Culture, Media and Sport CommitteeWritten evidence submitted by Arts Council England
1. Arts Council England is the national development agency for museums in England. It does not have direct responsibility for the national museums such as the Science Museum group that have direct funding relationships with DCMS. However, it does work closely with the national museums individually and collectively to maximise the benefits of great museums to England.
2. While there are important and worthwhile actions all museums can take to ensure their financial sustainability, the Science Museum Group is a national museum and it is the core responsibility of DCMS and the group itself to ensure it is effectively supported
The Value of the Science Museum Group
3. The different branches of the Science museum group form a part of a rich museum ecology containing various funding and governance models. All have been successful in bringing visitors and wealth to their locations and all have the capacity to continue as successful museums. They have internationally important collections, iconic buildings in key locations and specialist staff.
4. The Northern sites of the Science Museum Group are a vital part of both the Museum and broader cultural offer in Yorkshire, the North West and North East of England. Their presence in the North of England alongside other nationals such as the Royal Armouries and National Coal Mining Museum also help sustain a cohort of skilled museum professionals who can then support the work of other independent museums and local authority provision locally.
5. Northern economies are becoming increasingly reliant on tourism, and the Museums are important in the attraction of visitors to Bradford, York and Manchester. We have no doubt that all of these museums can be successful contributors to their local and the national economy and cultural offer, as they are now and have been in the past, and should not be considered in any way at risk.
6. The Science Museum Group have responsibility for collections of national importance and owned by the nation. So it is right and proper that there should be a level of public investment in their long-term care. However, all museums should, given the right long-term planning parameters and good leadership be able to construct business plans that put the right level of public investment to the maximum use while levering in other funding streams.
Sustainability of Museums
7. Across the sector there are cohorts of similar museums, particularly in the independent sector, with sustainable business models serving large audiences and making a major contribution to local tourist economies. Many also deliver powerful learning and educational services. Good examples include Ironbridge, Chatham Historic Dockyard, Beamish, National Football Museum, Critch Tramway Museum, SS Great Britain, the Tank Museum Bovington.
8. All of these museums to one extent or another do rely on some public subsidy—core national or local authority funding, support through Renaissance or HLF, or rely on charging visitors, but all have put together a mixed funding model that makes their call on the public purse reasonable. Most importantly they have been well led so offer security for long-term investment.
9. The Ironbridge Gorge Museums receive over 545,000 visitors per annum with around 70,000 of these being visits from schools. Over half of the Trust’s revenue income is earned from visitor admissions including Gift Aid and the remaining balance comes from revenue generated from retail sales, conference & banqueting, tenanted properties and income from grant making trusts and individuals. A recent economic assessment estimated that Ironbridge generates around £20 million of income per annum to the visitor economy of Telford & Wrekin and the wider area.
10. A key challenge for museums, in common with the arts, in the near future will be the reaction of Local Authorities to continued budget reductions. We can no longer expect councils to step in to support museums in financial difficulty. There is a firm responsibility on DCMS and the Science Museum group to take responsibility in this situation. More widely the Arts Council is helping museums to build their local business models and diversify their revenue streams.
Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester.
11. MOSI holds nationally important collections central to the development and understanding of the science and industry of the North West. Its entire holdings have Designated status and feature Liverpool Road Station, the oldest railway station in the world. It supports an active loans service and holds extensive archives including oral history recordings detailing the stories of the people of Manchester. Its Collections Centre, the first of its kind in the country, allows the museum to make more of their collections accessible to the public and is a well utilized local resource.
12. Its influence and support of the wider museums sector is widespread, having specialist staff in scientific and industrial areas, playing a role in the national subject specialist networks and are involved in key regional key pieces of work including the current Industrial Textile Machinery Review, supported through Museum Development North West.
13. MOSI supports the wider cultural offer in Manchester through hosting an annual nationally renowned Science Festival and plays a key role in the cultural life of the city being well supported by local and regional audiences from a varied visitor demographic.
National Media Museum, Bradford.
14. The Arts Council has invested over £4 million in the National Media Museum since its opening in 1983. The Museum has a unique cultural offer which is not replicated by any other institution nationally, and has been a major factor in the regeneration of Bradford.
15. As a centre for British photography, the Museum’s Bradford Photography Fellowships, initiated in 1985, have launched the careers of a number of photographers and trail blazed the collection of British photographers amongst UK institutions. The Arts Council has sought to extend the City’s impact in photography, supporting the relocation of Impressions Gallery from York to Bradford, and investing in Ways of Looking, the region’s photography festival.
16. When the Museum opened visitors topped one million people. Visitor figures have dropped to around 500,000 however Bradford is an area of very low arts engagement with less than 32% of Bradford residents experiencing the arts three times in a year. The Museum has worked hard together with the local authority to attract people back into the city centre. The Museum’s presence has contributed to the Council’s regeneration of the City Park, and attracted national broadcasters to screen the first live outdoor Bollywood “opera “ on BBC3. In these circumstances, of city poverty both financial and material, visitor figures are respectable, and the Museum is regularly packed particularly during school holidays.
National Railway Museum
17. The National Railway Museum (NRM) plays a key part in the cultural and economic life of York, not only in encouraging tourist spend in the city but as a valued employer and also by creating cultural events and opportunities for visitors and local residents. The NRM is actively engaged with the key organisations events and festivals in the city and is keen to play a leading role in new initiatives. The history of the Railways is an important part of the history of York and its communities and the location of this museum is significant and meaningful to the people of York. The strength of support has further shown that the NRM is well loved, not only by locals who are very proud of this great institution, but by visitors and researchers regionally, nationally and internationally.
18. The NRM play a significant and important role in the local, regional and national museums sector. Staff have had a long tradition of being involved in specialist networks and in the regional federation as well as taking a leading role in the Yorkshire Museums Directors Conference. Staff are widely and actively engaged as mentors and curatorial advisers for museums and collections across the region. The NRM carry out an important role in working closely with railway groups and organisations across the region as well as nationally. Many railway museums and preservation societies (who are often entirely volunteer run) depend on the expertise and support of the NRM.
19. The NRM has an active education and schools programme and has significant and important links with local Universities. The Institute of Railway Studies is a collaboration between the NRM and the University of York and is a research centre of international importance. The Designated collections and archives at the NRM are of national and international importance underpinned by a long history of scholarly research.
Locomotion: the NRM at Shildon, County Durham
20. Locomotion was the first national museum to be built in the North East. This joint venture with the local authority enables more of the NRM’s collections to be housed properly and enjoyed by the public and is helping to develop tourism in Shildon, the birthplace of the modern railway.
21. Grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the European Regional Development Fund helped to create the NRM outpost at a cost of £11 million. Locomotion has engaged with Museum Development in the region mainly through community engagement projects such as Broadening Horizons (2009–10). More recently it has been enrolled in the Green Tourism Business Scheme supporting the Green Museums project.
June 2013