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Block 8. Money, Money Money

dog dad chorusOK… this is me doing my ‘Money for Nothing’ (Unplugged) impression with my backing singers: Katie and FeeBee (Sadly, FeeBee left us late in 2021 and Katy late in 2022…).   In the Dire Straits version, it was, of course, ‘and your chicks for free‘…. here it is more a case of your ‘dogs for free‘!!

But here’s the thing…. if ever there were such a thing as ‘the free lunch’, that has long since ceased to be.

Money IS an issue – and even more so for cultural institutions now:-

– There is not enough money for all the claims on the public purse – there have to be priorities: choices.  Some will perhaps receive more and others necessarily less.

  • Presently, ‘after’ (?) CoVid clearly the health services are in desperate, deadly need of resources to continue to save lives.   Similarly the social services and economic support systems are trying to keep businesses and houselolds afloat financially.
  • Then there is the Russin war in Ukraine and the attendant military and energy costs which were but a dream in Jan 2022…

This doesn’t give the state much ‘room for manoeuvre’ funding-wise and it is bound to be asking itself the Q: What is absolutely essential and what is not?….  Can we afford ‘luxuries’ (those things that are not absolutely essential)… and which category might Culture… Museums and Archives fall into…?

If one thinks about Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs, our basest need is survival … so hardly a surprise that the Hospital and Social Services should claim the ‘Lion’s Share‘.   Then comes safety and security needs, which clearly involves economic ‘safety’ and ‘social security‘…… Perhaps (your call!) ‘culture‘ comes further up the pyramid (psychological and self-fulfillment needs) and is therefore not perceived as ‘essential’ / ‘so much of a priority‘ as lower-level, base needs: under pressure as we are it is perhaps tending to be considered more as a luxury than a necessity as I said.  Governments are there, after all, to make difficult choices between options.  That perhaps explains why, in the current situation, cultural events and  performances are  important, but in the face of other things for the present: possibly ‘expendable‘.

The point is that in the prioritisation of resources, culture does not cnaturally gravitate immediately to the top of the list… which suggests that:

  • the financial resources from the state expected by museums and archives in the future (grants, loans, subventions etc) may not run at pre-CoVid levels (likely to be much less).
  • to maintain even existing services, Museums and Archive Centres may need to develop other income streams, not only to extend and develop their services, but even to merely maintain them at pre-CoVid levels.
  • the state may well have to be more ‘lenient’ and more accepting of Museums and Archive Centres becoming more commercial to make good the gap between what the state did once invest and the reduced amount it is now able to invest in the sector.

So…. is it ever, ‘Money for Nothing »?

« Money for Nothing » – Dire Straits

« Money » – Pink Floyd

 

You will have gathered by now that the topic of this block is in fact: Money!

Gone (perhaps?) are the days when museums and archives were such a matter of national pride and prestige that funding came almost entirely from the state in copious amounts – in France at least –  (thereby avoiding the ‘dirty hand’ of commercial, external influence)… In addition, perhaps now we are seeing governments pull back funding in the face of other claims on the public purse and in favour of other forms of education and entertainment (‘edutainment‘) that are more accessible and perhaps may be considered less ‘high-brow‘ and élitist and more self-funding.

This leaves museum and archive centre operations with a problem: a potentially growing funding ‘gap‘ between the increasing costs of their strategic visions and the falling subventions they may receive from the state.

The question is thus:

How to close this ‘gap’ / what other opportunities exist for revenue-generation??

Your Task

In teams of TWO (12 sites and – normally at least -24 of you suggests that should be easy! – BUT, as ever, please don’t duplicate site choices:

  • Imagine you are a small team of consultants invited by a French consortium of museums / archives to review  the best and most innovative means of generating new income streams / reducing costs [NB. reducing costs produces un-spent revenue which can serve as ‘additional income‘] which is being used successfully by museums, archive centres and similar cultural organisations in the Anglophone world such as, but not limited to:
  • List examples of revenue earning streams / cost-reduction measures of other museums/organisations and offer hyperlinks / images / citations as appropriate from such sites.  We will try to bring these together as a digest of future funding possibilities for consideration by museums and archive centres in France.
  • If the organisation makes its Annual Statement of Accounts available – do read them and try to identify all the different commercial income streams and their contribution to the annual budget as compared to state subsidy.

PS. At the same time, you might do well to take a moment to consider the internship and employment opportunities available via these sites – there are quite a lot more than even I was expecting…..

OUTPUT REQUIRED

Context: Imagine we are doing this on a commission from NAMAC (my invention!  Hope you like it), the French National Association for Museums and Archive Centres...  A recent NAMAC meeting revealed that most of the members were struggling to find ideas to reduce costs and generate vital, new income streams.  To avoid wasting members’ time and money duplicating such work, NAMAC commissioned FAMAC: the Fonderie Association for Museums and Archive Centres [you / us] to undertake this programme of research.

  1. FAMAC will hold a plenary session  [which you will manage] such that we can get a ‘feel‘ for the range of money earning / saving mechanisms you have unearthed in your research. [Date to be advised in 2023].
  2. On the same day, the FAMAC research pairings will combine their research results [which you will manage] with the others and cluster them under meaningful/logical headings by means of  discussion / brainstorm.  New FAMAC teams will be formed to write up each ‘cluster’ content [Introduction + Main Body [resources explained and linked – see if you can do this in order of priority based upon which ideas are likely to be the easiest and least complicated to introduce and yet deliver the best results in the shortest time with the lowest of risks + conclusions]
  3. FAMAC  (all students together) will then produce ONE synthetic written report for NAMAC citing the very best and widest range of revenue earning AND cost-cutting measures possible that you have identified in your cluster teams with some excellent examples of best practice drawn from your research. [NB. If possible, cite examples of  the contribution made to the total annual organisation budget by these  initiatives].
  4. So essentially this means:
    • a brief introduction ….. followed by
    • the cluster team reports ….. plus
    • an overall conclusion and ‘Call to Action’ for NAMAC and its members.
    • Submission date to be advised.

Parting Gesture……..

I strongly suspect that, in your career, this issue will become more and more of an issue – so better we tackle it now as it will give you a comprehensive ‘menu‘ of ideas  and possibilities to draw upon when the moment comes in your professional life …. as I, for one, am convinced it will …. yes, even in France!