Memorandum by The Art Fund
1. The Art Fund is the UK's largest independent
art charity, with 80,000 members. It enriches public collections
by giving grants and distributing gifts and bequests, and campaigns
widely on behalf of museums and their visitors.
2. This supplementary memorandum follows
on from the written evidence submitted by The Art Fund to the
Committee's inquiry into "Protecting and Preserving our Heritage"
in January 2006 (copy enclosed).[17]
Our original submission addresses the role that UK museums and
galleries play in preserving our heritage and funding issues,
particularly funding for acquisitions. This supplementary memorandum
focuses on disposal policies.
WHY MUSEUMS
HOLD MATERIAL
IN STORAGE
3. Museums have many objects that they do
not regularly display. In some cases there are good reasons for
this. Museums have a duty to preserve material for the future,
and act as guardians of our heritage. Many items are not suitable
for display, but are vital as a resource for research and scholarship.
Other objects are too delicate for permanent display—for
example, textiles and works on paper—and so are exhibited
on rotation or at rare intervals. It is a grave error to suppose
that all material could or should be permanently displayed, or
that museums should cease to develop their collections as they
have "too much stuff".
4. However, it is estimated that up to 80%
of permanent collections are in storage at any one time. Although
we recognise that many museums and galleries lack sufficient space
to show more than a small proportion of their holdings, we still
believe this figure is too high. Museums must become more efficient
and flexible at using what they already have, and if objects are
in storage for no good reason they should offer them to other
public collections.
CURRENT POLICY
ON DISPOSALS
5. The rules of the Museums, Libraries and
Archive Council's (MLA) Accreditation Scheme state that disposals
should not be undertaken with the principal aim of generating
funds.
6. Additionally, museums are required to
abide by the Museums Association's Code of Ethics for Museums
(together with more detailed guidelines on disposals) which state
that there is a "strong presumption against the disposal
of any item from a museum's permanent collection". The Guidelines
give preference to disposal through free gift or transfer to another
registered museum, recommending sale only once it has been established
that no other museum is willing or able to take the object(s).
7. The Museums Association, with input from
The Art Fund, is currently revisiting its advice and will publish
new guidance on disposals in early 2007.
8. As the Committee begins its inquiry,
Bury Metropolitan Borough Council has consigned a painting from
its museum collection (A Riverbank by L S Lowry) for sale
at auction in order to plug a gap in the Council's finances. Treating
a museum's collection as a financial asset is contrary to the
Council's obligations to safeguard the collections in its stewardship
for current visitors and future generations. The Art Fund, along
with the Museums Association and the MLA, has contacted Bury Council
to object to the planned sale.
DISPOSALS IN
THE FUTURE
9. Museum collections need to be continually
renewed to keep them fresh and interesting. The Art Fund believes
that the current "presumption against disposals" is
too restrictive, and acts as a deterrent to museums developing
proper collections management strategies to use their collection
to the best effect.
10. Any disposal of objects from the permanent
collection must only take place as an integral part of a museum's
collections management strategy, alongside active collecting.
11. Some museums are not fully aware of
what material they hold in their stores. Museums should know what
they have in their collections, before taking any decisions on
disposals.
12. Museums should also explore the possibility
of loans and touring exhibitions on a temporary basis as an alternative
to disposal.
13. If disposal is considered, retention
of the objects within the public domain must be the priority.
14. Museums wishing to dispose of an object
should first offer it for free transfer to another UK public collection.
Once they have tried and failed to transfer material in this way,
museums should consider offering the object for public display
elsewhere, providing appropriate levels of security and conservation
can be achieved; examples of such places might include schools,
hospitals or council offices.
15. If no such transfer to a public space
can be achieved, museums should be free to sell objects on the
open market provided that funds raised from such disposals should
be ring-fenced for spending on acquisitions.
16. Disposal through sale to another museum
would not normally be acceptable.
17. Objects acquired through gifts and bequests
must be treated differently from objects acquired through purchase.
In these cases, the wishes of the donor must be taken into consideration.
If a museum wishes to dispose of a gift, surviving donors should
be fully consulted and any expressed wishes laid out in wills
taken into account.
September 2006
17 Not printed. Back
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