Supplementary memorandum submitted by
Tyne & Wear Museums
RESPONSE TO
QUESTIONS FROM
THE SELECT
COMMITTEE ON
CULTURE, MEDIA
AND SPORT
INQUIRY INTO
CARE OF
COLLECTIONS
Thank you for your letter of last week. It has
been our pleasure to welcome you to the region and, of course,
mine to appear before the Committee. The questions that you now
ask are quite wide-ranging, however, we have attempted to split
them into three and answer each in turn through the following
paragraphs:
1. Question 1 Some of the members would
be particularly interested to know more about the process of distributing
Renaissance funding, including the criteria applied in deciding
to which institutions and projects (inside and outside the Hub)
funds should be cascaded and what the amounts should be, as well
as a breakdown of how the funds were in fact applied
1.1 Renaissance Principles
It is important to begin by stating the premise,
purpose and principle of the Renaissance programme, which is to
deliver benefits to actual and potential museum users, and not
specifically to museums. It is clear that this principle must
be used as the touchstone to ensure a strategic approach.
For this reason, and it is an important point
to make, the term ". . . distributing Renaissance funding
. . ." rather misses the point: Renaissance is not about
distributing funding, but about achieving public benefit through
targeted investment in museums provision and partnerships. It
may seem like a pedantic point, but if one starts with the false
premise that Renaissance is about distributing funding, then the
conclusions about the nature and future of the programme will
be skewed.
It should also be emphasised that Renaissance
funding is distributed not only through the regional Hubs, but
through the regional MLA partners (eg the Museum Development Fund)
and through MLA centrally (eg Subject Specialist Network Funding).
The answers given here will relate exclusively
to the Hub elements as it these on which we are best qualified
to comment.
1.2 Allocation Criteria
The criteria for allocations in the first Hub
plan, therefore, were entirely about assessing which institutions
had the best potential access to audiences and were best placed
both to deliver quality programmes to existing audiences, and
to develop new audiences, particularly amongst hard to reach groups.
The first phase of Renaissance, from a Hub perspective,
was driven by the twin aims of audience development and capacity
building. That is the basis of the Hub system. Many of the regional
benefits that have accrued have been through the creation of capacity
in areas such as collections management, curatorial needs, volunteer
programmes and access. This capacity is often provided through
dedicated posts managed by the Hub partners, but exercising a
regional role.
The original planning process was organised
into eight key delivery areas, and these were mapped against the
Hub partners' ability to deliver in these different areas.
The subsequent planning process was organised
into three priority areas, in short: Collections, Audiences and
Organisations. Current and forthcoming plans will use these to
map activity.
1.3 A Planned Programme
At every point in the process, the driver for
funding allocation has been the delivery of the plan outcomes
and objectives. There has been no "bidding" process
amongst Hub partners, but a jointly conceived and delivered plan
in which appropriate solutions and delivery mechanisms have been
developed.
In the Tees Valley, for instance, where there
are significant museums outside the Hub, the regional Hub partner,
Hartlepool, has developed a programme with significant contributions
from those other museums. Consequently, Hartlepool receives an
appropriate level of funding which it administers on behalf of
the Hub, but contracts its sub-regional partners to achieve regional
targets. Conversely, in Northumberland, where museum provision
is sparse, local partners have asked the Hub leader (TWM) to directly
employ outreach workers, on the basis that TWM has the capacity
to do this more effectively.
Elsewhere, programmes have been designed with
users at the centre of the process, and appropriate delivery partners
have been identified. These may be non-Hub museums, but equally,
may be "non-sectoral" partners, so for instance the
Hub has sustained relationships with local press, the regional
development agency (One North East), and the Historic Environment
Forum. These latter partnerships are often aimed at producing
truly regional programmes (eg marketing, advocacy, information
gathering on behalf of the sector). It should be emphasised that
some 45% of the current programme can be identified as cross-regional
activity.
1.4 Current Allocations
The resulting split of allocation according
to priority area and key delivery partner in 2006-07 is summarised
in the following table:
|
| Hub partner | PA1 (£)
| PA2 (£) | PA3 (£)
| Operation and
Management (£)
|
|
| TWM | 466,880
| 23,500 | 327,100
| |
| Beamish | 220,500
| 28,350 | 177,100
| |
| Bowes | 138,500
| 13,000 | 213,000
| |
| Hartlepool | 288,000
| | 190,000
| 26,000 |
| NEMLAC | | 13,000
| | 15,000
|
| Regional programmes and partners | 693,620
| 227,600 | 399,500
| 169,350 |
| Totals | 1,807,500
| 305,450 | 1,306,700
| 210,350 |
|
1.5 Mechanisms for Engagement
It can be seen from the paragraphs above that funding is
targeted at where it can make the greatest difference: it is not
cascaded as a matter of course, rather it is directed and managed
through a series of partnership agreements both within and without
the Hub.
Furthermore, the nature of these engagements will not necessarily
involve cash changing hands, but may involve support from staff,
partners, trainers or independent providers.
In some instances, non-Hub partners will be obvious (e.g.
if you are going to develop outreach activity in Tynedale, it
would make sense to work with Tynedale Council), in others, they
will express an interest in an area of work, or indeed suggest
an area of work which can then be developed in partnership. They
may also seek to take advantage of existing schemes or provision
(eg the region-wide literacy activity developed by the Hub), or
nominate staff for training programmes (eg the Core Skills programme).
In some cases, opportunity funds have been released through a
bidding process, but again these have been strategically directed
and assessed. Finally, there are those initiatives which are of
wide benefit and non-Hubs are de facto engaged (eg Regional
Museum Guide).
The methods of allocation and their relative values are developed
in 2, below.
2. Question 2 It would also be helpful to have an idea
of the nature and volume of the direct and indirect benefits to
those institutions outside (and perhaps especially those furthest
from) the Hub
As noted in 1.5, above, there are a variety of mechanisms
in which non-Hub museums benefit from the Renaissance programme,
some of which are easy to quantify and some are less so. As noted,
in general terms, some 45% of the Hub's budget is allocated to
regional working and this includes the elements delivered with,
and by, non-Hub museums.
2.1 Direct Funding
There are several ways in which direct funding is allocated
to partnerships with non-Hub partners:
— Bidding into "Opportunity" Funds
On some occasions the Hub allocates funding from one of its
programmes to deliver specific types of outcome. It will then
invite museums across the region to bid in to deliver these. For
example the Hub Diversity Fund invited bids to develop
programmes to engage with BME audiences. In such cases, bids are
assessed by representatives of the Hub and MLA North East, and
specialist independent advisors if necessary. Funding is then
apportioned accordingly.
— Support programmes for museums engaging
with priority audiences
Funding is sometimes allocated to non-Hub partners to engage
with specific priority audiences where a museum has shown a capacity
to engage with those audiences and thereby deliver Hub outcomes.
Specific examples include Bede's World which has received funding
in support of a programme of engagement with disaffected young
people, and a variety of museum partners supported by the Hub's
Regional Education Team to develop resources and programmes to
work with Key Stage 3 and 4 pupils, or families through the Sure
Start programmes.
— Specific needs and "vacuum filling"
The Hub has strategically prioritised particular geographic
areas for attention because communities in those areas may have
little or no access to museum provision, and may be too distal
to benefit from investment in sub-regional centres. The prime
example is areas of Northumberland where funding for two outreach
officers and associated programmes has been provided. In actual
fact, at the request of the partner authorities, the officers
have been recruited by TWM, and will be seconded to the partner
authorities in Northumberland with management and development
support from their TWM managers.
2.2 Support programmes
There are a number of regional Hub programmes which do not
supply direct funding or staffing to non-Hubs partners, but which
nevertheless provide a direct and very tangible benefit to their
operation and development. These include, for instance:
The Hub offers many free training and development opportunities
to museum staff and volunteers across the region. The prime example
of this is the Core Museum Skills programme; a series of 10 day-long
modules funded by the Hub and delivered by a number of specialists,
predominantly from Hub museums. Places are free, and open to any
applicants from the museum sector. Demand is so high that we run
two courses a year. In addition training is offered in a variety
of other areas including:
Several resources have been provided for regional benefit,
for example:
— Conservation Equipment and Materials: each
museum in the region receives a basic collections care and cleaning
kit and appropriate training. This will allow them to focus on
preventative conservation and basic remedial techniques provide
better care for their collections;
— Collections Treatment Facility: a large
walk-in freezer unit has been constructed at Discovery Museum.
This is made available to the region's museums along with the
expertise to use it: this is particularly important for treating
material suffering from bio deterioration, pest infestation or
water damage;
— Access: The Hub's Access Officer has developed
a set of access equipment that can be made available to museums
on request for special events or on trial if they are considering
purchasing equipment of their own; and
— Learning and Education: Education resource
boxes have been produced for all smaller museums following consultation
with the museums. These consist of basic equipment such as pens,
pencils clipboards, paper and additional items as requested. In
addition specific resources have been developed for some museums,
for example, to engage with family audiences.
The North East Regional Museums Hub has created capacity to
support the museums and museum activity across the region. Examples
include:
— A Fundraising Development Officer who provides
generic advice and training to museums and museum authorities,
as well as developing bids for further funding for regional programmes;
— An Accreditation Support Officer to help museums
prepare for the Accreditation process;
— A Disability Access Team providing advice, training
and equipment;
— A Volunteering Team which has succeeded in building
an impressive volunteering capacity for the benefit of museums
and participants;
— An Education Team providing a wide range of support
for almost all museums in the region and targeted expertise in
specific areas such as Key stage 3 and 4, family learning and
literacy; and
— A Diversity Officer to sharpen up all aspects
of engagement with and employment of particularly BME groups.
— Marketing, Communication and Promotion
The Hub has worked to raise the profile of museums as a sector
with key audiences and stakeholders by initiatives such as producing
the Regional Museums Guide, partnering the Arts Council for England
North East and a press partner to produce the regional Culture
Magazine, and creating Innovart, a network of teachers
and museum and gallery educators.
The Hub now brings its collective delivery power to strategic
discussions, and its resources to regional programmes, and in
doing so can raise profile and knowledge of the sector and its
potential. In partnership with MLA North East, the sector is now
a major regional force and is developing meaningful and productive
partnerships at all levels as well as initiating new programmes:
museums are no longer confined to the role of supplicants!
2.3 Collaborative Working and Leverage
There is a tangible increase in the level and impact of collaborative
working across the Museums sector in the North East as a result
of Renaissance in the Regions. Examples include:
— Themed Regional Exhibition and Events
programmes
Each year the Hub brings together museums to present a programme
on a common theme across the region. In 2005 this was SeaBritain
2005 North East, and in 2006, World Cultures. Both
tied in to national celebrations and in each case, the Hub co-ordinated
regional funding to support a range of initiatives and museums,
many of which had insufficient capacity to access such funding.
The Hub has developed a Curatorial Needs programme for the
benefit of collections across the regions. Collections are addressed
by subject area, rather than by museum, so this is a truly cross
cutting area of activity. This has caused museums to work together
to pool knowledge irrespective of their size or status.
The increased opportunities to work together in partnership
have contributed to a greater spirit of community and mutual support
across the sub-region.
3. Question 3 Another issue which arose in discussion
was the availability of funding from DfES. Could you please let
us have some more information about this, such as what the funding
is, what it is for, how it is applied for, how much has been received
and what it has been spent on?
3.1 Securing Commitment
There is no question that a great degree of our activity
impacts directly on DfES targets and aspirations. Whilst some
DfES support is forthcoming, there is a real sense that this is
small and sporadic and there is still some way to go in convincing
DfES of the true value of museums and of learning from collections.
There is often a sense that it is beholden upon DCMS and
its partners to convince DfES of our usefulness: one might hope
that DfES increasingly sees the benefits and potential of museums
and collections, particularly in relation to the Learning Outside
the Classroom agenda, and begins to initiate engagement with
museums rather than merely responding to overtures from others.
Having said this, there are two specific areas where DfEs
funding has been immensely beneficial and strategically applied
to our museums and collections and these are dealt with in 3.2
and 3.3, below.
3.2 Strategic Commissioning
The best known and most obvious recent injection of DfES
funds has been through the Strategic Commissioning initiative.
This enables National Museums to enter into learning-based activity
with partners in the regions. There are some reservations about
what some perceive as a "paternalistic" approach, however,
there is no doubt that this has provided immense benefit across
the country.
In the North East, this has been responsible for programmes
with TWM as described in the table below:
TWM Strategic Commissioning Projects
|
| Project Title | Budget
| National Partner |
TWM Venue |
|
| Take One Picture | £15K in 2006-07,
£13K in 2005-06
| National Gallery | Laing
|
| Real World Science | £24.25K in 2006-07,
£20K in 2005-06
| National History Museum |
Hancock |
| Across the Board | £2.5K in 2006-07,
£19K in 2005-06
| BM | Segedunum
|
| World's Most Photographed | £16K in 2006-07
| NPG | Sunderland
|
| BP Portrait Awards | Nil activity this year
| NPG | Sunderland
|
| Engaging Refugees and Asylum Seekers | £28K in 2006-07
| National Museums Liverpool, Salford, Leicester
| All |
| Image and Identity | £19K in 2006-07,
£10 K in 2005-06
| V&A | Shipley
|
| Visual Dialogues | £16K in 2006-07,
£22K 2005-06
| Tate Britain | Laing
|
|
3.3 Arts and Humanities Research Council Funding
An important source of funding is provided to North East
Museums through the AHRC. This comes through a number of sources:
— Revenue Contributions to University Museums
such as Newcastle University's Great North Museum (£190,500
pa 2006-09) and Durham University's Oriental Museum.
— Special project funding for University Museums
(eg a research project on bar-coding collections prior to a major
re-storage scheme for the Great North Museum: £30,000 single
grant).
— Funding for collaborative schemes between
University researchers and any museum in the study and use of
collections. Existing and proposed projects include research into
online oral history; instrumentalism; twentieth century paintings
in the Laing Art Gallery. These have been/will be variously funded
through, for instance the Collaborative Post-Doctoral Programme
and an AHRC scheme to promote collaborative seminar programmes.
22 February 2007
|
