The Museums Association’s president, Vanessa Trevelyan, has told the conference in Edinburgh that museums need to start examining the question of how society benefits from collections.
In her final address as MA president before retiring next year, Trevelyan said: “Museums have been highly successful – perhaps too successful – in preserving things that matter to society.”
“Over the coming decades, most museums will have to answer hard questions about how society benefits from collections and whether the cost of preserving all collections is justified by the benefits.”
Trevelyan said collections were an under-used national asset and said programmes such as the MA’s Effective Collections scheme had demonstrated the potential that lay in innovative use of collections and responsible disposal.
Trevelyan said she was encouraged to see museums working more widely across the cultural sector.
“But we don’t want to lose our distinctiveness, which comes back to using our collections effectively,” she added. “We must maximise our unique selling points and working with cultural bodies should enable us to recognise more easily what it is that we do that others can’t.”
Trevelyan urged museums to become more resilient and sustainable and to develop plural forms of funding. “Not all will do this successfully and we may well see many more museum closures,” she added.
The sector should focus on impact and ensure museums are rooted in their communities, Trevelyan told delegates.
“Proper participation transforms communities and individuals from occasionally-consulted consumers of museum-created products to active participants… Museums might need to rethink the ways they use their spaces, with less permanent displays and more space for a wider range of activities.”
Trevelyan was also critical of the English government’s focus on philanthropy instead of developing a national museum strategy.
“I must admit that I feel very depressed at the lack of a coherent government policy, unlike Wales and Scotland,” she said. “The Olympics and increasing philanthropy is not a policy for the wider museum community.”
In the run up to the vote on Scottish independence, Trevelyan said the MA had been taking steps to better reflect the fact that the UK “is a nation of devolved nations” and to work in a more equitable manner across all four countries.
In her final address as MA president before retiring next year, Trevelyan said: “Museums have been highly successful – perhaps too successful – in preserving things that matter to society.”
“Over the coming decades, most museums will have to answer hard questions about how society benefits from collections and whether the cost of preserving all collections is justified by the benefits.”
Trevelyan said collections were an under-used national asset and said programmes such as the MA’s Effective Collections scheme had demonstrated the potential that lay in innovative use of collections and responsible disposal.
Trevelyan said she was encouraged to see museums working more widely across the cultural sector.
“But we don’t want to lose our distinctiveness, which comes back to using our collections effectively,” she added. “We must maximise our unique selling points and working with cultural bodies should enable us to recognise more easily what it is that we do that others can’t.”
Trevelyan urged museums to become more resilient and sustainable and to develop plural forms of funding. “Not all will do this successfully and we may well see many more museum closures,” she added.
The sector should focus on impact and ensure museums are rooted in their communities, Trevelyan told delegates.
“Proper participation transforms communities and individuals from occasionally-consulted consumers of museum-created products to active participants… Museums might need to rethink the ways they use their spaces, with less permanent displays and more space for a wider range of activities.”
Trevelyan was also critical of the English government’s focus on philanthropy instead of developing a national museum strategy.
“I must admit that I feel very depressed at the lack of a coherent government policy, unlike Wales and Scotland,” she said. “The Olympics and increasing philanthropy is not a policy for the wider museum community.”
In the run up to the vote on Scottish independence, Trevelyan said the MA had been taking steps to better reflect the fact that the UK “is a nation of devolved nations” and to work in a more equitable manner across all four countries.
