Opinion
How are US museums and galleries coping with the recession?
Last December the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, a history and art museum founded in 1896, owned and operated by the city, was told to close because of the recession’s effect on city finances. This is worrying since it is in many ways typical of the 18,000 or so museums in the United States. Roughly half …
Letters
Raising the issue of Renaissance underspendI would like to say thank you to Museums Journal for raising the issue of the Renaissance underspend and to the Museums Association (MA) for taking it up with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. I am not writing using my own name and do not feel confident in …
Though volunteers can complement staff, they mustn’t replace them
News item: “It has closed more than 40 museums and other attractions because of staff cutbacks to save money.” No – not the UK, but Greece. Could the same thing happen here? And if so, would museum directors feel attracted to the idea of using volunteers to fill in? Possibly. But if so, it is to …
Why museum staff need a Hippocratic oath
In 2002, the European Federation of International Medicine, American College of Physicians, American Society of International Medicine and American Board of International Medicine published Medical Professionalism in the New Millennium: A Physician Charter – an updated Hippocratic oath. The charter’s introduction states: “Professionalism is the basis of medicine’s contract with society.” It goes on to …
We’re all in the same hole, so let’s use our resources to get out of it
There is much talk at the moment about making a case for museums, including the Working in Partnership report published last month by the National Museum Directors’ Conference. While welcoming the report, with its advocacy of excellence, partnership and the requirement for sustained government funding, there is, perhaps typically, a Scouse “but”. The report is …