Written evidence submitted by the Society
of Antiquaries of London (arts 117)
The Society of Antiquaries (founded 1707) is
one of the country's oldest learned societies, forms part of the
campus of bodies around the courtyard of Burlington House, Piccadilly,
and comprises a Fellowship of 3,000 archaeologists, art and architectural
historians, numismatists and other skilled professionals. Ours
was the first organisation ever to consider and care for the notion
of "heritage"; before the foundation of national museums
we were given works of art and artefacts for preservation and
public benefit. Like the Royal Academy and the other Societies
around us we are an independent body but our Fellowship represents
all aspects of the culture and heritage professions; many of our
Fellows' posts are supported in part or whole through government
funding. We have a substantial number of Fellows in Europe and
North America as well as increasing numbers from other parts of
the world. The Fellows work as university academics, museum curators,
local government officers, conservation architects, publishers,
journalists, exhibition designers, heritage managers within, and
consultants for, bodies like English Heritage and the National
Trust. The Society awards grants to students and scholars for
research and contributes to funds for the restoration of the fittings
and contents of churches. We welcome scholars of all kinds to
our Library of 100,000 books and substantial collections. Through
long-term loans and major exhibitions both in London and at regional
museums we display our collections to the widest possible public;
a recent tour of some of the Society's holdings was funded by
the Heritage Lottery and was seen by more than 130,000 people.
We own and run for public benefit William Morris's house at Kelmscott
Manor. We are at the front line of consultation about all matters
to do with heritage both on a national and international scale
and through lectures and conferences provide a unique venue to
bring all interested parties together.
1. Cuts in government and local government
spending have an immediate impact on the range of services that
heritage organisations can sustain but not only within those organisations.
They mean closure of spaces, objects and facilities formerly accessible
to the widening public that has been achieved in recent years.
But beyond this, a great deal of the sharing of knowledge and
expertise between different arms of the state-funded sector and
between the state and the private sector is done on the basis
of quid pro quo arrangements which may cost no more than basic
travel and subsistence but prove of immense value to training
programmes of all kinds (placements for university students at
museums and galleries, for example). Cuts will mean gaps in provision,
severing of ties and the denial of co-operation by colleagues
hard-pressed with increased responsibilities.
2. For a generation or so now, we have experienced
systems of tendering for essential work on conservation and restoration
that have loosened core existing expertise within heritage organisations
and damaged the internal memory of what work has been carried
out. Long-term knowledge of buildings, paintings and objects of
all kinds ensures care and preservation for the national benefit
now and in the future. It may well now be a good time to pool
resources towards the creation of more groups of expertise (stonemasons,
painting and film conservators, workers in wood and iron, etc)
that provide a common service to a range of national bodies where
some "memory" of earlier work is retained and documented.
The recent problems of the National Trust for Scotland (the Reid
Report of 9 August 2010) brought forth a number of speculations
about "branding" that part of the UK by bringing together
expertise, marketing, price structures for admission etc across
the Trust, Historic Scotland and a range of regional bodies wherever
heritage is displayed and offered to the public. It is important
to say however that this should remain the pooling of applied
expertise and co-operation; our national resources are significant
not only for what they are but the avenues historically by which
they came into being. We must preserve the physical separation
of collections whilst bringing together the means to service and
protect them.
3. We have generally welcomed news that
there will be more funds for heritage projects from the Heritage
Lottery Fund in the immediate future. Many of us who have participated
in the processes of application have welcomed in the past help
and support in the application process but have noted how heavily
weighted that process is at the front end, with ever-growing forms
and size of documentation and an increasing number of HLF officers
to deal with. Some truly wonderful Lottery-funded projects have
succeeded in their primary goals but have been incapable of being
sustained beyond the initial phase because national (or more often
local) bodies do not have the funds to maintain the provision
through staffing, IT servicing and physical maintenance into the
long-term future.
4. Philanthropy and business already play
a considerable role in arts and heritage support. This has tended
however, in recent times, and quite understandably, to have contributed
to those aspects of the field where individuals and companies
have the opportunity to showcase their donation; for example,
exhibitions determined in content and style by the promoting of
a company image and geared towards glamorous events that provide
business opportunities. In some cases of major exhibitions the
donation paid for barely a tenth of the costs but dominated the
agenda of presentation, marketing and even education and outreach.
In terms of government incentives through tax remission, looking
at whether the private sector can help core responsibilities (cataloguing
museum collections, conservation, maintenance of buildings) could
be a way forward to encouraging donation to a wider range of things
for which national bodies have to take responsibility. Professionals
working for those organisations are capable of thinking imaginatively
to make those streams of income equally a showcase for the generosity
of donors. VAT relief on the work needed for conservation of historic
buildings, for example, has long been something that many have
called for.
September 2010
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