Independence day

Life as part of a trust did not start particularly smoothly for museums in Luton. Museums, libraries and the arts left local authority control in March 2008, but not long after the chief executive of Luton Cultural Services Trust moved on. As Maggie Appleton, the trust’s current head, says: “Brand new trust, charity, no chief executive – blimey.”

Blimey indeed, but there were also other issues to deal with. “There are always going to be things you didn’t see, particularly because it was such early days for trusts,” says Appleton, who first joined Luton as director of museums in 2003 and became interim chief executive of the trust before securing the job permanently in October 2008. “Some of the things, when we look back, seem quite obvious. But the council did not foresee all of them.”

VAT and the amount that a trust can claim back compared with a local authority were among the issues that had to be dealt with. Nevertheless, Appleton is enthusiastic about the benefits of moving to trust status.

“We are in a much more positive place and it is because we have the power over our own destiny that you don’t have in a local authority,” she says. “Now, when we cock up it’s our cock up, and the opportunity to do that is immense. But it is about making sure you have the right people and the right skills in place, and using that flexibility to do what we feel is right for the service. It is liberating.”

Freedom, flexibility and a strong sense of purpose are great things, but there are risks in moving to trust status. These include the possibility of a reduction in core funding from the local authority, too much reliance on external project funding and changes in taxation.

Some museum trusts are having a hard time. Staff at Museums Sheffield have just agreed to cuts in working hours and salaries to help fill the financial hole created by a reduction in local authority funding.

And Culture and Sport Glasgow, the trust that runs museums in the city, is closing five venues on a Monday from 1 April as part of wider cost-cutting measures by the city council. Luton seems to be in quite a good position as it has a 25-year agreement with the council with funding reviews every five years, although Appleton is not complacent.

“There are huge financial questions facing us on lots of fronts,” she says. “What none of us can do is sit back and wait for it to happen. It is about forward thinking and being positive but not naïve.”

Appleton feels that being a trust will allow Luton to act creatively and flexibly to deal with future financial challenges. “We have got to make sure that we respond in a way that is going to serve us in the long-term and be sustainable. We are not going to make knee-jerk reactions and make cuts that threaten the service.”

Like many others working in regional museums, one of Appleton’s major worries is the future direction and funding of Renaissance in the Regions. As a hub museum service, Luton is among those that has really benefited from the funding that Renaissance has provided. Collections development, education and partnership working are among the areas that Appleton says have improved.

“What’s clear is that Renaissance is changing and it is going to change dramatically, but reading the runes is not very easy,” Appleton says.

Appleton joined Luton when the Renaissance programme was just beginning and it was obvious that the museum service was going to be one of the hubs.

“Renaissance was kicking off, so it was really exciting,” she says. “It was the perfect next move for me and this is such an interesting place to work because of the diversity of the population and the brilliant sites that we have got.”

Appleton started at Luton when the finishing touches were being made to the first-floor galleries at Wardown Park Museum. “I came in at the perfect time. I was here for the last few weeks of it, rolled up my sleeves and I did lots of nice curatorial stuff, as it was all-hands on deck.”

Luton Cultural Services Trust now employs 270 people and has two museum sites, including Stockwood Discovery Centre, which reopened in July 2008 after Appleton oversaw a £6.5m redevelopment. The service is well known for its transport and hats collections.

Appleton joined Luton from nearby Stevenage Borough Council where she was cultural services manager. She arrived at Stevenage Museum in 1991 as an assistant curator following a short time in her first paid museum job as an assistant registrar at the Royal Armouries, when it was still based at the Tower of London.

“Stevenage was just so exciting and it really confirmed my views about how museums can engage with communities and really make a difference,” Appleton says. “It was absolutely community focused, and really engaged a broad range of people. It was doing all those sort of things that instinctively mattered to me.”

Her time at Stevenage also turned her attention to Luton Town, the football club her husband and his family support. But Appleton’s real loyalty is to Preston North End, her team when growing up in the North West. Both clubs are currently struggling to relive former glories after going through difficult financial periods.

Museums are currently facing an uncertain financial future themselves, but Appleton is hoping that Luton’s cultural service will be able to raise its game to tackle the difficult circumstances that lie ahead.

“If we are looking at reductions in the future let’s be more creative about how we run ourselves. We have also got to focus on what is really important to us.”

It’s not all doom and gloom and Appleton has lots of exciting projects to look forward to. These include Stories of the World, a series of exhibitions taking place across the country in the run-up to the London Olympics in 2012. Luton’s contribution will be the creation of a decorated Bedford truck.

Truck art is a big thing in Pakistan and there are links to people from that country living in Luton, and the local production of Bedford vehicles. Further ahead, discussions have started about developing Wardown Park. These, like other projects Appleton has worked on, will have a strong community involvement.

“When we were developing Stockwood Discovery Centre we were really clear that the stories we told should not just be about people, but developed with them. And when people come though the doors and you see that reflected back, it is really fulfilling.”

After periods as a trainee manager at Sainsbury’s and a pharmaceutical sales representative, Maggie Appleton’s first paid museum job was in 1991 as an assistant registrar at the Royal Armouries when it was still based in the Tower of London.

Appleton left after six months to join Stevenage Museum as an assistant curator. She stayed at Stevenage for 11 years, eventually becoming cultural services manager for the borough council.

She became director of Museums Luton in 2003. During her time there she has helped secure the Wenlok Jug for Luton after it was export stopped in 2006. She also oversaw the development of the £6.5m Stockwood Discovery Centre.

Appleton became chief executive of the Luton Cultural Services Trust in October 2008.

She was born in Kirkham, Lancashire, in 1965 and studied medieval  and modern history at the University of Liverpool.