Читать книгу Museum Practice - Группа авторов - Страница 63

Sara Selwood and Stuart Davies

The conditions within which English museums currently operate tend to be associated with the three successive New Labour governments of May 1997 to May 2010. New Labour issued unprecedented levels of policy guidance, introduced a “new cultural framework” and substantially increased funding to the cultural sector. In one of his valedictory speeches, former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, referred to having achieved “a golden age” for the arts and museums (Tempest 2007). But, of course, museums’ modus operandi goes back considerably further and many interventions were not targeted at museums, but intended to reform the public sector more broadly. Their impact on museums was secondary and unintentional.

Policies change over the course of 13 years. Not only did New Labour improve many of the programs it inherited, but, over the course of the 2000s, retracted much of the cultural framework it had itself put in place. And, in the wake of the 2008 recession, its successor government, the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Coalition, has rescinded even more. It abolished New Labour’s Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) in what was known as its “bonfire of the quangos” (the abolition of a number of quasi-autonomous non-governmental organizations) and withdrew funding from many museum-related initiatives. These included Strategic Commissioning, an education program which linked museums and schools, and Creative Partnerships, launched in 2002 to bring creative workers such as artists, architects, and scientists into schools to work alongside teachers to inspire young people’s learning.

The sustainability of policies and legislation depends on various factors – including economic stringencies; ideologies; and effectiveness. This chapter explores three of the most iconic manifestations of English museums’ regulatory frameworks introduced over the past 20 years: the National Lottery, launched in 1994; free admission to the national museums (from 1999); and Renaissance in the Regions (from 2001). It examines their original intentions, their development over the long term, and their perceived significance.

The chapter is presented in six sections. The first provides background to the nature of legislation and regulation governing museums in England; the second sets out the major reforms introduced by the Thatcher and Major governments up to 1997; the third describes New Labour’s policies and frameworks, including prescribed modes of delivery and accountability, as they applied to museums, 1997–2010; the fourth focuses on the current Coalition Government from 2010; the fifth traces the evolution of three particular initiatives, introduced by Conservative and Labour governments, as illustrated by case studies; and the last offers some observations drawn from the above.

The chapter explores the position of English museums from both macro- and micro-perspectives, by considering the wider picture, as well as that which is sector specific. While it is accepted that case studies have their limitations (not least that they may not be representative), they are nevertheless grounded in lived reality. Each case study presented here sets out its subject’s original intentions against a background of government policies; describes the nature of its administrative and delivery mechanisms; and considers changes introduced over time and its perceived effect. The chapter draws on a variety of sources. Primary sources include reports from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), other policy documents, and autobiographies. It also refers to secondary sources, including the academic literature, sectoral reports, and political biographies, and the first-hand experiences and observations of the authors, both of whom, in different ways, worked for government agencies during the New Labour years.