The coalition’s spending review could signal the end of education and community services in some museums and galleries, it has been warned.
Commentators have said that when it comes to decisions about what to preserve and what to shed in the face of spending cuts, museum and gallery activities regarded as peripheral are often the first to go. It appears a simple choice – sell collections, close venues or stop non-core activities.
But supporters of such work will hope that few institutions follow the drastic steps taken by English Heritage, which will axe its entire outreach department of 12 staff on 31 March after suffering a 32% cut funding in the comprehensive spending review.
English Heritage is one of the first major cultural organisations to confirm where the cuts will fall. National museums are revising their budgets, but it will be months before it becomes clear where the cuts will be felt.
There may be an indication of what is to come at the Victoria and Albert Museum, where the post of director of learning and interpretation has been downgraded to “head of education” following the departure of David Anderson to become director general at National Museum Wales last year.
“I think that sets the scene for what’s going on,” says Paul Collard, chief executive of Creative Partnerships, which has overseen more than 8,000 education and cultural projects in England since 2002, but will lose most of its funding in March 2012.
He believes museums and galleries will regret ditching education and outreach schemes. A survey it undertook in 2009 showed that 80% of voters of all parties believed very strongly that children should have the opportunity to explore the arts while at school.
“It’s a tragic mistake that the cultural sector is making. It’s a very serious misreading of the priorities to balance the budget in this way.”
Many museums will know their fate when local authority budgets are confirmed next month. Manchester City Council hit the headlines last month when it announced up to 2,000 redundancies as a result of a 20% budget cut. The details of its 2012-13 budget will be revealed on 8 March and it is certain that the museum service won’t get away unscathed.
Another influence on what regional museums and galleries cut will be the fall-out from the abolition of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA).
One of the main sources of cash for outreach and education over the past 10 years has been Renaissance in the Regions, funding for which is being transferred to Arts Council England in April 2012.
However, Hedley Swain, the MLA’s director of programme delivery, says that because hub museums have undertaken outreach and education for so long, they should now be embedded in how they work.
Some regional museums have taken this onboard. Eastbourne’s Towner Art Gallery has two programmes working with young offenders and drug users.
By far their biggest financial supporter is the local authority, which provides £170,000 of its £462,600 funding. Richard Beales, the museum’s outreach and inclusion manager, is hopeful that local authority cuts won’t damage the work.
“We have been doing this for the past decade and mainstreamed it so much into our programme that it is not an add-on. It is entrenched with us and the local authority.”
However, the Cultural Learning Alliance is concerned that the fate of education and outreach projects may be influenced by the fact that money for school specialisms will no longer be ringfenced, and spending on the arts will be at the discretion of headteachers, themselves coping with reduced budgets. This means local museums and galleries are overlooked for visits.
“I’m going out a lot more to schools because the cost of coaches is prohibitive,” says Cas Sanders, learning officer for North Hertfordshire Museums. “For this reason, local museums are quite often losing out.”
What national museums can put back into the regions is also under threat as a result of the abolition of the Strategic Commissioning programme next month. This gave 12 national museums £160,000 each a year to fund education partnerships with 20 regional museums.
Mark Taylor, director of the Museums Association, says there’s a concern that national museums will revert to concentrating on their own collections and buildings.
“Education is no longer an optional extra, it is critical to what museums do,” he says. “I have urged the minister to ensure that education and outreach does not become the first victim of the cuts.”
For those juggling reduced budgets, the next few months look likely to test that belief.
Commentators have said that when it comes to decisions about what to preserve and what to shed in the face of spending cuts, museum and gallery activities regarded as peripheral are often the first to go. It appears a simple choice – sell collections, close venues or stop non-core activities.
But supporters of such work will hope that few institutions follow the drastic steps taken by English Heritage, which will axe its entire outreach department of 12 staff on 31 March after suffering a 32% cut funding in the comprehensive spending review.
English Heritage is one of the first major cultural organisations to confirm where the cuts will fall. National museums are revising their budgets, but it will be months before it becomes clear where the cuts will be felt.
There may be an indication of what is to come at the Victoria and Albert Museum, where the post of director of learning and interpretation has been downgraded to “head of education” following the departure of David Anderson to become director general at National Museum Wales last year.
“I think that sets the scene for what’s going on,” says Paul Collard, chief executive of Creative Partnerships, which has overseen more than 8,000 education and cultural projects in England since 2002, but will lose most of its funding in March 2012.
He believes museums and galleries will regret ditching education and outreach schemes. A survey it undertook in 2009 showed that 80% of voters of all parties believed very strongly that children should have the opportunity to explore the arts while at school.
“It’s a tragic mistake that the cultural sector is making. It’s a very serious misreading of the priorities to balance the budget in this way.”
Many museums will know their fate when local authority budgets are confirmed next month. Manchester City Council hit the headlines last month when it announced up to 2,000 redundancies as a result of a 20% budget cut. The details of its 2012-13 budget will be revealed on 8 March and it is certain that the museum service won’t get away unscathed.
Another influence on what regional museums and galleries cut will be the fall-out from the abolition of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA).
One of the main sources of cash for outreach and education over the past 10 years has been Renaissance in the Regions, funding for which is being transferred to Arts Council England in April 2012.
However, Hedley Swain, the MLA’s director of programme delivery, says that because hub museums have undertaken outreach and education for so long, they should now be embedded in how they work.
Some regional museums have taken this onboard. Eastbourne’s Towner Art Gallery has two programmes working with young offenders and drug users.
By far their biggest financial supporter is the local authority, which provides £170,000 of its £462,600 funding. Richard Beales, the museum’s outreach and inclusion manager, is hopeful that local authority cuts won’t damage the work.
“We have been doing this for the past decade and mainstreamed it so much into our programme that it is not an add-on. It is entrenched with us and the local authority.”
However, the Cultural Learning Alliance is concerned that the fate of education and outreach projects may be influenced by the fact that money for school specialisms will no longer be ringfenced, and spending on the arts will be at the discretion of headteachers, themselves coping with reduced budgets. This means local museums and galleries are overlooked for visits.
“I’m going out a lot more to schools because the cost of coaches is prohibitive,” says Cas Sanders, learning officer for North Hertfordshire Museums. “For this reason, local museums are quite often losing out.”
What national museums can put back into the regions is also under threat as a result of the abolition of the Strategic Commissioning programme next month. This gave 12 national museums £160,000 each a year to fund education partnerships with 20 regional museums.
Mark Taylor, director of the Museums Association, says there’s a concern that national museums will revert to concentrating on their own collections and buildings.
“Education is no longer an optional extra, it is critical to what museums do,” he says. “I have urged the minister to ensure that education and outreach does not become the first victim of the cuts.”
For those juggling reduced budgets, the next few months look likely to test that belief.
