Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums’ (TWAM) £4.8m Renaissance major grant funding may have to be renegotiated following notice from Sunderland City Council that it will withdraw from its agreement with TWAM in 2013.
The council’s museums – Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens, Washington ‘F’ Pit and Monkwearmouth Station Museum – are currently administered by TWAM alongside museums in Newcastle, Gateshead, and North and South Tyneside.
The council contributes £1.4m a year towards services at its three museums.
According to council papers seen by Museums Journal, Sunderland is looking to establish its own museum service, “directly delivered by the council”, to enable it to “directly influence the operational, programming, exhibition and specialist elements of museums delivery in the area”.
But the council is not ruling out working with TWAM in the future under a “renegotiated agreement to commission elements of the customer focused specialist services and a level of strategic support”.
A TWAM spokeswoman said: “TWAM and Sunderland City Council are confident that a new agreement will be delivered to ensure the continued provision beyond 2013 of high-quality museums and archive services for the people of Sunderland, as part of a partnership across Tyne & Wear.
“At this point in time, it is too early to speculate about what the renegotiations will involve and any impact this may or may not have on TWAM staff. We are only at the start of this process.”
TWAM employs 300 staff across its venues.
But the renegotiations may have an impact on TWAM’s successful bid for £4.8m of Renaissance major grant funding, which was awarded to the consortium as it is currently constituted from 2012-13 until 2014-15.
An Arts Council England spokesman said: “If Sunderland were to leave, we would negotiate the funding agreement with TWAM to make sure that the excellent work laid out in its application will not be impacted.”
The council’s museums – Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens, Washington ‘F’ Pit and Monkwearmouth Station Museum – are currently administered by TWAM alongside museums in Newcastle, Gateshead, and North and South Tyneside.
The council contributes £1.4m a year towards services at its three museums.
According to council papers seen by Museums Journal, Sunderland is looking to establish its own museum service, “directly delivered by the council”, to enable it to “directly influence the operational, programming, exhibition and specialist elements of museums delivery in the area”.
But the council is not ruling out working with TWAM in the future under a “renegotiated agreement to commission elements of the customer focused specialist services and a level of strategic support”.
A TWAM spokeswoman said: “TWAM and Sunderland City Council are confident that a new agreement will be delivered to ensure the continued provision beyond 2013 of high-quality museums and archive services for the people of Sunderland, as part of a partnership across Tyne & Wear.
“At this point in time, it is too early to speculate about what the renegotiations will involve and any impact this may or may not have on TWAM staff. We are only at the start of this process.”
TWAM employs 300 staff across its venues.
But the renegotiations may have an impact on TWAM’s successful bid for £4.8m of Renaissance major grant funding, which was awarded to the consortium as it is currently constituted from 2012-13 until 2014-15.
An Arts Council England spokesman said: “If Sunderland were to leave, we would negotiate the funding agreement with TWAM to make sure that the excellent work laid out in its application will not be impacted.”
