Join Share Engage Learn Connect Inspire Protect imagine support champion promote think volunteer create conserve enjoy RAISE YOUR VOICE museums are where culture and creative expression can be voices for justice Ford Foundation 2016
Museums Australia is the national association and peak advocacy body representing
museums and galleries. We represent a wide and diverse range of national, state, regional and community museums, galleries, historic sites, botanic and zoological gardens, research centres, Indigenous cultural centres, and Keeping Places across Australia. All of our members are linked by a shared dedication to the arts, movable cultural heritage and communities. We all understand that Australian cultural life is a dynamic ecosystem that generates creativity and contributes to the social and economic wellbeing of the country. MA is also a service and professional development organisation. We seek to enhance the value of Australia’s collections and stories by sharing knowledge, developing skills, inspiring innovation and providing leadership and the authoritative voice in protecting and promoting our arts and cultural heritage. MA is the single national voice representing a diverse sector that reaches across the entire country and internationally. Not only do we stitch these interests together to deliver clear messages and outcomes, we reach out to the broader collections and cultural sector to work together.
Museums Australia Inc PO Box 266 Civic Square ACT 2608 W www.museumsaustralia.org.au P (02) 6230 0346 E ma@museumsaustralia.org.au F facebook.com/MuseumsAustralia T @MuseumsAust
The cultural sector is the parallel source of knowledge to the formal education system and museums and galleries are hugely trusted sources of information, learning and engagement for people of all ages. As such, MA is focusing on priorities that lay the groundwork for a thriving Australia. The creative industries are one of the engine houses of the economy and we are focusing on their digital agenda because we think it will help drive the economy. For similar reasons we are leading projects in design, access, collaboration and innovation, and are planning a public campaign to raise awareness and stimulate further philanthropic support. Museums and galleries are also places where Indigenous and settler Australians meet and learn about each other, and are key resources for achieving reconciliation. The social capital dividend will be invaluable.
Museums Australia has prepared this brochure to provide information and inspiration for members of both MA and the arts and cultural heritage sectors as a whole when approaching all levels of government, funding bodies and the wider community about the value of museums and galleries in Australia.
The creativity inherent in arts and culture helps drive community development and business innovation and enhances the quality of life. The collections sector (galleries, museums, keeping places, libraries and archives) is both a resource for innovation and creativity, and a basis for learning and knowledge production on many levels.
2,500
The approximate number of museums and galleries in Australia (MA research)
3.5 million
People visiting our National Cultural Institutions in 2013 (Ministry for the Arts)
7,500
54.9
50,000
48%
People employed in museums and galleries in Australia (ABS, 2010)
Conservative estimate of people who volunteer in museums and galleries in Australia (extrapolated
million
Objects and artworks across Australia (ABS, 2004)
Number of international visitors participating in cultural and heritage activities in 2012, (Australia Council)
from MA membership data)
72,072
Estimated volunteer hours given to 88 Western Australian museums in 2015, equating to a monetary value of $1,801,800 pa.
(Museums Australia WA, 2016)
tip
Try to find out how many seniors volunteer and/or are involved in the cultural sector in your community and therefore contributing to lifelong learning and community health and wellbeing.
OUR TOP 6 ASKS
1 2 3 4 5 6
THE VALUE OF MUSEUMS
Reversing and dumping the efficiency dividend on national cultural institutions and restoring funding to the arts sector through the Australia Council Developing a confident and aspirational arts and cultural heritage framework that sets aims and priorities, delineates roles, and enables funding for implementation. Recognising Australia’s cultural infrastructure as the wellspring of creativity, imagination and innovation. Adding arts and culture to STEM investments — innovation is not about coding! Creating a proper Commonwealth funding stream for the vast majority of museums and galleries which are ineligible for Australia Council funding. Supporting better Indigenous participation and representation. The social capital dividend will be invaluable.
THE INTERNATIONAL JUDGEMENT
We appreciate the difficult decisions that led to funding cuts but cannot understand how one vibrant sector can reasonably lose so much core infrastructure and be expected to continue to thrive. Contemporary Art Organisations Australia Joint Statement 16 May 2016
Supporting efforts to disaster proof our arts and heritage institutions and communities — the increasing rate of climate-induced destruction of irreplaceable cultural collections, particularly in regional Australia, must be recognised and local organisations need advice and support to both reduce the risk and deal with the consequences.
Discuss with your local MP or Councillor their expectations and needs from the cultural sector and the perceived role of the organisations working within it locally. Recognise the value of arts and heritage to the economic and social wellbeing of the local community, and my organisation’s role in our community, by: • supporting funding submissions • advising on funding opportunities • recognising and protecting sites or objects of cultural significance
3
Integrate arts, heritage and cultural priorities into local strategic planning through: • collaboration with cultural and arts organisations • heritage/cultural advisors/co-ordinators employed at the local level • creating a culture where community groups can collaborate
4
Guarantee of support and access including: • direct financial support • long-term, low-cost leases for premises • access to physical and digital infrastructure
5
Evaluate and share the ECONOMIC IMPACT of your institution: • My museum employs _____ people in our community. • My museum spends $ _____ each year on goods and services in our community. • My museum serves _____ visitors each year, including _____% from out of town. • My museum serves _____ schoolchildren each year through school visits.
Museums as spaces for cultural transmission, intercultural dialogue, learning, discussion and training, also play an important role in education (formal, informal, and lifelong learning), social cohesion and sustainable development. Museums [and galleries] have great potential to raise public awareness of the value of cultural and natural heritage and of the responsibility of all citizens to contribute to their care and transmission. Museums [and galleries] also support economic development, notably through cultural and creative industries and tourism. (UNESCO, 2015)
9 out of 10 Australians think the arts are an important part of their education. Australia Council
POINTS TO RAISE WITH YOUR LOCAL MEMBER/COUNCIL
1 2
The protection and promotion of cultural and natural diversity are major challenges of the twenty-first century. In this respect, museums and collections constitute primary means by which tangible and intangible testimonies of nature and human cultures are safeguarded.
we can be strong connectors in our communities
INDIGENOUS ROADMAP ‘85% of the general community and 92% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians believe it is important to learn more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories’ — Australian Reconciliation Barometer 2014 There is widespread concern about the low level of engagement of Indigenous communities in the cultural sector, with decreasing levels of employment and a very patchy representation of Indigenous people and culture. In July, MA will be starting a collaborative 2-year project, funded by the Catalyst Fund, with Indigenous cultural leaders, and museums and galleries around the country to map how their cultures are represented and what the employment and leadership pathways are like. Options and plans to improve both will be developed. The project will help both small and large museums and galleries and local communities better engage with their Indigenous communities. This work is central to helping create a reconciled nation.
museums and galleries are hugely trusted sources of information, learning and engagement for people of all ages.
GLAM PEAK DIGITAL Funded by Catalyst is our collaborative digitisation project. This aims to assist the Australian people to create innovative, educated, resilient and connected communities that understand and celebrate our shared cultural identity through free digital access to the nation’s cultural collections. Funding is available for one year and the project will be administered by GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) Peak Australia. Our 7-point plan to enable community digital access is below.
THINKING DIGITAL 1
Endorse a national strategy and framework for digital access to cultural collections
2 3
Invest in digitising Indigenous collections
4 5
Invest in research across the arts and humanities
6 7
Amend the Copyright Act as proposed in the last term
Invest in institutions great and small to make their collections digitally accessible
Enable seamless discoverability and reuse of digital collections through ongoing investment in a central online aggregation platform
Build employment and training in the creative industries and digital humanities
mOre inFOrmAtiOn Museums Australia, www.museumsaustralia.org.au American Association of Museums, www.aam-us.org Museums Association (UK), www.museumsassociation.org Making a difference: the cultural impact of museums, Professor Sara Selwood for National Museum Directors’ Council (UK) , 2010. Museums and Public Value: creating sustainable futures, Carol A Scott (ed.), 2013. Understanding the value of arts and culture report, Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK) ‘Museums… So What?’, Robert Stein, CODE | WORDS: Technology and Theory in the Museum, 2014. Local Government and Cultural Collections in Victoria report, Museums Australia (Victoria), 2016. Recommendation concerning the protection and promotion of museums and collections, their diversity and their role in society, UNESCO, 2015.
Arts and cultural spending has a ripple effect on the overall economy, boosting both communities and jobs. National Endowment for the Arts (USA)