Museums question logic of DCMS’s £7m reallocation
Museums want to know the criteria used for distributing underspend
Questions are being raised over the rationale behind a £6.95m funding reallocation by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
Last month, the DCMS awarded £200,000 to the People’s History Museum towards a feasibility study for a centre for British history; £500,000 to National Museums Liverpool (NML) for roofing and repairs at the Walker Art Gallery and the NML stores; and £50,000 to Culture24 to fund an application for smartphones that will allow people to locate nearby museums, galleries or heritage attractions.
This brings the total DCMS underspend reallocated to museums in 2009-10 to £6.95m. The process has angered many in the sector, but particularly those in local authority and independent museums.
Richard Davies, chairman of the Group of Small Local Authority Museums, said: “It seems very random and it would be good to see which criteria were used to make the judgements and who they [the DCMS] spoke to. We are delighted for museums that received funding, but what makes them more deserving than any other museum?”
Matthew Tanner, vice-chairman of the Association of Independent Museums, said: “As far as I’m aware, no one was contacted or consulted in the independent sector.
It seems the DCMS contacted those museums it was aware of at the time, and handed the money out accordingly.”
A DCMS spokesman said the reallocation of the underspend was the ministers’ decision and reflected the quality of the bid put forward.
But he added: “Applications were not invited. The options that the DCMS drew up for ministers to consider were drawn from issues that were already under consideration or being discussed with the organisations concerned.”
Mark Taylor, Museums Association director, said: “All of these projects have merit, but it is depressing to see a government throw money around with little or no obvious rationale, and no sense of strategy to guide them.”
Last month, the DCMS awarded £200,000 to the People’s History Museum towards a feasibility study for a centre for British history; £500,000 to National Museums Liverpool (NML) for roofing and repairs at the Walker Art Gallery and the NML stores; and £50,000 to Culture24 to fund an application for smartphones that will allow people to locate nearby museums, galleries or heritage attractions.
This brings the total DCMS underspend reallocated to museums in 2009-10 to £6.95m. The process has angered many in the sector, but particularly those in local authority and independent museums.
Richard Davies, chairman of the Group of Small Local Authority Museums, said: “It seems very random and it would be good to see which criteria were used to make the judgements and who they [the DCMS] spoke to. We are delighted for museums that received funding, but what makes them more deserving than any other museum?”
Matthew Tanner, vice-chairman of the Association of Independent Museums, said: “As far as I’m aware, no one was contacted or consulted in the independent sector.
It seems the DCMS contacted those museums it was aware of at the time, and handed the money out accordingly.”
A DCMS spokesman said the reallocation of the underspend was the ministers’ decision and reflected the quality of the bid put forward.
But he added: “Applications were not invited. The options that the DCMS drew up for ministers to consider were drawn from issues that were already under consideration or being discussed with the organisations concerned.”
Mark Taylor, Museums Association director, said: “All of these projects have merit, but it is depressing to see a government throw money around with little or no obvious rationale, and no sense of strategy to guide them.”