Museums, education, history, politics, current events, and puppies
"...but then history does not only consist of documents."
- John Lukacs
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IMLS Updates Granting Process
Good information for any of us that will be applying for IMLS grants in the coming year. Here are some highlights:
- Grants are now under 2 umbrella categories, Museums for America and National Leadership Grants for Museums.
- No restrictions on the number of grants an institution can apply for
- Simplifications to the application and documentation required
- FY2014’s deadline will be moved, too late for 2013
- Look for upcoming webinars and open information sharing
22% of Museums have closed sites due to the cuts
“The Museums Association’s 2012 survey into cuts to museum services has laid bare the devastating impact that budget reductions are continuing to have across the UK.
“Out of 114 museum services and individual institutions that responded, 51% reported a cut to their budgets and almost a quarter have been forced to reduce public access by closing whole sites or parts of sites permanently or temporarily. 11% have closed whole sites permanently.”
Click the title link for the full article
But see, when you have statements like the following:
One museum director wrote: “Paid staff now work well beyond their job descriptions just to keep things going, but there is a strengthened team spirit and a wish not to let cuts affect public service.”
I read that as “these people are working their asses off to keep things going so their jobs don’t wind up getting terminated and have to look for new work in this economy”.
Also, “MA director Mark Taylor said: ‘It’s not getting any better and in some cases it’s getting worse. There’s no prospect of an upturn any time soon.’” is potentially disheartening.
America can’t provide the necessary funding for its history-upholding institutions. Meow. :(
I’d maybe interpret the comment about the paid staff more as “these people are committed to serving their visitors, in spite of little pay, long hours, and short staff.” But, I have always been an optimist!
A museum in Italy has started burning its artworks in protest at budget cuts which it says have left cultural institutions out of pocket.
Antonio Manfredi, of the Casoria Contemporary Art Museum in Naples, set fire to the first painting on Tuesday.
“Our 1,000 artworks are headed for destruction anyway because of the government’s indifference,” he said.
The work was by French artist Severine Bourguignon, who was in favour of the protest and watched it online.
Mr Manfredi plans to burn three paintings a week from now on, in a protest he has dubbed “Art War”.
This makes me sick to my stomach
Crazytown. Italians are so emotional. But he has a point. Why prolong the inevitable?
While I agree completely that museums need funding and are a value to society, this is not in any way the solution. We are supposed to be stewards of our collections, and as far as I know that does not include destroying them to make a point. Although this particular artist may agree with having his art destroyed, does the museum plan to only destroy artworks by living artists who agree? Perhaps they are using this as a way of clearing out their collections without dealing with those pesky deaccessioning papers. This is not in any way, shape, or form, responsible conservation or education. What message are you giving the public? To me, this says that your collections are so expendable that you can burn them up. What does this prove? Even if the museum had to close, would the collections really be destroyed? Or would other museums who are capable of caring for them step up and take these works into their collection? It does not matter if your museum is closing tomorrow, you still have a responsibility to do your best for your collections.
The Economic Future of Museums from AAM
“Some of the news is bad:
• More than half the museums in the survey (53%) saw their revenues shrink in 2010 (while just 28% saw an increase). Government funding took the worst hit, down at 52% of museums and up at just 12%.
• 71% of museums reported economic stress at their institutions ranging from moderate (39%) to severe (14%) or very severe (18%) – with very severe stress defined as “the very worst I have seen in at least 5 years.” In the 2009 survey, 67% of museums reported economic stress.
• Museums are relying on drastic measures to respond to economic challenges, like hiring freezes (at 35% of responding museums) and deferring maintenance (30%).
Some of the news is good:
• Fully half of the museums that responded to the survey indicated some increase in attendance in 2010, with a significant increased (at least 5%) at 32% of museums.
• More than three-quarters of the museums maintained (51%) or expanded (27%) services to K-12 students and teachers in 2010.
• And they managed to hold the line on admission prices (the average adult general admission ticket is still around $7, if museums charge any admission).”
WHEN MR. ROGERS WENT TO CONGRESS
It would have been hard to move men in Senate in 1969 the way Mr. Rodgers did. When President Nixon’s administration wanted to cut spending to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting at its infancy, Rodgers approached the senators the only way he knew how.
I might just sit and listen to this over and over again for the rest of the night. Maybe it is because I watched him all the time as a child, but his voice is so comforting.
Dynamic Pricing in Art and Culture
What do you think?
