Two museums in Jersey are facing closure because of a shortfall in funding. The Hamptonne Country Life Museum and the Maritime Museum, which are both run by the Jersey Heritage Trust, could be closed by October if extra funding is not found.
Jonathan Carter, the chief executive of the trust, told Museums Journal that a consultation with staff about redundancies was already underway and that up to 20 people could be affected.
He said the background to the funding problem was a sharp decline in tourism to the island, which has meant visitors to the trust's sites have fallen by nearly 50 per cent - from 350,000 to 170,000 - in the past 12 years.
At the moment the trust gets £2m from the Jersey government and earns £1.7m from admission, sales and corporate events. But the trust, which has 18 sites and includes historic buildings and an archive service, costs £4m a year to run.
Carter said tourism was already down 10 per cent this year, and something had to be done to close the gap between expenditure and income.
"We can run it very cheaply, but we can't run it on nothing," he said. "We're doing everything we can to help ourselves - we're not sitting here waiting for a handout." He said he was hopeful there was a long-term sustainable solution, but that he had to act now to balance next year's budget.
The Maritime Museum rents its building from the states' harbour department, which, according to Carter, cost the equivalent of 70 per cent of the museum's total admission income last year. An added complication is that a proposed new lease will only run for nine years, which Carter said would not provide the security of tenure that the museum needs.
Despite the drop in tourism to the island, the trust has managed to increase its self-generated income by 30 per cent in the past five years. All sites run by the trust charge admission.
In a statement, James Reed, the minister for education, sport and culture in Jersey, said the government had given an extra £200,000 to the trust earlier this year and continued to work with it to avoid site closures.
"Clearly, it would be a source of great disappointment and a loss to the island as a whole if the Jersey Heritage Trust was obliged to close the Maritime Museum," he said.
Jonathan Carter, the chief executive of the trust, told Museums Journal that a consultation with staff about redundancies was already underway and that up to 20 people could be affected.
He said the background to the funding problem was a sharp decline in tourism to the island, which has meant visitors to the trust's sites have fallen by nearly 50 per cent - from 350,000 to 170,000 - in the past 12 years.
At the moment the trust gets £2m from the Jersey government and earns £1.7m from admission, sales and corporate events. But the trust, which has 18 sites and includes historic buildings and an archive service, costs £4m a year to run.
Carter said tourism was already down 10 per cent this year, and something had to be done to close the gap between expenditure and income.
"We can run it very cheaply, but we can't run it on nothing," he said. "We're doing everything we can to help ourselves - we're not sitting here waiting for a handout." He said he was hopeful there was a long-term sustainable solution, but that he had to act now to balance next year's budget.
The Maritime Museum rents its building from the states' harbour department, which, according to Carter, cost the equivalent of 70 per cent of the museum's total admission income last year. An added complication is that a proposed new lease will only run for nine years, which Carter said would not provide the security of tenure that the museum needs.
Despite the drop in tourism to the island, the trust has managed to increase its self-generated income by 30 per cent in the past five years. All sites run by the trust charge admission.
In a statement, James Reed, the minister for education, sport and culture in Jersey, said the government had given an extra £200,000 to the trust earlier this year and continued to work with it to avoid site closures.
"Clearly, it would be a source of great disappointment and a loss to the island as a whole if the Jersey Heritage Trust was obliged to close the Maritime Museum," he said.
