Editorial - Museums Association

Conference 2024: The Joy of Museums booking open now – Book before 31 March 2024 for a 10% discount

Conference 2024: The Joy of Museums booking open now – Book before 31 March 2024 for a 10% discount

Editorial

New Year's resolutions could cheer us all up

After all the festivities, it can be miserable going back to work, and it’s easy for the blues to kick in.

In the midst of the cuts, and the continued uncertainty about everything, from what your budget will be to who will be left standing to actually open the doors to the public, it’s useful to conjure up some New Year’s resolutions for ourselves and others. Here are a few to be going on with.

- Don’t take the cuts lying down – accolades and “thank-yous” will be cold comfort when your post has been deleted and the museum is closed.
- Cultural learning is a good thing – but we don’t need “rigour” thank-you-very-much Michael Gove. What museums and galleries need is political support and continued funding for this area of work. 
- Tax breaks to encourage giving are nice (at least for those fortunate enough to be able to access them), but the government should remember that philanthropy outside London is a different ball game; private subsidy cannot replace public investment.
- The Big Society should not be used as an excuse to replace paid staff with volunteers – we did warn this would happen (see p5).
- National-regional partnerships should be meaningful: not all the knowledge, skills and expertise resides with the nationals. The last thing that regional museums need is to be patronised by the big boys.
- Clarity about the “New Renaissance” – a timetable, the amount of cash available and the criteria for getting hold of it are needed asap (see p15).
- Finally, put a national strategy for museums together. Can someone, anyone, please just do this.

Chance to have your say

This year is going to be a rollercoaster ride of cuts, policy initiatives and different types of business models.

The Museums Association’s annual conference is a great opportunity to discuss all this and more, and the call for proposals is now open.

Click here to find out more about proposing a session for conference

Sharon Heal, editor,  Museums Journal

sharon@museumsassociation.org

www.twitter.com/sharonheal



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