There are fears that the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television (NMPFT) in Bradford will lose crucial expertise after making two senior curator posts redundant.
As part of a restructure announced to staff in May, ten existing roles - two of which were already vacant - have been deleted and 18 new roles are being created. In addition, five part-time jobs are to be made full-time. The posts of senior curator for photography and senior curator for television have both been made redundant, along with head of exhibitions and head of film.
According to a spokesman for the NMPFT, the changes will allow the new posts to have an increased focus on the museum's core subjects, caring for the collections and providing increased access to them.
It is thought that the restructuring is also partly in response to the museum's widened remit, as it plans to rebrand as the National Media Museum. The spokesman would not comment on the rebranding, but said: 'We will be making an announcement about the future plans for the museum later in the year.'
Emily Boase, a negotiator for the trade union Prospect, expressed concern at the loss of senior specialist curators who are pre-eminent in their field. She said: 'This appears to be a funding issue - the museum intends to source expertise on a project basis more regularly in the future.
'We believe the museum would like the same jobs to be done, but at a much lower salary.'
The NMPFT spokesman denied that the museum wanted the same jobs at a lower salary, and said: 'We have created a range of posts in the restructure that offer opportunities at different levels.'
Ralph Jacobson, the president of the Royal Photographic Society, for which the museum stores and curates some 250,000 images in its RPS Collection, said: 'It doesn't bode well, but we hope it can carry on at the same level of expertise. It looks like a downgrade.'
The timing of the redundancies was described by Boase as 'unfortunate', with the senior curator for television leaving as the museum launched a £3m interactive television gallery called Experience TV last month.
Asked whether the museum was sacrificing interpretation of the collections in favour of more commercial activities, a spokesman for the museum said: 'The idea that collections interpretation and commercial activities are mutually exclusive does not hold water. In the current environment, you can't have one without the other.'
Patrick Steel
As part of a restructure announced to staff in May, ten existing roles - two of which were already vacant - have been deleted and 18 new roles are being created. In addition, five part-time jobs are to be made full-time. The posts of senior curator for photography and senior curator for television have both been made redundant, along with head of exhibitions and head of film.
According to a spokesman for the NMPFT, the changes will allow the new posts to have an increased focus on the museum's core subjects, caring for the collections and providing increased access to them.
It is thought that the restructuring is also partly in response to the museum's widened remit, as it plans to rebrand as the National Media Museum. The spokesman would not comment on the rebranding, but said: 'We will be making an announcement about the future plans for the museum later in the year.'
Emily Boase, a negotiator for the trade union Prospect, expressed concern at the loss of senior specialist curators who are pre-eminent in their field. She said: 'This appears to be a funding issue - the museum intends to source expertise on a project basis more regularly in the future.
'We believe the museum would like the same jobs to be done, but at a much lower salary.'
The NMPFT spokesman denied that the museum wanted the same jobs at a lower salary, and said: 'We have created a range of posts in the restructure that offer opportunities at different levels.'
Ralph Jacobson, the president of the Royal Photographic Society, for which the museum stores and curates some 250,000 images in its RPS Collection, said: 'It doesn't bode well, but we hope it can carry on at the same level of expertise. It looks like a downgrade.'
The timing of the redundancies was described by Boase as 'unfortunate', with the senior curator for television leaving as the museum launched a £3m interactive television gallery called Experience TV last month.
Asked whether the museum was sacrificing interpretation of the collections in favour of more commercial activities, a spokesman for the museum said: 'The idea that collections interpretation and commercial activities are mutually exclusive does not hold water. In the current environment, you can't have one without the other.'
Patrick Steel
