This month we have the surprising news that Renaissance in the Regions, in its second-to-last year of guaranteed funding, has once again managed to under-spend (see link below).
The amount is not insignificant – £5m in total – and will no doubt come as a shock to those scraping by in the regions, trying to make ends meet and facing cuts round every corner.
Renaissance has been historically under-spent, something that in the past was blamed on a lack of capacity in regional museums. Museum services that had been run down and were not used to having much money didn’t know how to spend it when they got it.
But after eight years of Renaissance funding and capacity-building, regional museums should now be well placed to use up every last penny that comes their way.
So what has gone wrong? The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) says a change in how the money is distributed is partly to blame, but that is insufficient cause for an under-spend that is more than 10 per cent of the Renaissance budget for 2009-10.
It appears that part of the reason that money that should be going to regional museums is being given back to the department for culture is the delay in signing-off projects by the MLA.
Regional museums are complaining about forests of red tape and having to jump through so many hoops to get approval that projects are delayed for months on end.
Responses to this news have so far ranged from disbelief to resignation. But it doesn’t have to be this way. The MLA rightly says that it is duty-bound to make sure all the money it distributes is spent efficiently and effectively. But surely it should be possible to do it speedily as well.
All this has come as the case for continued Renaissance funding has to be made to politicians of all parties. If the advocacy is to be successful, then the MLA and regional museums are going to have to put a very strong case for not only the continuation of funding, but also their capacity to spend it when it comes their way.
Sharon Heal, editor
Links
MLA predicts huge renaissance under-spend, Museums Journal March 2010, p5