The Museums Association (MA) has said that the current system for distributing museum and arts funding is “broken”, condemning Arts Council England (ACE) for “ignoring” a recently published report.
The MA submitted a written report last week to the parliamentary committee, outlining problems faced by regional museums under the current funding model. In reference to the findings of the recently published
Rebalancing Our Cultural Capital report, which said that
arts funding is skewed towards London. The MA said the report, alongside large cuts in funding, presents the opportunity to talk seriously about the imbalance in funding and ways it believes can address it.
The longstanding imbalance was being further exacerbated by cuts in local government funding and the difficulty of raising philanthropic funding outside of the capital, the MA added.
Despite the disparity shown in figures between London and the rest of the UK, ACE argued in February that the system was a fair one: “Our taxpayer-funded, grant-in-aid split is 60/40 in favour of regions outside London, a trend assisted by the inclusion of the funds dedicated to music education hubs and regional museums.”
ACE also said that if the spending is analysed by a 20-mile radius around cities, rather than postcodes, then it is evident that there is a less marked variation between London and other centres.
The MA responded by highlighting its disappointment by the “rather defensive response” to its report: “There may be varying interpretations of the data, which was drawn from ACE and government sources, but government and national organisations should respond constructively.
“It is regrettable that a typical response appears to have been to attempt to undermine the report’s research, followed by attempting to ignore it.”
“The response from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has been negligible; yet, as far as museums are concerned, it is principally the pattern of DCMS funding that is the major contributor to regional inequality.”
The MA has called on both ACE and the DCMS to set benchmarks to achieve a more balanced financial framework over the next decade, adding that they “should take the lead on planning a future for museum provision in England that realistically takes account of what money is likely to be available and from where.”
