Museum Policy Memorandum
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Museum Policy Memorandum Strength through cooperation Letter to Parliament by the Minister of Education, Culture and Science, 10 June 2013 1 Introduction The reopening of the Rijksmuseum on April 13 illustrated the importance of our cultural heritage once again. Thousands of people waited in line for their Rijksmuseum: to revisit the works of art that show us where we came from and tell us who we are, both as individuals and as a society. In this memorandum, I lay out my vision for the Dutch museum sector and the various measures I have envisioned to achieve this. My predecessor in office promised to present this memorandum to the House of Representatives. Concurrently, I am submitting a separate memorandum to the House which describes my general thoughts on cultural policy. There are more than a thousand museums in the Netherlands:some small, some large, with a general or specific scope and located across the country. Some are small museums that survive thanks to the enthusiasm of private parties; others house prestigious collections of worldwide renown. Forty-nine of these museums are state-funded institutions; of these, 31 are part of the Basic Infrastructure subsidised by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and 18 are funded by other ministries.1 Together, these museums welcome 20 million visitors a year, including 4.5 million children under the age of 18. Nine hundred thousand Dutch people have a National Museum Pass [Museumkaart]. Some ten million foreign tourists visit the Netherlands every year, 40% of whom visit one or more museums during their stay. Our collections and museums score high marks abroad as well; in 2012, the Mauritshuis Royal Picture Gallery organised an exhibition of its masterpieces in Japan that now ranks as the most successful exhibition in the world. Our museums are a dynamic part of the Dutch arts and culture sector. They make an enormous contribution to knowledge generation, to historical awareness, and to shaping our identity. For this reason I consider it important museums operate as effectively and efficiently as possible. Nevertheless, despite their dynamic nature and their successes, I detect several problems that have led me to write this memorandum. There is still too little cooperation among museums and among museums and other institutions (heritage or otherwise) with respect to either their collections or their business operations. A major part of the collections is kept in storage, with public access being limited. Fifty-nine per cent of Dutch people take little or no interest in our cultural heritage; they seldom, if ever, go to a museum.2 Museums are not yet making the most of the digital revolution. The public budgets available to our museums are under pressure; at the same time, the economic crisis has led to a drop in sponsorship. As competition in the leisure market increases, museums will have to do everything possible to maintain their position in the decades ahead. Collections are not protected sufficiently, which became clear in recent discussions concerning the World Museum [Wereldmuseum] and the Gouda Museum. It is important that museums can respond adequately to these issues to retain and increase the value they have to society. My policy is aimed at supporting museums in achieving this goal. I have based my policy in part on the recommendations of the Council for Culture [Raad voor Cultuur], the Asscher-Vonk Committee and on the input I received from many other parties during my working visits and round table meetings this spring. The primary measures of my policy are: 1. The budgets furnished to state-funded museums will be more result-dependant, with cooperation, education and outreach to new groups of visitors being the key determinants. As I announce in my cultural policy memorandum, I will submit another memorandum to the House of Representatives after the summer recess concerning the structure of the arts and culture sector in 1 Appendix 1 contains a list of state-funded museums. 2 CBS, Statline. 2 the 2017-2020 funding period. 2. To stimulate talent development and academic research, I will award a number of grants to PhD candidates every year based on a common research agenda for museums. 3. I will create an annual budget of € 2 million to stimulate cooperation between the museums in such areas as education, visibility of collections, public outreach, research, and the use of digital tools. 4. I will draft a Heritage Act intended to protect collections of national significance. I will also consider how to offer museums more financial security with respect to their maintenance and management tasks. I am introducing these measures because I want to ensure our museums continue to flourish. Dutch museums are, with their diverse collections and different displaying methods, a valuable asset to the arts and culture sector. Some museums tell the story of our country, others show us how other cultures live and have lived, and still others focus on the here and now. Collections do not exist in a vacuum but are at the very core of the stories that museums tell. Museums are the liaisons between their collections and the public; their job is to interest the public in the stories they tell through their collections. Those stories clarify the past and explain what is happening in society today. In that respect, museums play a vital role in shaping our identity. Recommendations concerning the future of the museum sector My predecessor asked the Council for Culture to advise her about the Dutch museum sector. The Council presented its advisory report to me in late January 2013. Prior to this, in September 2012, the Asscher-Vonk Committee (set up by the museums acting collectively) issued a set of recommendations for improving the museum sector. Both reports indicate that museums would gain in strength by cooperating and finding new ways to reach out to new and different groups of visitors. In its report, the Council considers at length how collections of national significance can be kept available to the public. In general, I concur with the analyses of both reports and the importance that they attach to strengthening the museum sector. With respect to the recommendations on how to proceedI choose to deviate from some of the Council’s recommendations in order to encourage cooperation and protect the collections. I will identify overall targets that I would like to achieve in cooperation with the museums, but will give them freedom to decide how they will cooperate and with which partners. In other words, they will be obliged to attain certain results, but the state will not issue specific instructions or rules on how to do so. I have discussed my policy proposals at length with the museum sector. I was inspired by the conversations I had with museum directors, their staff, representatives of heritage organisations and of the two museum associations, university staff and primary and secondary school teachers, public and private funds, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). I feel confident that the vision I lay out in this memorandum has their support, in part because it is based on the points that they themselves raised during our conversations. My policy is based on two principles that will serve to reinforce the connection between museum collections and the public: broad cooperation (among museums and among museums and other partners), and lasting quality and accessibility of collections. Cooperation as the key to success The core of my policy is to encourage more and broader cooperation among museums and among museums and other institutions. Museums generally perform well independently, but they could achieve much more if they were to join forces. We can draw inspiration from recent successes, such as the Gelderland Heritage cooperative and the Atelier Building in Amsterdam. I want to stimulate cooperation specifically in the areas of education, collection visibility, public outreach, research, and digital tools. Maintaining the quality and accessibility of collections 3 Museums are responsible for maintaining and managing their collections.3 Those collections constitute the very heart of the stories that the museums tell. This is why it is important to give museums all the support they need to maintain and manage their collections optimally, and to ensure that the public has access to collections of national significance. Responsibility Achieving the policy targets I have identified will require everyone who works for or on behalf of the museums to take on their responsibility. In the memorandum I sent to the House on 28 March 2013 I expressly stated the importance I adhere to museums and other public authorities taking on their own responsibility and I think the cooperation between both museum associations is a fitting example. The Asscher-Vonk Committee has emphasised the same point in its recommendations. I trust that the relevant supervisory and management boards will do their utmost to achieve its broadly supported targets. 1. Cooperation During my round table meetings it became clear that cooperation need not be restricted to museums alone to be fruitful. Archives, monuments, archaeological findings, folklore and collections can all be combined to tell the story of our past and to connect that past to our present. A good example of this can be found in the Province of Gelderland, home to the Gelderland Heritage cooperative, which now has more than 100 member organisations (museums, castles, and historical associations). As a formal structure, a cooperative offers exciting advantages: the overhead expenses of the participating organisations have dropped and organisations that would not likely have found each other otherwise, have found themselves forming unexpected alliances. Another example is the Atelier Building in Amsterdam, in which the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the University of Amsterdam and the Cultural Heritage Agency [Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed] have joined forces.