The report, which was commissioned by the Touring Exhibitions Group (TEG) and funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, also found that expertise in regional museums needs to be developed to enable them to receive touring shows.
According to the research, the main benefits of touring exhibitions are audience development and attracting new visitors. Maurice Davies, the deputy director of the Museums Association (MA), agrees: 'It seems clear that however much museum staff love their collections, touring exhibitions are one of the most effective ways of increasing the number of visits and visitors.'
Although the report doesn't give figures for the number of touring shows and venues in the UK, anecdotal evidence suggests that there has been an overall increase in activity in this area in the past five years.
This is partly because of partnerships between the national and regional museums and schemes such as the Regional Museums Initiative funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.
The latter pumped nearly £1m into a series of exhibitions in regional museums focusing on collaborative projects. As a result, ten exhibitions are taking place at 19 venues across the UK.
Sally Fort, who conducted the research on behalf of TEG, says one of the most striking findings was the way touring shows have changed
in the past five years. 'There's a lot more partnership and regional activity,' says Fort.
Despite the benefits of touring exhibitions, research by Museums Journal shows a mixed picture in terms of exhibition budgets across local authority museums, with the majority setting aside less than £20,000 a year (see box).
Stephen Whittle, the museum manager at Gallery Oldham, says his core budget for exhibitions is supplemented by what they can raise on top - on average £40,000 a year. The core exhibition budget is approximately £20,000 this year. He says: 'When I see exhibitions from the nationals with a price tag of £10,000-plus there's no possibility that we could take them.'
Caroline Krzesinska, the creative director of Sheffield Galleries and Museums Trust, says although their budget is more substantial than most medium-scale local authority museums it's still never enough.
She says their latest exhibition, Whatever the Weather, wouldn't have been as interactive and may not have been able to go on tour if it wasn't for funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' Climate Challenge Fund.
Despite the extra effort needed for touring exhibitions -- installation, staff time, fundraising and coordinating with other venues - participants agree that it can lead to more ambitious exhibitions. 'It focuses the mind to produce good quality exhibitions for different audiences outside the normal comfort zone,' says Whittle.
Gallery Oldham is one of the lottery-created exhibition spaces that has driven the creation of, and demand for, touring exhibitions. But there's no evidence that budgets for putting on shows have increased in-line with the extra demand.
Davies from the MA says there should be a national exhibitions' scheme to coordinate activity and the Renaissance in the Regions hubs could play a role in that.
But according to the TEG research, the hubs don't see touring as a tool to deliver their objectives. Fort says the emphasis on measuring visitor numbers from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport means 'there tends to be a concentration on getting people into buildings rather than getting collections out of buildings'.
Sally Cross, the collections coordinator at the Museums Association, is working on the Effective Collections programme that aims to make better use of stored collections through long loans and disposals.
She agrees that the cost of lending and borrowing is prohibitive. 'To justify the spending of core budgets on loans, performance indicators at a national and local level should better recognise the value of reaching audiences beyond a museum's own galleries.'
Sharon Heal, additional research by Aaron Davies
www.teg.org.uk
According to the research, the main benefits of touring exhibitions are audience development and attracting new visitors. Maurice Davies, the deputy director of the Museums Association (MA), agrees: 'It seems clear that however much museum staff love their collections, touring exhibitions are one of the most effective ways of increasing the number of visits and visitors.'
Although the report doesn't give figures for the number of touring shows and venues in the UK, anecdotal evidence suggests that there has been an overall increase in activity in this area in the past five years.
This is partly because of partnerships between the national and regional museums and schemes such as the Regional Museums Initiative funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.
The latter pumped nearly £1m into a series of exhibitions in regional museums focusing on collaborative projects. As a result, ten exhibitions are taking place at 19 venues across the UK.
Sally Fort, who conducted the research on behalf of TEG, says one of the most striking findings was the way touring shows have changed
in the past five years. 'There's a lot more partnership and regional activity,' says Fort.
Despite the benefits of touring exhibitions, research by Museums Journal shows a mixed picture in terms of exhibition budgets across local authority museums, with the majority setting aside less than £20,000 a year (see box).
Stephen Whittle, the museum manager at Gallery Oldham, says his core budget for exhibitions is supplemented by what they can raise on top - on average £40,000 a year. The core exhibition budget is approximately £20,000 this year. He says: 'When I see exhibitions from the nationals with a price tag of £10,000-plus there's no possibility that we could take them.'
Caroline Krzesinska, the creative director of Sheffield Galleries and Museums Trust, says although their budget is more substantial than most medium-scale local authority museums it's still never enough.
She says their latest exhibition, Whatever the Weather, wouldn't have been as interactive and may not have been able to go on tour if it wasn't for funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' Climate Challenge Fund.
Despite the extra effort needed for touring exhibitions -- installation, staff time, fundraising and coordinating with other venues - participants agree that it can lead to more ambitious exhibitions. 'It focuses the mind to produce good quality exhibitions for different audiences outside the normal comfort zone,' says Whittle.
Gallery Oldham is one of the lottery-created exhibition spaces that has driven the creation of, and demand for, touring exhibitions. But there's no evidence that budgets for putting on shows have increased in-line with the extra demand.
Davies from the MA says there should be a national exhibitions' scheme to coordinate activity and the Renaissance in the Regions hubs could play a role in that.
But according to the TEG research, the hubs don't see touring as a tool to deliver their objectives. Fort says the emphasis on measuring visitor numbers from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport means 'there tends to be a concentration on getting people into buildings rather than getting collections out of buildings'.
Sally Cross, the collections coordinator at the Museums Association, is working on the Effective Collections programme that aims to make better use of stored collections through long loans and disposals.
She agrees that the cost of lending and borrowing is prohibitive. 'To justify the spending of core budgets on loans, performance indicators at a national and local level should better recognise the value of reaching audiences beyond a museum's own galleries.'
Sharon Heal, additional research by Aaron Davies
www.teg.org.uk
