Opinion
Potential for giving is limited outside London
I am an enthusiast for the encouragement of philanthropy. To avoid decline, museums need to invest, and philanthropy has a role to play. But how far can it replace public investment in major display renewal? My concern is that culture secretary Jeremy Hunt’s expectations are based on the potential he sees in London and ignores …
MA president’s plea to culture department
I would urge culture minister Ed Vaizey to prioritise the following: Safeguard the investment in museums. One of the big success stories has been free admission for the nationals, which should be maintained. Much of the nationals’ success has been due to funding that has enabled them to fulfil a truly national role. Cuts in …
Letters
Lessons in leadership for women The Lessons in Leadership session at the Museums Association (MA) conference this year, organised by the Women Leaders in Museums Network (WLMN), brought sharply into focus the need for ongoing professional and personal support for women of all ages working in museums. The conference session was supported by 23 members …
Do museums really need consultants?
At the risk of putting the cat among the consultants and talking myself completely out of a job, I’m going to say it anyway. Museums and galleries across the land – you’ve got to stand up for yourself. Your budgets are being blown to smithereens and the world as you know it is changing at …
Why museums can and should campaign
Somewhere between a session on Exhibiting Dark Histories at the International Council of Museums international management group conference in 2008 in Rotorua, New Zealand, and a hike in the bush during the conference’s excursion day, the concept for the Federation of International Human Rights Museums (FIHRM) emerged. Perhaps not the likeliest of beginnings, but further …
Collections are not there for “just-in-case”
Some dictionaries claim to be concise. Museums, their close-relatives, make no such claims. Museums and dictionaries though are driven by a common desire to contain every possible object or word, even though most are never looked at or looked up. As a result my Concise Oxford Dictionary has 1,558 pages of closely typed words and …
Letters
Mandate needed for post-Renaissance plan Congratulations on another robust editorial. Your contributions remain one of the highlights each month and “Loss of MLA is chance to shape our future” summed up how many of us are feeling. My only concern was your call for “the swift implementation of the core museums model” for Renaissance. I …