Memorandum submitted by the National Art
Collections Fund
1. The National Art Collections Fund (Art
Fund) welcomes the opportunity to respond to the inquiry by the
Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee into "Protecting,
preserving and making accessible our nation's heritage".
2. The Art Fund is the UK's largest independent
art charity, with 80,000 members. It gives grants to help enrich
public collections and campaigns widely on behalf of museums and
their visitors. In the last 10 years the Art Fund has helped UK
museums acquire over 380,000 works of art, with grants totalling
£30 million, and was at the forefront of the successful campaign
for free admission.
3. The Art Fund works closely with those
bodies overseeing, representing and helping to fund the heritage
sector, including the Department for Culture, Media and Sport
(DCMS), the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) and
the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).
4. The Art Fund will restrict its comments
to the most relevant areas of the Committee's inquiry. The terms
"museum" and "museums" are used to denote
both museums and galleries.
THE DEFINITION
OF HERITAGE
5. We are concerned that use of the term
"heritage" is increasingly elastic. Current directions,
issued by the DCMS in 2002, ask that in distributing funds the
HLF take into account "the scope for reducing economic and
social deprivation . . . the need to promote access . . . [and]
to further the objectives of sustainable development". The
HLF is increasingly being drawn into areas that are the responsibility
of central or local government.
6. The current definition of heritage used
by the HLF itself includes "everything we have inherited
from the past and value enough to want to share and sustain for
the future"[55]—from
the natural environment, parks and historic buildings to museums,
transport heritage and cultural traditions and language.
FUNDING
7. Our museums play a crucial role as guardians
of our heritage. They have a duty to preserve and protect material
for the future, enabling current and new generations to become
familiar with their heritage. Museums also have a duty to acquire.
But when budgets are tight—in the face of urgent capital
repairs, above-inflation salary increases and meeting education
and social inclusion targets—potential acquisitions are
often sacrificed. National museums are able to spend less and
less of their grant in aid on acquisitions, and are increasingly
reliant on external sources of funding.
8. Yet there is now a much smaller amount
of money available from external sources to fund acquisitions.
The annual budget of the MLA/V&A Purchase Grant Fund (which
supports purchases by regional museums and galleries in England)
has dropped by one third since 1993. And funding for the National
Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF)—the government's "fund
of last resort" for heritage items at risk—has fallen
by 60% over the same period. NHMF funding will, it is true, increase
to £10 million per year by 2007-08, but its income will remain
significantly less than the £14 million it received when
it was established in 1980. The rise in art market prices over
the same period has, in most cases, far exceeded the Retail Price
Index (RPI).
9. Over the last 10 years the Art Fund and
the HLF have jointly funded over 200 acquisitions for UK public
collections, including works by Titian, Bonington, J M W Turner,
Gainsborough and Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Without the continuing,
generous support of the HLF, high value acquisitions will be a
thing of the past.
10. However, far less money will be available
for heritage from the National Lottery in coming years. The HLF
estimate that the amount it will distribute will fall from £330
million this year to around £200 million in 2008—a
drop of 40%. Following the review of the National Lottery later
this year, the share of lottery money for heritage may fall even
further after 2009. It is estimated that up to £410 million
will be diverted from lottery good causes towards the 2012 Olympics.
While exact figures are still uncertain, the implications for
the heritage sector are all too clear.
11. The 2012 Olympics offer a unique opportunity
to promote London as a world capital for culture, and to showcase
the UK's cultural heritage. However, most museums will find it
difficult to take full advantage. It is essential that heritage
retains a healthy share of funds from the National Lottery following
the review of good causes currently underway.
12. We are also concerned that the HLF appears
to be giving a lower priority to museum acquisitions than in the
past. Last year the HLF spent just £2.3 million on art acquisitions,
down from over £18 million 10 years ago. This represented
less than one per cent of HLF total expenditure. The HLF's recent
consultation document ("Our Heritage, Our Future, Your Say")
set out its proposed plans to 2013—omitting all mention
of the acquisition of works of art. When the National Gallery
was recently exploring the possibility of acquiring the so-called
"Halifax" Titian, informal signals from the HLF indicated
that a grant application for this masterpiece that has long been
associated with this country had little, if any, hope of success.
13. The Secretary of State for Culture,
Media and Sport recently announced that she would give consideration
to the establishment of a National Acquisitions Fund. We are pleased
that the government seems to have acknowledged the seriousness
of the problem and look forward to hearing more.
PROMOTING PHILANTHROPY
14. Tax incentives have proved a highly
effective means of encouraging philanthropy both in the UK and
overseas. The Art Fund submitted a proposal for an income tax
incentive to the Treasury early in 2005, which would allow donors
to offset gifts of works of art and heritage objects to the nation
against income tax, as is already permitted in several other countries
(copy enclosed). The Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee
itself recommended "an extension of the Gift Aid arrangements,
so that donations of significant art works to public collections
can be offset against income tax", in its report The Market
for Art[56].
The Goodison Review—commissioned by the Treasury itself—contained
a similar recommendation. Yet in December 2005 the Treasury informed
us that despite widespread support it would not implement our
proposal, as it does not want to go down the tax incentive route.
This is a major missed opportunity.
THE EXPORT
SYSTEM
15. The UK's export controls on works of
art play a vital role in protecting heritage. They act as a "safety
net" by creating an opportunity for the most important works
to be acquired by public collections. The Art Fund has had extensive
experience of the system as we are one of the main sources of
funding for museums looking for grants to purchase export-stopped
works of art.
16. We share the concern of the Reviewing
Committee on the Export of Works of Art that the shortage of available
funding, in conjunction with the rising price of art, results
in the failure to retain many outstanding cultural objects threatened
with export from the UK, especially those of higher value. Since
1997, over 40% of export-stopped objects have been lost to buyers
overseas. In 2004-05 just 12% of objects by value were saved for
the UK. Losses included treasures by Francis Bacon, William Blake
and Jan Steen, collectively worth more than £30 million.
17. The export system relies on the "Waverley
Criteria" to judge whether an object should be granted an
export licence. The criteria were established more than 50 years
ago and now look increasingly outdated and unrealistic. Arguably
some objects are being export-stopped unnecessarily while others
of greater significance are not being caught by the present system
- notably modern and contemporary works, and those that have been
imported within the last 50 years. The Waverley Criteria should
be revised in order to reflect the changed needs of the 21st century.
18. The NHMF plays a key role in helping
public collections to purchase export-stopped works of art, but
it is severely under-funded. If its income had increased only
in line with inflation since it was established in 1980, it would
now stand at more than £20 million. Funding to the NHMF must
be increased to at least £20 million per annum in order to
give the export system backbone, and to fulfil its role as a true
"fund of last resort".
THE HERITAGE
WHITE PAPER
The forthcoming Heritage White Paper should
address the following:
19. The definition of heritage
The definition of heritage is being stretched
beyond recognition. As funding for the sector becomes increasingly
limited the UK's heritage needs must be sensibly prioritised.
20. Funding for heritage—notably the
acquisition of works of art
Public spending on heritage is inadequate. In
particular, the lack of available funding means that many of the
most valuable heritage objects that meet the Waverley Criteria
are leaving our shores. The White Paper must address the chronic
decline in funding for heritage acquisitions.
21. The export system
The export system—notably the Waverley
Criteria—should be re-examined and revised to take account
of changing priorities. There are also several technical problems
that need to be addressed to improve the efficiency of the export
system—in particular, steps should be taken to discourage
owners from withdrawing their application for an export licence
once a fundraising effort has been launched. Last year alone 20%
of licence applications were withdrawn following a serious expression
of interest by a UK buyer, which meant a great deal of wasted
effort by UK museums and funding bodies.
January 2006
55 Our Heritage, Our Future, Your Say, Heritage Lottery
Fund, November 2005, p 13. Back
56
Sixth report from the Culture, Media and Sport Committee (Session
2004-05: HC 414): The Market for Art, p 17, published April 2005. Back
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