional museums putting the clock back a decade, mothballing objects and retrenching into a world where museums keep things first, and serve the public last.
“We all know significant cuts are unfortunately inevitable, not least with the financial pressures town halls are under. As MLA set out in its publication ‘Sharper Investment’ published in the Spring, the sector has to work out how to re-model services within reducing resources around the needs of the public.
”We will win the survival of Renaissance and a fairer slice of the cake by demonstrating we are determined to make the cash go further, to innovate, to be entrepreneurial and make the end product more accessible and attractive, not less so.
”I am optimistic that that we are winning the argument for sustained Renaissance funding, because we can point to museum services that have used the cash to become more outgoing - forming partnerships, spreading new ideas, and exciting the public – and we can therefore legitimately promise to do more with less.”
But Mark Taylor, the MA’s director, speaking on Radio 4 last week, said that disproportionate cuts would reduce visitor numbers, limit school visits and events, and banish collections back to the basement.
“Not once have we said that museums should not be cut, but someone had to assess the likely impact of the cuts,” he added today. “How can museums make decisions if they have no idea of the implications of what is to come? I do not think Roy Clare’s remarks will be well received by the museum sector.”
The Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee has launched an inquiry into funding for Arts and Heritage, for which the MA made its submission last week, flagging up the findings of the survey, and making the case for maintaining support for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland after the demise of the MLA.
To hear Mark Taylor discuss the cuts on Radio 4, click here (24.20)
To download the survey, please click here (pdf)
He said: “I understand the tactical attraction of making dire public warnings about the consequences of severe spending cuts, but that doesn’t detract from the need to deal with the realities.
”Maybe it’s an inevitable consequence of a box ticking questionnaire, but it read to me as if the respondents had been stuck in a box immune to all the public debate that has happened since the credit crunch.
”I do not believe the best way to make the case for Renaissance (certainly in talks with ministers and local government leaders) is to threaten that a withdrawal of funding will lead to regional museums putting the clock back a decade, mothballing objects and retrenching into a world where museums keep things first, and serve the public last.
“We all know significant cuts are unfortunately inevitable, not least with the financial pressures town halls are under. As MLA set out in its publication ‘Sharper Investment’ published in the Spring, the sector has to work out how to re-model services within reducing resources around the needs of the public.
”We will win the survival of Renaissance and a fairer slice of the cake by demonstrating we are determined to make the cash go further, to innovate, to be entrepreneurial and make the end product more accessible and attractive, not less so.
”I am optimistic that that we are winning the argument for sustained Renaissance funding, because we can point to museum services that have used the cash to become more outgoing - forming partnerships, spreading new ideas, and exciting the public – and we can therefore legitimately promise to do more with less.”
But Mark Taylor, the MA’s director, speaking on Radio 4 last week, said that disproportionate cuts would reduce visitor numbers, limit school visits and events, and banish collections back to the basement.
“Not once have we said that museums should not be cut, but someone had to assess the likely impact of the cuts,” he added today. “How can museums make decisions if they have no idea of the implications of what is to come? I do not think Roy Clare’s remarks will be well received by the museum sector.”
The Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee has launched an inquiry into funding for Arts and Heritage, for which the MA made its submission last week, flagging up the findings of the survey, and making the case for maintaining support for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland after the demise of the MLA.
To hear Mark Taylor discuss the cuts on Radio 4, click here (24.20)
To download the survey, please click here (pdf)
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