Pennine Lancashire Museums coming together The Museum Association has ‘Cuts Monitor’, the Guardian newspaper has ‘Cuts Watch’. In this tough economic climate pressure to reduce museum budgets is often focused on cutting staff costs through redundancies, freezing vacant posts, and not renewing contracts. In Pennine Lancashire a small group of Museums and Art Galleries are working together to take charge of these difficult decisions rather than wait to be told what to do by their governing bodies. Exploring the options and engaged in conversation are Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery, Towneley Hall Art Gallery and Museum (Burnley), and the Haworth Art Gallery in Accrington1. The conversations are not just at the museum level. What is significant to this activity is the regular meeting of Heads of Cultural Service, and buy in at the Chief Officer‘s level to a whole heritage approach. The immediate option on the table is getting approval to share the post of Keeper of Art between Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery and Burnley’s Townley Hall Art Gallery and Museum. Blackburn gets to deliver a structured reduction in staffing costs whilst maintaining the subject specialist knowledge of their current member of staff. Burnley gains a subject specialist after the recent retirement of their curator and a subsequent vacancies freeze on this full time post. Sharing a Keeper of Art is the first stage of a four stage approach. The second stage is to formalise existing working relationships across all three organisations, the third to develop management level agreements which seek to amalgamate the three services and gradually change to a combined provision, the forth is to explore the relationship between this new grouping and Lancashire county council’s museum provision. Paul Flintoff notes that ‘the process is organic’ and could change as conversations develop. Precedent is set for sharing staff and services in this way. The Pennine Lancashire Multi Area Agreement was signed by the seven councils2 with central government in January 2009. In November 2009 they formally created the company Regenerate Pennine Lancashire. The company was formed to help seven councils deliver projects in ways they could not do before, by pooling expertise and resources, achieving greater value for money and attracting more private sector investment. As Paul Flintoff, Museum Manager at Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery says, ‘we are taking advantage of the current climate [of cooperation] to create opportunities’. Further information Paul Flintoff, Museum Manager Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery, paul.flintoff@blackburn.gov.uk Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery http://www.blackburn.gov.uk/server.php?show=nav.00100900c Haworth Art Gallery http://www.hyndburnbc.gov.uk/hag Towneley Hall Art Gallery and Museum http://www.towneley.org/ Regenerate Pennine Lancashire http://www.penninelancashire.com/Home.aspx The Museum Association ‘Cuts Monitor’-‐ http://www.museumsassociation.org/museums-‐ journal/news/13102010-‐cuts-‐monitor 1
Their governing bodies are Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, Burnley Borough Council, and Hyndburn Borough Council respectively. 2 Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, Burnley Borough Council, Hyndburn Borough Council, Lancashire County Council, Pendle Borough Council, Ribble Valley Borough Council, Rossendale Borough Council
The Guardian Newspaper ‘Cuts Watch’ -‐ http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/theatreblog/2010/jun/22/arts-‐funding-‐cuts-‐watch