The Museums Association’s director, Mark Taylor, has criticised government advice urging local authorities to save money by leasing out works of art as “ill-thought out”.
The tip is one of 50 suggestions for sensible savings for local authorities.
They have been released by the secretary of state for communities and local government, Eric Pickles, who urged councils to implement “every single one” of the tips.
The advice reads: “Lease works of art not on display: many councils own art galleries and museums, and have extensive collections that never see the light of day, but merely gather dust in storage.”
Taylor said: “Is this really the best the government can do? Ill-thought out and ill-informed ideas peddling tired old cliches about dusty stores.
“Would Mr Pickles please tell us which stores he has seen lately, if he is aware what fantastic use is made of collections in store and where he thinks the market might be for leasing works of art from local authority museums?”
The money-saving advice comes alongside Pickles’ announcement of a further cut of 2% to local authority budgets for 2014-15 in last year’s autumn statement, on top of the 28% cut being implemented over the course of the current spending review.
The additional cuts are likely to be passed on to many local and regional museums, with some more urban authorities forecasting cuts of up to 8%.
Local authority funding for museums fell by £23m in 2011-12.
The tip is one of 50 suggestions for sensible savings for local authorities.
They have been released by the secretary of state for communities and local government, Eric Pickles, who urged councils to implement “every single one” of the tips.
The advice reads: “Lease works of art not on display: many councils own art galleries and museums, and have extensive collections that never see the light of day, but merely gather dust in storage.”
Taylor said: “Is this really the best the government can do? Ill-thought out and ill-informed ideas peddling tired old cliches about dusty stores.
“Would Mr Pickles please tell us which stores he has seen lately, if he is aware what fantastic use is made of collections in store and where he thinks the market might be for leasing works of art from local authority museums?”
The money-saving advice comes alongside Pickles’ announcement of a further cut of 2% to local authority budgets for 2014-15 in last year’s autumn statement, on top of the 28% cut being implemented over the course of the current spending review.
The additional cuts are likely to be passed on to many local and regional museums, with some more urban authorities forecasting cuts of up to 8%.
Local authority funding for museums fell by £23m in 2011-12.
