Insecurity over funding is fuelling a worrying tendency to undermine the ability of museums to educate and enlighten. Hiring public relations and marketing experts in an effort to fill financial gaps is taking priority over curatorial and education staff and the procurement of new items for collections.
Is Britain falling in line with the US where museums compete with each other by adopting the same marketing tools that are used to sell washing powder and fast food? Are commercial imperatives being developed at the expense of the core functions of museums?
Last autumn the Department for Culture, Media and Sport asked museums and galleries to reduce administration costs by 2.5 per cent a year until 2008 under Sir Peter Gershon's Efficiency Savings Review.
The initiative will lead to an estimated 80,000 job cuts across the whole of the civil service, with an inevitable knock-on effect on museums and galleries.
The Museum of London is facing a deficit of more than £500,000, as it is increasingly forced to search for its own sources of revenue. Staff pay rises are on hold. English Heritage is experiencing redundancies of highly trained staff, as generating revenue through commerce becomes a priority.
English Heritage and the Historic Royal Palaces are introducing volunteer schemes to perform key functions, potentially lowering standards of professionalism and accountability.
Staff at some English Heritage sites have been told to make private functions a priority. Dover Castle in Kent, for example, is closed when corporate functions, filming or weddings take place. Damage to property and interiors has occurred during drinks parties at some venues.
There is a constant pressure to seek corporate sponsors and generate income through trading activities and even the re-introduction of charges at national museums.
The government's Wider Markets initiative set out 'to encourage departments and non-departmental public bodies to engage in commercial services based on their physical and knowledge assets', as the 2004 National Audit Office report described it.
'Extending business sponsorship to new areas' is cited as an example of a new approach to generating income. BT is now the sole sponsor of the Tate's website. The B&Q DIY chain has a contract to market the Tate's own brand of paints. But doesn't this reduce important parts of the nation's cultural heritage to yet another marketing gimmick?
Even the National Gallery has been affected by this change of emphasis. Its new street entrance from Trafalgar Square leads to a souvenir shop and restaurant, with the gallery itself several flights of stairs away.
The Science Museum's management has enthusiastically adopted a strategy to stage events that will pull in crowds. It has pioneered the outsourcing of curatorial functions for major events, such as its Titanic show, to the corporate entertainment and media conglomerate, Clear Channel.
Its current attraction, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, is a partnership with the Silver Knight/Mice Group 'in association with a multinational entertainments company'.
Visitors to South Kensington are greeted by giant hoardings for the Imax cinema. The focus is on joining the queue to purchase expensive tickets for the Imax and the Hitchhiker's exhibition - a 'disturbing glimpse of the future of museums', as architectural critic Deyan Sudjic has warned.
The focus on corporate entertainment, shops and restaurants has led to collections being squeezed into smaller spaces. At the Science Museum, the emphasis is often on private events.
According to public service union PCS, which organised a strike at the museum in February with sister union Prospect, up to nine galleries can currently be closed to the public, though they may be hired out for private use.
But despite its efforts to conform to the 'entrepreneurial culture', the Science Museum is still suffering from its long-term lack of funding. The loss of more than £7.7m in grant-in-aid over the past seven years has contributed to an escalating crisis threatening jobs and the break-up of the museum's historic library. The library has won a year's respite, but its future remains uncertain.
At Tate Britain earlier this year, it took one of Britain's most notable artists, Anthony Caro, to put his foot down against the proposed division of his recent retrospective into two parts - one with admission charges, the other free. While hailing him as Britain's greatest living sculptor, the Tate could not afford to buy a single new work from him. Instead, it is now asking artists to donate works.
The options seem to be: spending yet more money to raise revenue by marketing and going into partnerships with the private sector; or to increase funding and use what there is to promote and encourage the special role played by those who create, curate and present cultural heritage.
The slide towards making museums and galleries another 'shopping experience' seems inexorable. But going further down this road may well kill off what makes them special and worth visiting in the first place.
It is time to recognise that museums and culture should not be appendages of the entertainment corporations and that funds must be provided, without strings attached, to promote and enhance their unique qualities.
Corinna Lotz is a freelance journalist
Is Britain falling in line with the US where museums compete with each other by adopting the same marketing tools that are used to sell washing powder and fast food? Are commercial imperatives being developed at the expense of the core functions of museums?
Last autumn the Department for Culture, Media and Sport asked museums and galleries to reduce administration costs by 2.5 per cent a year until 2008 under Sir Peter Gershon's Efficiency Savings Review.
The initiative will lead to an estimated 80,000 job cuts across the whole of the civil service, with an inevitable knock-on effect on museums and galleries.
The Museum of London is facing a deficit of more than £500,000, as it is increasingly forced to search for its own sources of revenue. Staff pay rises are on hold. English Heritage is experiencing redundancies of highly trained staff, as generating revenue through commerce becomes a priority.
English Heritage and the Historic Royal Palaces are introducing volunteer schemes to perform key functions, potentially lowering standards of professionalism and accountability.
Staff at some English Heritage sites have been told to make private functions a priority. Dover Castle in Kent, for example, is closed when corporate functions, filming or weddings take place. Damage to property and interiors has occurred during drinks parties at some venues.
There is a constant pressure to seek corporate sponsors and generate income through trading activities and even the re-introduction of charges at national museums.
The government's Wider Markets initiative set out 'to encourage departments and non-departmental public bodies to engage in commercial services based on their physical and knowledge assets', as the 2004 National Audit Office report described it.
'Extending business sponsorship to new areas' is cited as an example of a new approach to generating income. BT is now the sole sponsor of the Tate's website. The B&Q DIY chain has a contract to market the Tate's own brand of paints. But doesn't this reduce important parts of the nation's cultural heritage to yet another marketing gimmick?
Even the National Gallery has been affected by this change of emphasis. Its new street entrance from Trafalgar Square leads to a souvenir shop and restaurant, with the gallery itself several flights of stairs away.
The Science Museum's management has enthusiastically adopted a strategy to stage events that will pull in crowds. It has pioneered the outsourcing of curatorial functions for major events, such as its Titanic show, to the corporate entertainment and media conglomerate, Clear Channel.
Its current attraction, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, is a partnership with the Silver Knight/Mice Group 'in association with a multinational entertainments company'.
Visitors to South Kensington are greeted by giant hoardings for the Imax cinema. The focus is on joining the queue to purchase expensive tickets for the Imax and the Hitchhiker's exhibition - a 'disturbing glimpse of the future of museums', as architectural critic Deyan Sudjic has warned.
The focus on corporate entertainment, shops and restaurants has led to collections being squeezed into smaller spaces. At the Science Museum, the emphasis is often on private events.
According to public service union PCS, which organised a strike at the museum in February with sister union Prospect, up to nine galleries can currently be closed to the public, though they may be hired out for private use.
But despite its efforts to conform to the 'entrepreneurial culture', the Science Museum is still suffering from its long-term lack of funding. The loss of more than £7.7m in grant-in-aid over the past seven years has contributed to an escalating crisis threatening jobs and the break-up of the museum's historic library. The library has won a year's respite, but its future remains uncertain.
At Tate Britain earlier this year, it took one of Britain's most notable artists, Anthony Caro, to put his foot down against the proposed division of his recent retrospective into two parts - one with admission charges, the other free. While hailing him as Britain's greatest living sculptor, the Tate could not afford to buy a single new work from him. Instead, it is now asking artists to donate works.
The options seem to be: spending yet more money to raise revenue by marketing and going into partnerships with the private sector; or to increase funding and use what there is to promote and encourage the special role played by those who create, curate and present cultural heritage.
The slide towards making museums and galleries another 'shopping experience' seems inexorable. But going further down this road may well kill off what makes them special and worth visiting in the first place.
It is time to recognise that museums and culture should not be appendages of the entertainment corporations and that funds must be provided, without strings attached, to promote and enhance their unique qualities.
Corinna Lotz is a freelance journalist
