National Museums Liverpool has quit the National Museums Directors’ Conference (NMDC) in light of changes to the body's membership.
As reported in January’s Museums Journal, the majority of NMDC members voted at a meeting last year to expand its membership to include major grant-funded museums from April.
Arts Council England (ACE) will announce major grant awards on 27 January, with about 15-20 museums in England expected to receive funding, and the NMDC will meet at the end of February to ratify its new membership.
David Fleming, director of NML and a board member of the Museums Association (MA), said the changes risked reducing the value of the NMDC.
“In my view the MA is the best voice for the wider museum sector because it represents everyone,” he said. “NMDC should stick to speaking for national museums – it risks becoming a hybrid with members having different kinds of governance and interests. It used to have a clear purpose but it is not clear who it is for.”
The departure means NML is the only national museum not to be a member of NMDC.
Suzie Tucker, the NMDC’s head of strategy and delivery, said the departure was disappointing but that it wouldn’t change the organisation’s plans to open up its membership to all museums funded directly by the government and via ACE.
She added: “We’ve had four regional members since 2007 and the experience has been really positive. We hope expanding our membership will help forge closer collaboration and communication between national and regional museums.”
At the time of writing, no other NMDC-member museums are expected to leave the organisation as a result of the changes to membership.
Link
NMDC to recruit members from regions (Museums Journal, January)
As reported in January’s Museums Journal, the majority of NMDC members voted at a meeting last year to expand its membership to include major grant-funded museums from April.
Arts Council England (ACE) will announce major grant awards on 27 January, with about 15-20 museums in England expected to receive funding, and the NMDC will meet at the end of February to ratify its new membership.
David Fleming, director of NML and a board member of the Museums Association (MA), said the changes risked reducing the value of the NMDC.
“In my view the MA is the best voice for the wider museum sector because it represents everyone,” he said. “NMDC should stick to speaking for national museums – it risks becoming a hybrid with members having different kinds of governance and interests. It used to have a clear purpose but it is not clear who it is for.”
The departure means NML is the only national museum not to be a member of NMDC.
Suzie Tucker, the NMDC’s head of strategy and delivery, said the departure was disappointing but that it wouldn’t change the organisation’s plans to open up its membership to all museums funded directly by the government and via ACE.
She added: “We’ve had four regional members since 2007 and the experience has been really positive. We hope expanding our membership will help forge closer collaboration and communication between national and regional museums.”
At the time of writing, no other NMDC-member museums are expected to leave the organisation as a result of the changes to membership.
Link
NMDC to recruit members from regions (Museums Journal, January)
