Museums fighting cuts 3 Dec 2015
Jim Richardson of Sumo has blogged about his experience of working with NMDC on the I Love Museums campaign aiming to raise awareness of the risk to museums in the current funding climate. He expresses relief at the outcome of the Spending Review, protecting direct government funding to museums, but concern at the effect of local government cuts on regional museums. Among the things he has learned from the campaign are:
- Most museum visitors and even some staff are unaware of the risks to museums unless they are told.
- A stall inside a busy museum is the best way of reaching the public with the I Love Museums message and encouraging them to take further action such as writing to their MP or signing a petition.
- People are passionate about supporting museums once they know the facts and do not, as some have feared, compare them unfavourably with frontline services also supplied by local councils.
The I Love Museums campaign will continue to champion the sector in coming months: we encourage any museum not already involved to visit the dedicated website and find out how to take part in the campaign.