£270m price for rescue of regional museums

Submitted by Andy B on Monday, 29 October 2001 Page Views: 457

A price was put on England's regional museums yesterday for the first time: £80m a year more in government funding to halt their slide into terminal decline.

The calculation is the conclusion of a report by a government appointed task force, which includes two museum directors, Sir Nicholas Serota of the Tate, and Neil McGregor of the National Gallery.

The task force has spent nine months interviewing regional directors heartbroken at the state of their museums, and visiting poorly lit galleries with outdated displays or the leaking stores that hold 95% of regional collections.

The extra funding, a total of £270m over five years, was described yesterday as modest by Sir Nicholas. "For a government that trumpets 'education, education, education', not to find £80m for museums would be, to my mind, surprising."

Lady Blackstone, the culture minister, welcomed "a truly excellent report done in record time". She declined to respond on funding, saying negotiations on a spending round were beginning, but said: "We are listening, and taking note." Mr McGregor greeted her response as a breakthrough: "This is the first time any government has recognised responsibility for regional museums, accepted that they are all part of a national collection. Extra funding must, in logic, now follow."

Mr McGregor said England's regional museums were unique in Europe. "Almost everyone lives within 50 miles of a really rich and overwhelmingly important collec tion, be they municipal, local authority or academic institution museums. That is not the case anywhere else. We must learn to see this as one great public collection, held in every region by different authorities in different buildings."

More: Guardian

Contributor Bio for Andy B: Megalithic Portal Founding Editor.

<< Ancient Americans Not Guilty of Mass Extinctions

News

The Carlisle Cursing Stone >>