Robinson points to inequalities in sector
Geraldine Kendall, 14.06.2010
Gap between public and private museums widening, Tourism Alliance chief tells AIM conference
Tourism Alliance chairman Ken Robinson told an audience at the Association of Independent Museums (AIM) conference earlier this month that an enormous disparity has grown between public institutions and private museums.
In his keynote speech, he said that many of the Labour government’s policies had served to increase inequality in the sector: “The playing field is now extremely uneven between public museums that receive grant-in-aid and gift aid, and private museums that have to charge market rates in order to survive.”
He was also critical of Labour’s introduction of free admission in 2001, telling the conference: “The free museums policy has totally failed in its original objective.”
Though visitor rates had risen, he said, the policy had not reached the government’s original demographic targets and was forcing many museums to miss out on income from people who would be willing to pay.
Robinson instead advocated that all museums - both public and private - be free to UK residents at specific times, or for specific demographic groups, but should otherwise be allowed to charge.
But the Museums Association’s director Mark Taylor said: “I am not aware of independent museums being severely impacted by free admission to nationals.
“It is true that free entry did not have as much impact on the diversity of museum visitors as it should have had but it still pushed the number of visitors up by more than 50 per cent.”
Robinson’s keynote also addressed the “phenomenal growth” in tourist attractions, the number of which has risen much faster than the rate of visitors. Around 70 per cent of all current visitor attractions opened in the last thirty years, he said.
According to Robinson, the market is now at saturation point and independent museums must focus on the tourist economy and get “more in touch with their visitors” to remain relevant.
The director of the Museum of East Anglian Life, Tony Butler, commenting on the speech on Twitter during the conference, disagreed with what he referred to as Robinson’s “neoliberalist” outlook.
Speaking to the Museums Association afterwards, Butler said that though many independent museums rely on tourism, many AIM members had “a more nuanced arrangement with local authority agendas as well as the tourist economy that goes beyond the merely transactional”.
Using his own museum and Northumberland’s Woodhorn as examples, Butler said that many independent museums receive subsidies and are able to provide “local services for local people in a more imaginative and economical way” than public sector bodies.
The MA’s head of policy and communications, Maurice Davies, said: “There is - and always has been - an uneven playing field, but a great many independent museums are brilliant at succeeding in the market.
“With the increase in stay-at-home tourism there's every reason to think that independents will continue to thrive as long as they keep refreshing what they offer.”
Picture: (c) Museum of East Anglian Life
In his keynote speech, he said that many of the Labour government’s policies had served to increase inequality in the sector: “The playing field is now extremely uneven between public museums that receive grant-in-aid and gift aid, and private museums that have to charge market rates in order to survive.”
He was also critical of Labour’s introduction of free admission in 2001, telling the conference: “The free museums policy has totally failed in its original objective.”
Though visitor rates had risen, he said, the policy had not reached the government’s original demographic targets and was forcing many museums to miss out on income from people who would be willing to pay.
Robinson instead advocated that all museums - both public and private - be free to UK residents at specific times, or for specific demographic groups, but should otherwise be allowed to charge.
But the Museums Association’s director Mark Taylor said: “I am not aware of independent museums being severely impacted by free admission to nationals.
“It is true that free entry did not have as much impact on the diversity of museum visitors as it should have had but it still pushed the number of visitors up by more than 50 per cent.”
Phenomenal growth
Robinson’s keynote also addressed the “phenomenal growth” in tourist attractions, the number of which has risen much faster than the rate of visitors. Around 70 per cent of all current visitor attractions opened in the last thirty years, he said.
According to Robinson, the market is now at saturation point and independent museums must focus on the tourist economy and get “more in touch with their visitors” to remain relevant.
The director of the Museum of East Anglian Life, Tony Butler, commenting on the speech on Twitter during the conference, disagreed with what he referred to as Robinson’s “neoliberalist” outlook.
Speaking to the Museums Association afterwards, Butler said that though many independent museums rely on tourism, many AIM members had “a more nuanced arrangement with local authority agendas as well as the tourist economy that goes beyond the merely transactional”.
Using his own museum and Northumberland’s Woodhorn as examples, Butler said that many independent museums receive subsidies and are able to provide “local services for local people in a more imaginative and economical way” than public sector bodies.
The MA’s head of policy and communications, Maurice Davies, said: “There is - and always has been - an uneven playing field, but a great many independent museums are brilliant at succeeding in the market.
“With the increase in stay-at-home tourism there's every reason to think that independents will continue to thrive as long as they keep refreshing what they offer.”
Picture: (c) Museum of East Anglian Life
