So the general election is nearly upon us and, as our news analysis points out (see p12), arts, culture and heritage have predictably not been among the hot topics being debated.
Nevertheless, maybe prompted by current political debates, the sector has been involved in a bit of soul-searching about its future.
A debate at the Wallace Collection asked how museums would be faring five years from now, while the Courtauld Institute of Art invited a range of speakers, including Sharon Heal, the director of the Museums Association, to discuss the future of regional museums (see The Conversation, p17).
And John Orna-Ornstein, the director of museums at Arts Council England (ACE), has been blogging about the future for local authority museums.
Of course, the background to all this is wider political arguments about austerity. But whatever the outcome of the election, the funding picture for the sector will continue to be complex and changeable.
National museums funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport are upping the money they secure from non-government sources as the public money they receive is reduced. And many local authority museum services are finding inventive ways to operate as their public funding diminishes.
On the flip side, independent museums are benefiting from public money, with ACE recently awarding the Association of Independent Museums £900,000 over three years to support its work. And, like other museums, independents are major beneficiaries of public money given by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for capital projects.
And it’s not only capital schemes that are being funded. A recent issue of Museums Journal showed how the Chiltern Open Air Open Museum, an independent, had five HLF-backed projects supporting skills development, fundraising and community engagement on the go at once.
It is this healthy mix of public and private support that helps to make it such a diverse and buoyant sector. And whatever their status – national, local authority, independent, volunteer-run or university – it is the ambitious, radical and innovative museums that will continue to flourish, whatever the funding challenges ahead.
Simon Stephens, editor, Museums Journal
simon@museumsassociation.org
www.twitter.com/simonastephens
Nevertheless, maybe prompted by current political debates, the sector has been involved in a bit of soul-searching about its future.
A debate at the Wallace Collection asked how museums would be faring five years from now, while the Courtauld Institute of Art invited a range of speakers, including Sharon Heal, the director of the Museums Association, to discuss the future of regional museums (see The Conversation, p17).
And John Orna-Ornstein, the director of museums at Arts Council England (ACE), has been blogging about the future for local authority museums.
Of course, the background to all this is wider political arguments about austerity. But whatever the outcome of the election, the funding picture for the sector will continue to be complex and changeable.
National museums funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport are upping the money they secure from non-government sources as the public money they receive is reduced. And many local authority museum services are finding inventive ways to operate as their public funding diminishes.
On the flip side, independent museums are benefiting from public money, with ACE recently awarding the Association of Independent Museums £900,000 over three years to support its work. And, like other museums, independents are major beneficiaries of public money given by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for capital projects.
And it’s not only capital schemes that are being funded. A recent issue of Museums Journal showed how the Chiltern Open Air Open Museum, an independent, had five HLF-backed projects supporting skills development, fundraising and community engagement on the go at once.
It is this healthy mix of public and private support that helps to make it such a diverse and buoyant sector. And whatever their status – national, local authority, independent, volunteer-run or university – it is the ambitious, radical and innovative museums that will continue to flourish, whatever the funding challenges ahead.
Simon Stephens, editor, Museums Journal
simon@museumsassociation.org
www.twitter.com/simonastephens
