Memorandum submitted by the Midlands Federation
of Museums and Art Galleries
1. EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
1.1 A commitment to Renaissance funding
beyond 2008 is critical to sustaining the progress achieved to
date. Funding for Phase 2 Hubs should be brought up to the level
of the Phase 1 Hubs. This disparity of funding is evident in comparing
the impact and benefits to users and for museums in the West Midlands
(Phase 1) with those in the East Midlands (Phase 2).
1.2 The informed and effective acquisition
and disposal of museum collections is an area that requires the
development of, and/or access to, collection and subject specific
knowledge and expertise.
1.3 There is a need for strong leadership
within the sector and the development of a national museums strategy.
DCMS and MLA should make collection development and stewardship
(care and management) a specific element of their remit.
2. INTRODUCTION
2.1 The Midlands Federation of Museums and
Art Galleries is a membership organisation open to institutions
and all people working in museums and galleries in the East and
West Midlands Government Office regions. The Federation is a registered
charity that aims to promote the objects of our national professional
body, the Museums Association, by holdings meetings, providing
information and encouraging the better administration of museums
and art galleries in the Federation area.
2.2 This memorandum sets out the response
of the Federation to the CMS Committee's Caring for our Collections
Inquiry, concentrating on the three areas highlighted by the committee.
The memorandum has been prepared specifically for submission to
the CMS committee.
3. FUNDING
3.1 There is a perception and concern that
the impact of the 2012 Olympics will have a negative effect on
Lottery funding for museums and galleries. The Lottery (and specifically
the Heritage Lottery Fund) has been enormously beneficial to museums
and galleries both large and small in the decade since it was
set up, and has helped to leverage additional funding from other
sources. Continuing improvements to both collections care and
visitor access could be jeopardised as a result of a reduction
in capacity to fund projects in the period leading up to 2012.
This will also effect the degree of leverage that museums and
galleries could access from other sources of funding during this
time.
3.2 Funding provided through the Museums,
Libraries and Archives Council's Renaissance in the Regions programme
has already begun to make a difference to many regional museums.
It is important that this investment should be developed and sustained.
The Midlands Federation covers both the West
Midlands (Phase 1 Hub) and the East Midlands (Phase 2 Hub). The
funding at Phase 1 level has achieved enormous impact in the West
Midlands with increase in provision and benefits to schoolchildren
and families. Within the wider region the Renaissance support
for the Museum Development Officers and for skills development,
accreditation advice and training has provided museum staff with
essential skills and enhanced knowledge. For example, the Renaissance
at Work (RAW) saw 500 participants from 69 museums take part in
this collection care training programme.
In the East Midlands the funding for Phase 2
has meant that both the Hub partners and the wider region have
yet to benefit fully from Renaissance. The disparity of funding
between Phase 1 and Phase 2 Hubs has meant that benefits to museums
in the East Midlands has been slower to develop both within the
Hub partners and the wider museum community.
The importance of Renaissance funding in caring
for our collections is critical. The criteria for the 2006-08
Business Plans did not specifically refer to management and care
of collections therefore the inclusion of programmes in these
areas was dependent on Hub Partners recognising priorities in
these areas. Fortunately this has been the case with both East
and West Midlands with Derby Museum Service leading on collections
management for the former and Birmingham Museums Service leading
on conservation and collection care for the latter. Access to
validated collection care and management advice that is relevant
and sensitive to the local context of museums—whether volunteer
run, charitable trust or local authority—is essential. The
key issues that need to be acknowledged are:
— Access to collections cannot
take place without access to expertise (for example, in interpretation,
care of collections, subject specialist knowledge).
— Developing knowledge networks
that support, train and provide expert advice across the region
is critical to sustaining the improvements in interpretation and
care of collections achieved to date.
— There is a need to deepen the
impact and penetration of Renaissance investment in interpretation,
ICT, collection care and management with all museums within a
region.
— There is a need to continue
to raise standards and develop best practice.
To have lasting worth there needs to be a commitment
to Renaissance funding beyond 2008 and for the Phase 2 Hubs to
be brought up to the level of the Phase 1 Hubs. The funding also
needs ensure that the benefits reach all museums in the region
as it should be recognised that smaller museums also hold important
collections, offer valued services and contribute to the local
economy.
4. ACQUISITION
AND DISPOSAL
POLICIES
4.1 The Federation supports the DCMS due
diligence guidelines for museums, libraries and archives on collecting
and borrowing cultural material published in 2005. The principal
concern for most museums and galleries is not policies for acquisition
and disposal, but insufficient resources with which to implement
policies. With regard to due diligence, researching provenance
accurately can be an expensive process.
4.2 Beyond the ethical issues, there are
wider issues with acquisition and disposal caused by very limited
resources. The Contemporary Art Society's Special Collection Scheme
provided an example of how additional resources can improve the
quality of acquisitions by museums and galleries. This national
scheme involved seven museums in the Federation's area and provided
funding for acquisitions and most importantly for curatorial research
and travel. With access to acknowledged experts in the field of
contemporary art the result was to enhance important and distinctive
collections by collecting the best and most relevant works.
4.3 The Federation welcomes the Museums
Association's current work on disposal policies. For non-National
museums, the effective restrictions on disposal are often not
legal issues but insufficient resources. Museums and galleries
need resources (including skilled staff) to research items for
potential disposal, both to establish their significance and to
discover whether there may be duplicate items in other public
collections.
4.4 The development of subject expertise
and the encouragement and acknowledgment of the importance of
collection research is a prerequisite of informed and effective
acquisition and disposal. Renaissance support for the Subject
Specialist Networks and the encouragement of regional subject
specialist groups will ensure that this expertise is developed.
For example, in the West Midlands the West Midlands
Archaeological Collections Research Unit has been in existence
since the 1980s and is the steering group managing the regional
Portable Antiquities Scheme. The West Midlands Natural Sciences
Curators' Group was formed in 2004 to share expertise and knowledge
between museums with natural science curators and to support museums
holding natural science collections in the region.
In the East Midlands a Collections Management
specialist panel has been set up alongside the Museum Development
Officer network to provide access to subject specialist advice.
The NOF funded website www.knittingtogether.org.uk is an example
of a project bringing together museums (large and small) in the
East Midlands with information on their textile collections to
provide online access.
5. REMIT AND
EFFECTIVENESS OF
DCMS AND MLA
5.1 It is the view of the Federation that
DCMS and the MLA Partnership place insufficient emphasis on care
of collections and stewardship. While museums and galleries are
keen to extend their focus on users, they also have a long-term
duty of care to ensure that collections are looked after properly
so that future generations will be able to access them.
There is a need for strong leadership within
the sector and the development of a national museums strategy.
The creation of the MLA Partnership and development of a shared
vision for the MLA and the regional agencies is an opportunity
in this regard.
5.2 MLA's Accreditation scheme is an important
tool in developing minimum standards however additional training
and resources are still needed to enable museums to improve collections
care and management. This is particularly the case for small voluntary
run museums. The inclusion of Accreditation within the Audit Commission
Comprehensive Performance Assessment is an important step forward
for local authority run museums.
5.3 Renaissance has brought about a welcome
consistency of approach to data collection for both Hub and Designated
museums. At present though the wider benefits and impact within
the non Hub museums is not consistently quantified.
There is a need to continue the development
of accurate qualitative methods of measuring impact. Simply counting
visitors and users does not assess the quality of the visit or
the learning experience or enjoyment of the visitor. Inspiring
Learning for All has provided a framework for assessment of learning
in museums and galleries and the Generic Social Outcomes that
have recently been developed by MLA will also support this area.
However, further work is needed to develop and extend the use
of such frameworks.
6. RECOMMENDATIONS
6.1 Government should commit to the extension
of the Renaissance in the Regions programme beyond 2008 at the
level of the current funding to Phase 1 hubs.
6.2 Government should provide additional
resources to support museums and galleries in the proactive implementation
of acquisition and disposal policies.
6.3 Government should make collection development
and their stewardship (care and management) a specific element
of the remit of both DCMS and MLA.
October 2006
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