“The first step was a process of survival,” Anderson says. “The capital programme became the catalyst for the survival of all elements of the arts service. The second step was the challenge of local authority savings.
“We realised that the public was better served by the coming together of creative minds and staff teams, and we preserved 84% of the workforce.”
Sefton Council is the principal funder of The Atkinson, which recently launched a fundraising development trust to access funding from trusts and foundations.
Wandsworth Museum in south west London, which houses local heritage items, announced plans earlier this year to merge with Battersea Arts Centre (BAC), offering “an integrated programme of culture and heritage”.
Wandsworth Museum was run by Wandsworth council, which decided to close it in 2008. It reopened in May 2010 as a trust following support from philanthropist Michael Hintze, but closed again in June 2013.
Sue Walker, the director of Wandsworth Museum, says that the BAC partnership is in transition as part of a strategic planning phase. This involves “working on a new interpretation of the collection”, which is in storage off-site.
During the transition year, artefacts will be drawn from the off-site storage unit and incorporated into projects and performances. Objects will also be displayed in BAC.
The two organisations will fully merge next spring. The museum has received donations of £3.2m from organisations including the Hintze Family Charitable foundation, of which £295,000 is pledged to BAC.
The merger is set to go ahead despite a fire at BAC in March that destroyed the venue’s Grand Hall and Lower Hall. “The partnership is unaffected by the fire,” Walker says. “The merger is about resilience and sustainability and also, we hope, an example of how small, local history museums can be more flexible, creative, relevant and sustainable.”
But Bridget Mckenzie, the author of Museums for the Future, strikes a note of caution.
“I’m keen to see collections reinterpreted, creatively displayed and given contemporary resonance, but there could be a risk of losing traditional expertise or even basic facilities regarding information management, conservation and research,” she says.
“We realised that the public was better served by the coming together of creative minds and staff teams, and we preserved 84% of the workforce.”
Sefton Council is the principal funder of The Atkinson, which recently launched a fundraising development trust to access funding from trusts and foundations.
Wandsworth Museum in south west London, which houses local heritage items, announced plans earlier this year to merge with Battersea Arts Centre (BAC), offering “an integrated programme of culture and heritage”.
Wandsworth Museum was run by Wandsworth council, which decided to close it in 2008. It reopened in May 2010 as a trust following support from philanthropist Michael Hintze, but closed again in June 2013.
Sue Walker, the director of Wandsworth Museum, says that the BAC partnership is in transition as part of a strategic planning phase. This involves “working on a new interpretation of the collection”, which is in storage off-site.
During the transition year, artefacts will be drawn from the off-site storage unit and incorporated into projects and performances. Objects will also be displayed in BAC.
The two organisations will fully merge next spring. The museum has received donations of £3.2m from organisations including the Hintze Family Charitable foundation, of which £295,000 is pledged to BAC.
The merger is set to go ahead despite a fire at BAC in March that destroyed the venue’s Grand Hall and Lower Hall. “The partnership is unaffected by the fire,” Walker says. “The merger is about resilience and sustainability and also, we hope, an example of how small, local history museums can be more flexible, creative, relevant and sustainable.”
But Bridget Mckenzie, the author of Museums for the Future, strikes a note of caution.
“I’m keen to see collections reinterpreted, creatively displayed and given contemporary resonance, but there could be a risk of losing traditional expertise or even basic facilities regarding information management, conservation and research,” she says.