News Release

Embargo: not for publication or broadcast before 00:01 am 19 March 2001

'Warning Bell' sounds for UK museums

Museums are in danger of forced closure or warehousing collections because a period of uncontrolled expansion has now run out of steam, according to a new report.

The latest issue of Cultural Trends sounds 'a loud warning bell' for the future of museums. Original research by Adrian Babbidge suggests that museums need an additional £29 million each year from a static market to pay the increased running-costs of lottery-funded new buildings and extensions.

The author believes that there is a substantial risk that many museums will find themselves over-committed and fail at a time of reducing public subsidy, increased competition from other kinds of visitor attractions and static visitor numbers. Many of these projects are only now being launched, so the full picture will probably not emerge for another 2 years - although the £9 million Centre for the Visual Arts in Cardiff, part-funded with Lottery money, closed its doors a little more than a year after opening.

A comprehensive analysis of data reveals:

• Less than 1 per cent of Heritage Lottery Fund money has been spent on documenting collections or reducing conservation backlogs, whilst 55 per cent has gone on new capital projects or extensions, with significant implications for future running costs.
• Local-authority funding for museums is falling in real terms (the revenue spend of a sample of 157 English museums showed an increase of 4 per cent over a four year period compared with an inflation rate of 12 per cent). The author deems the situation in Yorkshire and the South-West to be critical, with real-term reductions of between 16 and 20 per cent. Moreover, council-funded museums risk entering a 'spiral of decline' by trying to maintain staffing and premises budgets whilst reducing operating costs.
• Independent museums are experiencing a long-term decline in visitor numbers, because of increasing competition from other types of visitor attractions. Moreover, a sample of 6 of the larger independent museums shows a reduction of earned income from commercial activity.
• Central government funding remains uneven, with £9.57 spend per head of population in the South East, compared with just £0.06 per head in the East Midlands, £0.60 per head in the North East, £2.63 in the North West, £0.58 in the South West, £0.15 in the West Midlands and £0.73 in Yorkshire. In fact, currently almost 90 per cent of government funding on museums is spent in London and the South-East.

'Rather than remedying the problems of historic under-funding for museums, such as backlogs of documentation and poor standards of collections, there is a danger that lottery money spent on capital projects has created problems for the next generation' said Adrian Babbidge. 'A coherent national museums policy is now essential, for without one it will be impossible to test what should be saved and what should go.'

A regional task force has now been set up by Culture Secretary Chris Smith and is being taken forward by Resource: the Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries. Maurice Davies, Deputy Director of the Museums Association, takes a more positive view of the future in a commentary included in Cultural Trends. 'There may be a short-term problem of declining revenue support, due largely to an overall squeeze on local government spending, but the picture is very mixed' he said. 'The lottery is bringing in resources undreamt of just five years ago and as a result, dozens of museums are brighter, better and more popular than ever before.'

'The country is getting richer and central government is taking an increasing interest in museums and how they can contribute to wider policy agendas, such as lifelong learning and social exclusion. I am optimistic about the future - as long as central government creates a funding system in which museums can thrive.'

Contact: Neil Churchill on 07769 971851

Notes to Editors:

1. Cultural Trends is published quarterly by the Policy Studies Institute.
2. Adrian Babbidge has been director of the East Midlands Museum Service since 1989. A specialist in museum management and finance, he is a regular contributor to professional journals and lectures at a number of universities.
3. Press review copies of Cultural Trends are available from PSI on 020 7468 2319. 4. Copies of Cultural Trends 37 can be purchased from Carfax Publishing Ltd on 01235 401 000, priced £41.00