The spending review – preceded by a mood of dread and the fear of 40% cuts across the sector – turned out to be a mixed bag.
There were sighs of relief from Arts Council England and the national museums funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, as cuts were kept below 5% over the next five years.
Meanwhile, local authority museums in England, especially those without Major Partner Museum status, will have groaned at the 54% cut to the central government grant to local authorities – though we will have to wait and see the detail of how the replacement business rate system will function until we know the true impact.
It also remains to be seen how devolved governments will allocate their spending on culture, with further cuts anticipated for museums in Wales and Scotland.
The Museums Association (MA) and others have focused much energy in recent months on getting a palatable deal from the spending review, with behind- the-scenes briefings, and letter- writing and advocacy campaigns.
And the message appears to be getting through at some levels, with the government recognising museums’ importance to voters.
George Osborne said “deep cuts to the arts would be a false economy”. We must now make it clear that deep cuts to any type of museum is a false economy.
The MA will continue to make a strong argument for the power of museums, their social role, their place at the heart of our communities and their capacity to inform our future.
And with a culture white paper for England due in spring, and elections in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, there are lots of opportunities to keep the heat up.
Alistair Brown is the policy officer at the Museums Association
There were sighs of relief from Arts Council England and the national museums funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, as cuts were kept below 5% over the next five years.
Meanwhile, local authority museums in England, especially those without Major Partner Museum status, will have groaned at the 54% cut to the central government grant to local authorities – though we will have to wait and see the detail of how the replacement business rate system will function until we know the true impact.
It also remains to be seen how devolved governments will allocate their spending on culture, with further cuts anticipated for museums in Wales and Scotland.
The Museums Association (MA) and others have focused much energy in recent months on getting a palatable deal from the spending review, with behind- the-scenes briefings, and letter- writing and advocacy campaigns.
And the message appears to be getting through at some levels, with the government recognising museums’ importance to voters.
George Osborne said “deep cuts to the arts would be a false economy”. We must now make it clear that deep cuts to any type of museum is a false economy.
The MA will continue to make a strong argument for the power of museums, their social role, their place at the heart of our communities and their capacity to inform our future.
And with a culture white paper for England due in spring, and elections in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, there are lots of opportunities to keep the heat up.
Alistair Brown is the policy officer at the Museums Association