MA calls on members to speak up for Renaissance
Geraldine Kendall, 15.07.2010
Crucial funding programme must be protected from DCMS cuts, says Taylor
With Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) ministers currently deciding where the axe should fall, the MA is urging all members based in England to lobby at grassroots level in support of Renaissance in the Regions.
Due for renewal in March 2011, the Renaissance programme has seen an unprecedented £300m invested in regional museum development, enabling museums to greatly increase their value to the public. Visits to Hub museums are up 42% since 2002/03.
MA director Mark Taylor said: “It is sometimes hard for people to remember what state English regional museums were in before Renaissance transformed them.
“We have to let the policy makers know how terrible it would be if we were to go back to days of leaking roofs, closed galleries, half the number of visitors and inadequate education services.”
According to MA collections coordinator Sally Cross, Renaissance investment in staff development and collections care has enabled the majority of museums in England, not just those receiving direct funding, to improve their services.
Cross said: “Through collections care training, subject specialist advice and support, Museum Development Fund grants – to name just a few - more museums care for their collections and use them with audiences in ways that we couldn’t dream of before Renaissance.”
The MA is currently advocating nationally to secure the future of Renaissance. But there is much that MA members can do at grassroots level, says Caitlin Griffiths, the MA’s head of workforce development and ethics.
Griffiths suggests lobbying local authorities, councillors and MPs, encouraging schools and other visitor groups to highlight how the programme has benefited them, and keeping the press up to date with positive stories about Renaissance-funded work.
She said: “In this time of cuts it is important for all museums who have benefited from Renaissance in some way, and in England that will be the majority, to do something to let decision makers know the value of the programme and the need to keep on funding it.”
Image: Wedgewood Museum
10 good reasons to be advocates for Renaissance (pdf)
Click here for …Love Museums advocacy tips and case studies
Due for renewal in March 2011, the Renaissance programme has seen an unprecedented £300m invested in regional museum development, enabling museums to greatly increase their value to the public. Visits to Hub museums are up 42% since 2002/03.
MA director Mark Taylor said: “It is sometimes hard for people to remember what state English regional museums were in before Renaissance transformed them.
“We have to let the policy makers know how terrible it would be if we were to go back to days of leaking roofs, closed galleries, half the number of visitors and inadequate education services.”
According to MA collections coordinator Sally Cross, Renaissance investment in staff development and collections care has enabled the majority of museums in England, not just those receiving direct funding, to improve their services.
Cross said: “Through collections care training, subject specialist advice and support, Museum Development Fund grants – to name just a few - more museums care for their collections and use them with audiences in ways that we couldn’t dream of before Renaissance.”
The MA is currently advocating nationally to secure the future of Renaissance. But there is much that MA members can do at grassroots level, says Caitlin Griffiths, the MA’s head of workforce development and ethics.
Griffiths suggests lobbying local authorities, councillors and MPs, encouraging schools and other visitor groups to highlight how the programme has benefited them, and keeping the press up to date with positive stories about Renaissance-funded work.
She said: “In this time of cuts it is important for all museums who have benefited from Renaissance in some way, and in England that will be the majority, to do something to let decision makers know the value of the programme and the need to keep on funding it.”
Image: Wedgewood Museum
10 good reasons to be advocates for Renaissance (pdf)
Click here for …Love Museums advocacy tips and case studies
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