Unexpected or variable fees and costs are still one of the biggest challenges for museums that want to borrow, according to the Touring Exhibition Group’s (TEG) 2017 Lending and Borrowing Experiences Report.
The report also found that the most common reason for a loan request to be turned down was because it couldn’t be lent – suggesting that museums are not doing enough upfront research before putting in applications.
Despite the challenges, there are some excellent examples where museums and galleries have thought big and been successful.
Co-originated by Mark Doyle and Sebastien Montabonel and led by Museums Sheffield, the pioneering Going Public: International Art Collectors in Sheffield project was launched in 2015 to bring privately-owned works to public display.
The resulting exhibition, Going Public: International Art Collectors (September-December 2015) was spread across five Sheffield venues and included works by artists such as Marcel Duchamp, Sarah Lucas, Maurizio Cattelan, and the Chapman brothers, lent by high-profile art collectors.
Kirstie Hamilton, the head of exhibitions and displays at Museums Sheffield, believes there is a need to reconnect museums with private collectors.
“Our civic collections are based on collections from private philanthropists,” she says. “We felt that somewhere along the line there had become a disconnect.”
Hamilton says London museums are good at forging relationships with private collectors, but relationships are harder to find the English regions. She believes that, In the current funding climate, the mantra of “If you don’t ask, you don’t get”, is one to abide by.
“Most non-national museums don’t, as a rule, have acquisition budgets and it is very expensive to be purchasing work as the market has soared,” she says. “A lot could be lost to the private art world, so it’s about encouraging them to share artworks with the public.”
Fortunately, many collectors agree. Among the Sheffield participants were the Paris-based Dominique and Sylvain Levy, whose DSL Collection majors on contemporary Chinese art. Sylvain Levy says: “From the beginning we decided to have a ‘nomadic’ collection with no specific place or city: it’s very important to go where the people are and not to wait for the people to come to you.”
All four lenders were showing their collections outside London for the first time and none had visited Sheffield before. “It’s been interesting for them to see how centralised the UK is compared with, for example, France or Germany,” says Hamilton.
The success of the project was underlined by extensive press coverage, including articles in the Financial Times and the New York Times. Hamilton’s advice for any museum seeking similar partnerships is to get in touch as Museums Sheffield wants to share its learning.
Scale up
Another ambitious example last summer saw Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums (Twam) stage Hadrian’s Cavalry in 10 institutions in northern England, with more than 80 artefacts from museums across Europe.
Bill Griffiths, Twam’s head of programmes and the project chair, says the scale of the project – 18 months in planning – allowed it to show off “the blingiest part of the Roman army” in what he describes as a “dispersed exhibition”.
“It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to see all this stuff together,” he says. “People were very willing to loan as they saw this as being something very different. We were quite astounded – I think we expected their reaction to be, ‘you want to do what?’”
Griffiths says his message is that “you can achieve more in partnership”. His tip is to make sure all partners are equal and to be clear to donors about what you want to achieve. “Instead of just saying you want this, tell them why. We don’t often say why this will be exciting.”
Lisa Keys, a director of Minerva Heritage, which advised on the project, says that the team was able to secure pretty much everything it asked for in terms of objects to borrow. “We asked and we asked hard,” she says.
Keys says trustees also need to be convinced about the value of loans.
“You have to evaluate the cost, staff time needed and how it will enhance your reputation,” she says. “If you can’t, they will ask ‘why are you doing this?’”
She advises anyone seeking to borrow on whatever scale to “have an understanding of what you want and why you want it”.
“Next, understand the process of lending and borrowing,” Keys continues. “Each lender will change their requirements from time to time on things like display cases, security, lighting and humidity, so have your own facilities reports updated every year.”
Keys says it is vital to have an up-to-date inventory for transport and insurance. Collecting objects for Hadrian’s Cavalry meant sending transport between several museums in Europe and arranging secure overnight storage en route.
Keys’ other tips are to always have one point of contact and to plan well in advance, particularly if wanting star attractions from abroad where export licences are required. In this case, 18 months of planning meant they were just about in time.
The TEG’s Charlotte Dew also has advice about timing. “Published lead-in times are really misleading,” she warns. “Six months starts when your formal letter lands on the desk of the right person. Before that, there is an expectation that you will have had an informal conversation. When you know the sector, you realise it’s six months plus another four or five.”
But she adds: “Where the loan has benefits for both parties, they get turned around in a much shorter time.”
The TEG survey identified loan sources, with individual owners or collectors being most popular, with 87% saying they had borrowed from these. National museums or galleries were next (84%), while commercial galleries were the least popular source, with only 52% saying they used these.
TEG’s Tips
The report also found that the most common reason for a loan request to be turned down was because it couldn’t be lent – suggesting that museums are not doing enough upfront research before putting in applications.
Despite the challenges, there are some excellent examples where museums and galleries have thought big and been successful.
Co-originated by Mark Doyle and Sebastien Montabonel and led by Museums Sheffield, the pioneering Going Public: International Art Collectors in Sheffield project was launched in 2015 to bring privately-owned works to public display.
The resulting exhibition, Going Public: International Art Collectors (September-December 2015) was spread across five Sheffield venues and included works by artists such as Marcel Duchamp, Sarah Lucas, Maurizio Cattelan, and the Chapman brothers, lent by high-profile art collectors.
Kirstie Hamilton, the head of exhibitions and displays at Museums Sheffield, believes there is a need to reconnect museums with private collectors.
“Our civic collections are based on collections from private philanthropists,” she says. “We felt that somewhere along the line there had become a disconnect.”
Hamilton says London museums are good at forging relationships with private collectors, but relationships are harder to find the English regions. She believes that, In the current funding climate, the mantra of “If you don’t ask, you don’t get”, is one to abide by.
“Most non-national museums don’t, as a rule, have acquisition budgets and it is very expensive to be purchasing work as the market has soared,” she says. “A lot could be lost to the private art world, so it’s about encouraging them to share artworks with the public.”
Fortunately, many collectors agree. Among the Sheffield participants were the Paris-based Dominique and Sylvain Levy, whose DSL Collection majors on contemporary Chinese art. Sylvain Levy says: “From the beginning we decided to have a ‘nomadic’ collection with no specific place or city: it’s very important to go where the people are and not to wait for the people to come to you.”
All four lenders were showing their collections outside London for the first time and none had visited Sheffield before. “It’s been interesting for them to see how centralised the UK is compared with, for example, France or Germany,” says Hamilton.
The success of the project was underlined by extensive press coverage, including articles in the Financial Times and the New York Times. Hamilton’s advice for any museum seeking similar partnerships is to get in touch as Museums Sheffield wants to share its learning.
Scale up
Another ambitious example last summer saw Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums (Twam) stage Hadrian’s Cavalry in 10 institutions in northern England, with more than 80 artefacts from museums across Europe.
Bill Griffiths, Twam’s head of programmes and the project chair, says the scale of the project – 18 months in planning – allowed it to show off “the blingiest part of the Roman army” in what he describes as a “dispersed exhibition”.
“It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to see all this stuff together,” he says. “People were very willing to loan as they saw this as being something very different. We were quite astounded – I think we expected their reaction to be, ‘you want to do what?’”
Griffiths says his message is that “you can achieve more in partnership”. His tip is to make sure all partners are equal and to be clear to donors about what you want to achieve. “Instead of just saying you want this, tell them why. We don’t often say why this will be exciting.”
Lisa Keys, a director of Minerva Heritage, which advised on the project, says that the team was able to secure pretty much everything it asked for in terms of objects to borrow. “We asked and we asked hard,” she says.
Keys says trustees also need to be convinced about the value of loans.
“You have to evaluate the cost, staff time needed and how it will enhance your reputation,” she says. “If you can’t, they will ask ‘why are you doing this?’”
She advises anyone seeking to borrow on whatever scale to “have an understanding of what you want and why you want it”.
“Next, understand the process of lending and borrowing,” Keys continues. “Each lender will change their requirements from time to time on things like display cases, security, lighting and humidity, so have your own facilities reports updated every year.”
Keys says it is vital to have an up-to-date inventory for transport and insurance. Collecting objects for Hadrian’s Cavalry meant sending transport between several museums in Europe and arranging secure overnight storage en route.
Keys’ other tips are to always have one point of contact and to plan well in advance, particularly if wanting star attractions from abroad where export licences are required. In this case, 18 months of planning meant they were just about in time.
The TEG’s Charlotte Dew also has advice about timing. “Published lead-in times are really misleading,” she warns. “Six months starts when your formal letter lands on the desk of the right person. Before that, there is an expectation that you will have had an informal conversation. When you know the sector, you realise it’s six months plus another four or five.”
But she adds: “Where the loan has benefits for both parties, they get turned around in a much shorter time.”
The TEG survey identified loan sources, with individual owners or collectors being most popular, with 87% saying they had borrowed from these. National museums or galleries were next (84%), while commercial galleries were the least popular source, with only 52% saying they used these.
TEG’s Tips
- Not enough information is published online, so don’t underestimate the amount of research time and skills needed.
- Don’t assume that the nationals have the best objects; you may be able to borrow from another regional collection less expensively.
- Use subject specialist networks and professional networks such as the Group for Education in Museums or the University Museums Group to research items and ask for expert help.
- Bring the team with you, so that everyone becomes an advocate of the loan.
