You would have to be Curator of the Hermit’s Cave not to have realised that the forecasts for 2010 have been uniformly gloomy.
There is an expectation of public expenditure cuts on a scale that will really hurt. The year will be dominated by this; what else is there to say?
Quite a lot hopefully. In all the pessimism it is easy to forget some reasons to be cheerful. Museums have been around for a very long time and there is no evidence that they are about to suffer some cataclysmic failure.
The Heritage Lottery Fund and Renaissance will continue to support the revitalisation of many museums. Most local authorities will be reducing their expenditure, but few will actually wish to close their museums.
It will be a year in which reinforcing our vision for what museums achieve will be vital if we are to contain the carnage of cuts and retain the government’s commitment to Renaissance.
A priority for us must be to remind and persuade government again that Renaissance is a long-term investment for the transformation of our leading regional museums and galleries, not a short term project that can just be switched off.
The marshalling of evidence will be vital. We must demonstrate the benefits that we have delivered as a result of government investment over the last decade.
We will need to use data and qualitative evidence to show that we can continue to grow value in the future, regardless of which party is in charge.
Local authority museums (and many independent museums who rely on local authority grants) will inevitably find this year “challenging”.
We need to persuade elected members and chief executives to ask questions first and then only shoot if necessary. Independent reviews of services may still be the preface to cuts but out of them will often emerge stronger services, with clearer purposes and better business plans.
There will inevitably be more investigations into the merits of trust status. For some this will be their saviour. But for others it will not be viable.
Few public museums can become trusts without substantial support from the local authority that runs them and that stakeholder interest can easily compromise managerial independence.
Not all public museums have the critical mass to create significant income streams. But old debates like trust status, admission charges and cash disposals will all reappear as a result of financial pressures.
The effect of all this will be the emergence of lots of innovative ideas and smart thinking, many of them under the umbrella of organisational sustainability.
Many museums and their services will be much stronger and better equipped to serve their publics in 12 months’ time and that will be something to celebrate.
Stuart Davies is the president of the Museums Association
