Museum bodies clash

Fears that funding cuts will damage the Renaissance programme, designed to boost the profile of regional museums, has sparked a sharp conflict of opinion between the Museums Association (MA) and the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA). Research from a new MA survey shows museum directors predicting “fewer loans, fewer temporary exhibitions, exhibits banished to the storeroom and tired, unchanging displays”. Roy Clare, MLA Chief Executive, has asked that cooler heads prevail: “I do not believe the best way to make the case for Renaissance is to threaten that a withdrawal of funding will lead to regional museums putting the clock back a decade, mothballing objects and retrenching into a world where museums keep things first, and serve the public last.”
Elsewhere, the £21m Robert Burns Museum in Ayrshire has been promised an additional £1m of funding from the Scottish government to ensure the venue will open in December 2010. The museum dedicated to Scotland’s national bard has already received £7.6m of Government support but is expected “to bring thousands of tourists to Scotland every year” according to Culture Minister Fiona Hyslop.