Two-thirds of museum directors warn of funding shortfalls

Two-thirds of museum directors are concerned about funding shortfalls despite a rise in visitor numbers following the Covid pandemic, a new report from the Art Fund has found.

The annual Museum Directors Research, which is now in its fourth year, found that although 51% of respondents have seen a rise in commercial income in the past year only 15% had seen local authority investment increase. In contrast, 28% said they had seen the latter decrease and 4% has seen it stop altogether.

In 2022, the research found that half of museum directors were concerned about funding shortfalls – but this figure has risen to two thirds in 2024. The Art Fund reports that museum directors say they need a 10-20% increase in funding just to stabilise.

Meanwhile, 22% of respondents said income from corporate donations and sponsorship has risen compared to 32% who said it had fallen and 6% that no longer receive any money through this avenue.

“[Local authority reliant organisations] are in a perilous and uncertain state,” said Rachael Browning, the Art Fund’s director of programmes and policy. “The reality of post-pandemic financial fragility, real term funding cuts, ageing buildings, and increased overheads are placing them under enormous strain.

“The impact of the cost-of-living crisis on staff and audiences is recognised as the biggest collective challenge facing organisations. Outgoings are just half of the problem; falling income is also a huge worry.”

Despite the bleak funding situation, the Art Fund’s report shows that 57% of the 324 directors surveyed have seen overall visitor numbers increase in the past year, with a quarter of respondents now reporting audience numbers above pre-pandemic levels.

There is an increasing focus on local audiences and community partnerships with schools, young people, ethnically-diverse audiences and those from lower socio-economic groups. Tourist audiences, both international and domestic, are more of a priority for museums in Northern Ireland than those in other parts of the UK.

Browning says that despite the difficult funding context, museum directors are thinking imaginatively and ambitiously about how they can use their collections.

The research shows that 95% of museum respondents will be developing temporary exhibitions in 2024/25, with 40% extending opening dates to save money and 62% reusing or recycling exhibition materials.

“There is strength in numbers as more organisations seek to work together on exhibitions,” Browning says. “An acute awareness exists that there is a huge opportunity in achieving proper recognition for the work they do in delivering for their communities.”

Understaffing (61% of respondents) and lack of funding (56%) are the key barriers to undertaking collections work according to respondents, with activities such as digitisation, collections reviews and new acquisitions taking a back seat. In 2022, 71% of respondents were intending to carry out a collections review, but this figure is 58% in 2024.

Looking forward to next year, Art Fund identified a number of key challenges including:

• The cost-of-living crisis, which is particularly impacting independent museums and others that charge for entry or rely on secondary spend.
• Continuing local authority spending cuts leading to the closure of services.
• Building maintenance and building operating costs.