Challenging times at eight non-nationals
Despite a pledge of support from the DCMS, some museums find life hard. By Patrick Steel
When the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) announced in 2010 that it would cease funding for the eight non-national museums (directly funded by it but not protected by legislation) in its portfolio in 2015, it stressed that “there is no question of cutting these museums adrift without any financial support in the unlikely event that no new sponsorship arrangements can be found”.
But Katy Ashton, the director of the People’s History Museum (PHM), says her museum has been “left falling through the gap” after a process that Margaret Faull, the director of the National Coal Mining Museum for England (NCMM), describes as “years of negotiations, discussions and thousands of pounds of legal fees that were not worth the time and effort”.
The impetus for the move was a government commitment to reduce the number of quangos, but the eight museums are still funded through the public purse, while the Geffrye and the Horniman remain with the DCMS.
The Geffrye had approached the Greater London Authority and Arts Council England (ACE), but there wasn’t the appetite from the former, and the latter was not willing to take on the museum’s £1m pension liability, says David Dewing, the director of the Geffrye.
This led the DCMS to announce in 2013 that it would retain the Geffrye. But the process was “destabilising in a lot of ways”, says Dewing, as the museum’s audit team and senior staff had spent a lot of time in discussions, the museum wasn’t appointing new trustees and there was uncertainty over planning.
However, remaining with the DCMS has not spared either museum from cuts, with the Geffrye’s grant-in-aid at £1.4m in 2015-16, reduced by around 3% year-on-year since 2010-11, and the Horniman’s at £3.6m, down from £4.1m in 2010-11.
Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums (Twam) has been sponsored by the arts council since 2012, and is the only body to receive its core funding via a discrete area within ACE’s budgets.
In contrast to many of the other directors contacted for this article, Twam’s director Iain Watson describes the transition as “extremely smooth”. Twam’s funding is not ringfenced by the DCMS, but it received £5.5m over three years from 2012-15. It is still negotiating its funding agreement for 2015-16.
The National Football Museum secured a deal with Manchester City Council to move from Preston to the Urbis building in Manchester, and reopened in 2012 with a £2m-a-year revenue funding deal until 2022.
Its £105,000-a-year grant from the DCMS was cut in April 2011, despite director Kevin Moore’s hope that it would continue until 2015.
Manchester’s Museum of Science and Industry (Mosi) became part of the Science Museum Group (SMG) in 2012. Mosi’s funding is not ringfenced, and the SMG’s grant-in-aid has been cut in real terms by 30% since 2010.
The SMG also took on the administration of the NCMM’s budget, although it remains independent. The museum’s grant has been cut by about a third in real terms since 2010 and it has lost around 20% of its staff.
Only the Design Museum and the PHM have been left without sponsors. The former, which is moving to new premises in 2016, will see its £197,000 grant cut in April.
It has been given National Portfolio Organisation status by ACE, which will see it get £170,000 a year from 2015-18 to support its Designers in Residence programme and wider learning activities, but it will receive no core funding from April.
As for the PHM, the DCMS announced last month that it would grant the museum £100,000 for 2015-16, but from 2016-17, Ashton says it faces “an uncertain future”.
But Katy Ashton, the director of the People’s History Museum (PHM), says her museum has been “left falling through the gap” after a process that Margaret Faull, the director of the National Coal Mining Museum for England (NCMM), describes as “years of negotiations, discussions and thousands of pounds of legal fees that were not worth the time and effort”.
The impetus for the move was a government commitment to reduce the number of quangos, but the eight museums are still funded through the public purse, while the Geffrye and the Horniman remain with the DCMS.
The Geffrye had approached the Greater London Authority and Arts Council England (ACE), but there wasn’t the appetite from the former, and the latter was not willing to take on the museum’s £1m pension liability, says David Dewing, the director of the Geffrye.
This led the DCMS to announce in 2013 that it would retain the Geffrye. But the process was “destabilising in a lot of ways”, says Dewing, as the museum’s audit team and senior staff had spent a lot of time in discussions, the museum wasn’t appointing new trustees and there was uncertainty over planning.
However, remaining with the DCMS has not spared either museum from cuts, with the Geffrye’s grant-in-aid at £1.4m in 2015-16, reduced by around 3% year-on-year since 2010-11, and the Horniman’s at £3.6m, down from £4.1m in 2010-11.
Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums (Twam) has been sponsored by the arts council since 2012, and is the only body to receive its core funding via a discrete area within ACE’s budgets.
In contrast to many of the other directors contacted for this article, Twam’s director Iain Watson describes the transition as “extremely smooth”. Twam’s funding is not ringfenced by the DCMS, but it received £5.5m over three years from 2012-15. It is still negotiating its funding agreement for 2015-16.
The National Football Museum secured a deal with Manchester City Council to move from Preston to the Urbis building in Manchester, and reopened in 2012 with a £2m-a-year revenue funding deal until 2022.
Its £105,000-a-year grant from the DCMS was cut in April 2011, despite director Kevin Moore’s hope that it would continue until 2015.
Manchester’s Museum of Science and Industry (Mosi) became part of the Science Museum Group (SMG) in 2012. Mosi’s funding is not ringfenced, and the SMG’s grant-in-aid has been cut in real terms by 30% since 2010.
The SMG also took on the administration of the NCMM’s budget, although it remains independent. The museum’s grant has been cut by about a third in real terms since 2010 and it has lost around 20% of its staff.
Only the Design Museum and the PHM have been left without sponsors. The former, which is moving to new premises in 2016, will see its £197,000 grant cut in April.
It has been given National Portfolio Organisation status by ACE, which will see it get £170,000 a year from 2015-18 to support its Designers in Residence programme and wider learning activities, but it will receive no core funding from April.
As for the PHM, the DCMS announced last month that it would grant the museum £100,000 for 2015-16, but from 2016-17, Ashton says it faces “an uncertain future”.