worries that horniman museum is going to close because of dcms cuts (according to this article)...

[bawdy-nan]

http://www.artlyst.com/articles/eight-uk-museums-lose-government-funding

[SeanMacGabhann]

losing sponsorship isn't quite the same as closing is it?

[DJKillaQueen]

It doesn't mean it will close at all. The local authority will now decide if they can fund it in full or part with help from other means, like the National Lottery etc.

[Sue]

They won't shut the Horniman, there would be an outcry.

And a lot of money has just been spent on refurbishing it.

[Alec John Moore]

This is very worrying for our community cultural resources. The Horniman is an excellent and much-loved institution which generations of families have enjoyed. On funding, I don't want to be a scaremonger but there is already extreme pressure on trusts which give grants to chaitable organisations. This from a Directory of Social Change report:

The top 2,500 grant-making trusts made grants worth ?2.4 billion in 2008/9. Overall, 983,753 applications were made. Trusts made 316,762 awards.

Would you go to the Horniman so often if had to pay to get in to the museum's main collections and not just the temporary exhibitions?

[steveo]

Museums and galleries should charge again. Seems to me 90% of the visitors clogging up the Tates/National etc. are well heeled tourists. Why do we subsidise them?

[Fuschia]

DJKillaQueen Wrote:

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> The local

> authority will now decide if they can fund it in

> full or part

Yes, that's very likely... (not)

[concita]

More helpful news from this website:This is local London" where the Horniman has responded to rumours on the internet.

Quote:

FOREST HILL: Horniman Museum plays down fears of closure

2:10pm Wednesday 17th November 2010

Print Email Share Comments(0) By Nina Massey ?

THE Horniman Museum has responded to internet rumours suggesting it faces closure in four years time.

Speculation has been rife on websites such as brockleycentral.blogspot.com and Twitter that as a result of the Comprehensive Spending Review, the Horniman has been listed as one of eight non-national museums to lose funding from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), forcing it to close.

Concerned blogger Oliver Lewis wrote on Twitter: ?I used to love going to the Horniman as a kid. It?s a travesty that it is losing its funding.?

Meanwhile, nostalgic museum visitor Bridget Minamore, tweeted: ?My family couldn't afford or get the time to take me to fancy central London museums. Horniman was a huge part of my childhood. Save the Horniman."

But a museum spokesman has now responded to the gossip saying: ?We would like to thank everyone who has expressed concern, but would like to assure them that we will not be closing."

"There appears to be a lot of false speculation on the internet.

?Our funding is ring-fenced until 2015. We have been assured that we will not be cut loose then, and so there are no alarm bells ringing.?

An official statement from the museum in London Road, Forest Hill, added:?Discussions regarding the Horniman are at an early stage and no decisions have been taken.

?DCMS hopes to make an announcement by March next year as to any new sponsor."

A DCMS spokesman said:"We aim to identify alternative sponsors for these museums by April 2011.

"There is no question of cutting these museums adrift without any financial support in the unlikely event that no new sponsorship arrangements can be found."

Unquote

Perhaps the National Lottery Funds could help to provide more funds

[TJ]

The Horniman have funds for a new outdoor development project. If they were really concerned (and they would have been aware of the potential removal of funding) they would have shelved it this summer.

Money will be found. If it means each of us actually put money in the box at the entrance when we visit (rather than shuffling past looking at anything but) it will be fine.

Dig deep people.

[david_carnell]

steveo Wrote:

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> Museums and galleries should charge again. Seems

> to me 90% of the visitors clogging up the

> Tates/National etc. are well heeled tourists. Why

> do we subsidise them?

A fair point. Why not waive charges on presentation of proof of address in London?

[taper]

DCMS supports or "sponsors" various "national" museums directly; some you'd expect NMSI, NHM, IWM), but also some that are funded for various sometime anomalous reasons (so Tyne and Wear museums), but also collections that aren't really "national" (The Horniman imv). It gets about 4.5m from Government, so that's a hell of a gap to fill. They do though have funding guaranteed to 2015.

[helena handbasket]

david_carnell Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> steveo Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > Museums and galleries should charge again.

> Seems

> > to me 90% of the visitors clogging up the

> > Tates/National etc. are well heeled tourists.

> Why

> > do we subsidise them?

>

> A fair point. Why not waive charges on

> presentation of proof of address in London?

Because these people are each pumping about ?100 a day into the British economy. It's not like they are coming for the weather.

[Bellenden Belle]

helena handbasket Wrote:

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> david_carnell Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> Why not waive charges on

> > presentation of proof of address in London?

>

>

> Because these people are each pumping about ?100 a

> day into the British economy. It's not like they

> are coming for the weather.

But they dont come to one of the most expensive cities in the world because of the free entry to museums, do they? Few will even take that into consideration when choosing their holiday destination.

They do come because of the diverse cultural offerings though and would probably prefer it if we found ways of sustaining our cultural services.

[Tarot]

.

[bawdy-nan]

I looked at the accounts today the dcms grant is, as mentioned above, about 4.5 million out of a total 4.952 million of incoming resources. Can't quite see how they can replace that with sponsorship or a profitable tea-shop

[Sue]

Tarot Wrote:

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> Didnt like there noisy jerk festivals, I would

> like to have seen something for kids, maybe a giant Teddy bears picnic

xxxxxxxxxx

There were lots of kids at all the outdoor events at the Horniman which I have been to, including the jerk ones, and they all seemed to be enjoying themselves (as did the adults) without any teddy bears in evidence :)

If you don't like loud music, then go somewhere else that afternoon :))

[bawdy-nan]

more detail here http://gu.com/p/2y755/tf

[Clazza]

see also thread on Brockley central http://brockleycentral.blogspot.com/2010/11/horniman-museum-to-lose-its-funding.html

[richfish]

I suspect they are looking at transferring the sponsorship responsibilities for The Horniman from DCMS to the Mayor as they have done with the Museum of London group. I think the Horniman was once GLC sponsored so it would be a return to its historical home so to speak. I can't see any local Council picking up that level of funding - its probably more than their entire culture budget for the year and I suspect the audience is a real borough-mix of Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark in the first instance. Hardly cultural trailblazing boroughs either.

[concita]

Mr. Horniman is turning in his grave. He left the museum and the grounds free to all London citizens to enjoy and now it has become a political issue. What about the Nature trail? The Horniman looks after that as well, I understand.

[Keef]

Well said concita.

[BrandNewGuy]

concita Wrote:

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> Mr. Horniman is turning in his grave. He left the

> museum and the grounds free to all London citizens

> to enjoy and now it has become a political issue.

Well, it's become a financial issue. It's possible that Mr Horniman left an insufficient endowment or that it has been mismanaged over the years, and that's not the fault of any government...

Times of financial hardship tend not to produce problems such as these but to expose them 'as the tide goes out', so to speak. Poor returns on investments have caused problems with the Pension Reserve too:

"There was a negative balance of ?5,409,000 on the Pension Reserve

at 31 March 2010 due to the current deficit on the pension scheme."

Financial statement, page 37

As with many organisations - public, charitable and private - decades of mediocre management can get found out at times like these. It's always easier to pay staff less than they ask for but promise them generous pensions because that'll be someone else's problem in the future. We're now reaping that particular harvest all over the place...

[James Barber]

The Horniman Museum is a great resource for SE London.

It's musical instrument collection I believe is of international standing with the bulk of the rest of the museum having regional value.

This makes it quite tricky. It receives national funding which I'd guess results from the closure of the GLC by Thatcher but is largely a regional museum.

The obvious thing would be for the bulk of such funding to be devolved to the appropriate level ie. London and the GLA which currently has Boris as Mayor. With some still coming from DCMS to recognise it musical collections.

The transition is clearly of great concern.

Probably the best way of showing REAL practical support NOW is to join the Friends of the Horniman Museum. It costs ?10 a year. I've attached the application form.

[Matty Love]

Lets make sure it does not happen, we could start by joining this-

http://www.horniman.ac.uk/more/friends.php

[SeanMacGabhann]

But wait

Not. As. Bad. As. It. Seems. Shocker

Chill