Civic museums in England are coming together to make the case against further cuts, look at ways of increasing and diversifying their income, and discuss best practice and new ways of working.
Awarded £30,000 by Arts Council England for the 2015-16 financial year, the Civic Museums Leadership Network comprises more than 30 local authority and former local authority museums across England.
Birmingham Museums Trust (BMT) is leading the initiative and has appointed David Bryan from consultancy Xtend to facilitate the network and establish a steering group to take it forward.
Ellen McAdam, BMT’s director, says the network has been inspired, in part, by the success of Women Leaders in Museums network, which she found “a great way to exchange views and ask advice in an informal atmosphere”.
The network is to have its first formal meeting this month at Bexley Heritage Trust. The trust’s chief executive, Caroline Worthington, says she would like to see the network offer “peer support and a place to test and discuss ideas in response to the current economic climate”.
The network will be open to any local authority museums that are either in trust, thinking about moving to trust or looking at ways to become more commercial. Its scope will be established by Bryan’s steering group, which should be in place before the end of the financial year.
For McAdam, a key aim of the network is the development of more effective advocacy for civic museums. Tony Butler, the executive director of Derby Museums, which was integral in setting up the network, agrees with this but would also like to see more consistent data gathered as evidence, to make the case to the government.
McAdam and Butler believe that the network can become self-financing.
The seeds of the network were sown last June, when Derby Museums hosted about 30 museum directors to discuss the future in a funding climate where museums faced large budget cuts or, like Derby, proposals to end local authority subsidy completely.
Local authority museums will suffer further, with the local government grant set to fall by 53% between 2015-16 and 2019-20, with non-statutory services bearing the brunt of the cut.
A further meeting at the Museums Association’s conference in Birmingham in November saw the network secure arts council funding.
Lack of national voice
Since the demise of the Group of Large Local Authority Museums, civic museums have been lacking a dedicated national voice, although the Group of Small Local Authority Museums still exists for its 10 members. The hope is that the Civic Museums Leadership Network’s advocacy role will overcome the governance, organisational and regional differences between the museums it represents.
Debbie Seymour, the chief executive of Scarborough Museums Trust, says: “It is not about individual areas, but the principle that there should be government support for museums at a regional level.”
McAdam agrees: “We need to make the case that regional museums’ collections are world class. We are sitting on phenomenal riches, and they need to be invested in.”
Awarded £30,000 by Arts Council England for the 2015-16 financial year, the Civic Museums Leadership Network comprises more than 30 local authority and former local authority museums across England.
Birmingham Museums Trust (BMT) is leading the initiative and has appointed David Bryan from consultancy Xtend to facilitate the network and establish a steering group to take it forward.
Ellen McAdam, BMT’s director, says the network has been inspired, in part, by the success of Women Leaders in Museums network, which she found “a great way to exchange views and ask advice in an informal atmosphere”.
The network is to have its first formal meeting this month at Bexley Heritage Trust. The trust’s chief executive, Caroline Worthington, says she would like to see the network offer “peer support and a place to test and discuss ideas in response to the current economic climate”.
The network will be open to any local authority museums that are either in trust, thinking about moving to trust or looking at ways to become more commercial. Its scope will be established by Bryan’s steering group, which should be in place before the end of the financial year.
For McAdam, a key aim of the network is the development of more effective advocacy for civic museums. Tony Butler, the executive director of Derby Museums, which was integral in setting up the network, agrees with this but would also like to see more consistent data gathered as evidence, to make the case to the government.
McAdam and Butler believe that the network can become self-financing.
The seeds of the network were sown last June, when Derby Museums hosted about 30 museum directors to discuss the future in a funding climate where museums faced large budget cuts or, like Derby, proposals to end local authority subsidy completely.
Local authority museums will suffer further, with the local government grant set to fall by 53% between 2015-16 and 2019-20, with non-statutory services bearing the brunt of the cut.
A further meeting at the Museums Association’s conference in Birmingham in November saw the network secure arts council funding.
Lack of national voice
Since the demise of the Group of Large Local Authority Museums, civic museums have been lacking a dedicated national voice, although the Group of Small Local Authority Museums still exists for its 10 members. The hope is that the Civic Museums Leadership Network’s advocacy role will overcome the governance, organisational and regional differences between the museums it represents.
Debbie Seymour, the chief executive of Scarborough Museums Trust, says: “It is not about individual areas, but the principle that there should be government support for museums at a regional level.”
McAdam agrees: “We need to make the case that regional museums’ collections are world class. We are sitting on phenomenal riches, and they need to be invested in.”
