The financial year that began last month has heralded another raft of budget cuts for a number of UK museums funded by local authorities.
The Museum of Lead Mining in Wanlockhead, Scotland, and Wiltshire’s Trowbridge Museum are both facing cuts imposed by local authorities.
Wisbech and Fenland Museum in Cambridgeshire is also having to address funding cuts after Fenland District Council removed its annual grant of about £46,000 last year. But the museum has received financial support from Historic England for repairs and Wisbech Town Council has increased its annual grant to the museum from £5,000 to £20,000.
Earlier this year, the Local Government Information Unit and the Municipal Journal found 80% of councils fear for their financial stability.
Northamptonshire County Council was recently forced to suspend its £20,000-a-year grant to Museums Development East Midlands for its work with the training and development of museums in the region, as a result of severe financial challenges. Surrey Heritage, which oversees the county’s heritage conservation team at the Surrey History Centre, as well as the Surrey County Archaeological Unit, suffered recent cuts of £85,000.
Gerald Vernon-Jackson, a councillor at Portsmouth City Council and vice-chairman of the Local Government Association, says: “There isn’t going to be much change, in reality. I think the continuing pressure on local authority budgets will continue.
“The big issue for local authorities is that there is more and more demand on social services, and it’s a demand that is difficult not to serve. You can’t not do child protection investigations.
It’s going to continue to prove a real problem for council spending.
“Extra funding to go into culture and the arts is very difficult. I don’t think there’s any way of gilding that lily – that’s how it is. Councils in England put about £1bn a year into cultural services but that’s going to continue to be under significant pressure.
“Many council-run and supported museums have responded to budget pressures in recent years by working in new and different ways, such as sharing services, generating extra income and working with volunteers.”
Sue Thiedeman, the head of culture and visitor economy at Barnsley Council and a national executive member of the Chief Cultural & Leisure Officers Association, says: “Local authorities are under a lot of pressure, and other public services as well. It’s always in the news. Museums can be seen as an easy target.”
Investing in museums
In Barnsley, the museum service has benefited from becoming an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation for 2018-22.
“Barnsley has seen the importance of arts and culture and has invested in it,” says Thiedeman. “It’s been linking our museums to our council’s priorities, such
as a vibrant and thriving economy. We’re getting the relevance of the wider value across. We made ourselves as lean as possible and built our resilience through raising money via other routes and building on the council’s investment in feasibility studies to research other income-generating strands.”
Thiedeman says the less money given to the provision of culture, the harder it is to apply for grants and to undertake outreach work to engage local communities.
“It becomes a vicious cycle,” she says. “In our case, the council is seeing we can meet our priorities of people achieving their potential and resilient communities.”
The Museums Association is holding a one-day conference, People Power: Embedding Community Participation, at Glasgow Concert Halls on 12 September.
The Museum of Lead Mining in Wanlockhead, Scotland, and Wiltshire’s Trowbridge Museum are both facing cuts imposed by local authorities.
Wisbech and Fenland Museum in Cambridgeshire is also having to address funding cuts after Fenland District Council removed its annual grant of about £46,000 last year. But the museum has received financial support from Historic England for repairs and Wisbech Town Council has increased its annual grant to the museum from £5,000 to £20,000.
Earlier this year, the Local Government Information Unit and the Municipal Journal found 80% of councils fear for their financial stability.
Northamptonshire County Council was recently forced to suspend its £20,000-a-year grant to Museums Development East Midlands for its work with the training and development of museums in the region, as a result of severe financial challenges. Surrey Heritage, which oversees the county’s heritage conservation team at the Surrey History Centre, as well as the Surrey County Archaeological Unit, suffered recent cuts of £85,000.
Gerald Vernon-Jackson, a councillor at Portsmouth City Council and vice-chairman of the Local Government Association, says: “There isn’t going to be much change, in reality. I think the continuing pressure on local authority budgets will continue.
“The big issue for local authorities is that there is more and more demand on social services, and it’s a demand that is difficult not to serve. You can’t not do child protection investigations.
It’s going to continue to prove a real problem for council spending.
“Extra funding to go into culture and the arts is very difficult. I don’t think there’s any way of gilding that lily – that’s how it is. Councils in England put about £1bn a year into cultural services but that’s going to continue to be under significant pressure.
“Many council-run and supported museums have responded to budget pressures in recent years by working in new and different ways, such as sharing services, generating extra income and working with volunteers.”
Sue Thiedeman, the head of culture and visitor economy at Barnsley Council and a national executive member of the Chief Cultural & Leisure Officers Association, says: “Local authorities are under a lot of pressure, and other public services as well. It’s always in the news. Museums can be seen as an easy target.”
Investing in museums
In Barnsley, the museum service has benefited from becoming an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation for 2018-22.
“Barnsley has seen the importance of arts and culture and has invested in it,” says Thiedeman. “It’s been linking our museums to our council’s priorities, such
as a vibrant and thriving economy. We’re getting the relevance of the wider value across. We made ourselves as lean as possible and built our resilience through raising money via other routes and building on the council’s investment in feasibility studies to research other income-generating strands.”
Thiedeman says the less money given to the provision of culture, the harder it is to apply for grants and to undertake outreach work to engage local communities.
“It becomes a vicious cycle,” she says. “In our case, the council is seeing we can meet our priorities of people achieving their potential and resilient communities.”
The Museums Association is holding a one-day conference, People Power: Embedding Community Participation, at Glasgow Concert Halls on 12 September.