Broadfield House to Close

[yelooc]

Dear All,

I am reliably informed that Broadfield House Glass Museum is to close in March 2010. I think that this is a tragedy. In my opinion Broadfield House is a national treasure.

I wonder; what can we do? Does anyone else have any information?

Graham


Moderator edit: Sign the petition here: http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/broadfield-house-glass-museum.html

[aa]

Terrible news. The first thing would be to establish who, or what body, has been responsible for making the decision and then to see what avenues exist for overturning it. Are there any proposals on the table for moving the collections?

[nigel benson]

Graham,

Thank you for alerting us all. I think I'm in shock, this is dreadful news :(

As for your sensible suggestion about helping, and to answer Adam's question, I presume it is the decision of Dudley Council and is a cost cutting exercise. The museum has never truly had their full support in my limited experience. They have never really understood the value of the collections that they hold - by that I mean, historic and archival rather than monetary - but that could be a risk

However, if I am right it will probably be based on visitor numbers, which have long been in question.

Lord knows how we can change their mind, but whatever is decided upon will need to be large and conserted effort.

This museum is indeed a jewel in the crown of glass and we must do something.

Nigel

[Cathy B]

Awful news! Is anyone planning to contact the Council, and would a petition and/or letters of protest be of use?

[Sklounion]

This is merely a reflection of a general malaise in the global cultural sector.

The UK has been treating museums and galleries badly for years. 

The Lottery boards have been prepared to fund capital projects, but not under-write revenue funding. Steering committees for projects were arguably, over-estimating visitor numbers, in order to secure funding for the building of new exhibition spaces. Architects were the main beneficiaries of this situation. Several projects never achieved the projected visitor numbers and have closed.

Add to this the Damoclean sword of funding related to greater accessibility. So institutions which, however hard they have worked, digitising collections, making them available on the web, have succeeded in making collections more open, but have seen physical visitor numbers fall.

Acquisition budgets have all but disappeared leaving even the major museums to become cultural mendicants, running round with begging bowls in order to try to save items which come up for sale, a near impossible fund-raising task, in a global recession. That recession, which has already seen the demise of some charities, also caught many councils with their trousers down, investing money in both banks and stock-markets, with abysmal financial over-sight and regulation, and councils have lost not only the interest on the capital sum, that they were using to shore-up  central government under-funded local services, but the capital sums of money also.

Getting rid of entrance fees was a temporary success, but the general perception that museum/gallery visiting is a pastime for snobs has not been successfully debunked.

In all of this, governments need to remember the 6P rule.......

Will petitions work? I hope so.

But I would not be holding my breath.

Regards,

Marcus

[Sklounion]

This is an example of the appalling situation some councils have been reduced to:

http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/nwh_gfx_en/ART41764.html

and this is part of the knock-on effects....

http://www.museumsassociation.org/13285&search=1.2

15.12.2006 - MLA removes Bury Art Gallery and Museum from national accreditation scheme

The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) Accreditation Panel has removed Bury Art Gallery and Museum's accredited status as of December 15.

This decision was taken as a result of the Bury Metropolitan Borough Council's decision to sell the painting A Riverbank by LS Lowry to plug a hole in the council's deficit. The painting was sold for £1.25m last month.

Chris Batt, Chief Executive, MLA, said: "The Accreditation Panel has made a unanimous decision to remove Bury Museum's registered status. The rules of the scheme are in place essentially to maintain and preserve our country's heritage, therefore breaking those rules not only affects future funding for the museum, but creates a cultural deficit for the people of Bury."

Source: www.24hourmuseum.org.uk

16.01.2007 - Bury Council loses Art Fund support after sale of Lowry

The UK art charity, The Art Fund, has announced that it will no longer consider funding applications from Bury Museum and Gallery in the wake of their controversial sale of a Lowry painting, A Riverbank.

It's the latest response to the sale, which went ahead in November 2006 despite vociferous opposition from The Art Fund and others, and follows expulsion from the Museums Association and withdrawal of official museum accreditation by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council.

Source: www.24hourmuseum.org.uk

The nett result is a further crippling of cultural provision. That would suggest that Dudley MBC has some serious thinking to do, particularly with regard to disposals.

I trust the Glass Association will be making its own arrangements to re-house its archive and library?

M

[aa]

A major difference between the UK and the US is that in the UK there are no tax incentives to encourage collectors and enthusiasts to support museums. In the US museums are often supported by fund raising activities organised by collectors groups and donations to museums are, I believe, tax deductible.

[vidrioguapo]

I notice that there is a Friends of Broadfield House" group...perhaps worth contacting them to see what they are doing.  This should be part of English Heritage, (if not already), but I expect in this day and age of financial stresses and strains, they may not be interested to take it on.  But again perhaps another port of call.?

[Anne]

Tragic! What can we do to help? We can't just stand by and watch it go.

[Sklounion]

One could try this:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/merseyside/7822912.stm

Whether it would make any difference? Who knows.

M

[Anne]

I think it would take more than all the GMB members marching through Dudley to change their mind somehow. :(

[nigel benson]

Hello,

Firstly, we are at the beginning of what we all probably know is likely to be an uphill struggle to rescue probably THE most important glass museum in the UK.

Because this is the case it is going to be very difficult and, although we may need the odd dose of reality, perhaps negative attitudes at this point in time are, frankly, unhelpful. Yes, I'm sorry, on this occasion I do mean you Marcus I'm afraid  :( , but only as a mild rebuke - so please don't take it badly 

Secondly, since we are only in the very early stages of this, any conserted effort will begin to emerge over a short space of time. I know that already a number of interested parties are being alerted and ideas are being discussed.

Probably at this point in time the most important thing is to spread the word in order to get the 'troops' mobilised as it were. So, the best thing any of us can do is just that.

Don't rely on the board(s) doing the job - start emailing anyone you think could be interested, especially if they might be able to help in some meaningful way, but also if only they can act as another number on a petition.

Ideas on how to present a financial plan, create funds, raise funds in order that we go to the museum with a positive attitude and not a "please don't close the museum I hardly ever manage to get to" approach will be very,very welcome.

My thanks to you all for any help you might give, or email you send.

Kind wishes to all, Nigel

[Patrick]

Hi,
 I would hope that ALL the glass is well cataloged and that NONE of it DISAPPEARS if the museum does close...................

Regards,
                Patrick.

[Sklounion]

Celebrating our heritage and the diversity of local culture

Dudley MBC Council Plan 2010.

One note of caution: Graham was reliably informed..... but no official Dudley MBC announcement has been made. (Might such an announcement jeopardise their participation in the Black Country Urban Park Lottery bid??)

Nigel,

I do not consider it a rebuke, chastisement maybe... .

As I am seeing this same type of goverment behaviour in Central and Eastern Europe and elsewhere, I am being realistic. If that smells of pessimism, or negativity, then a healthy distrust of the political classes and their ability to make adequate finances available for cultural provision is to blame.

I have perhaps already given, in my second posting, possibly the two most influential organisations, who might be able to bring pressure to bear. Both the Museums Association and the MLAC, do have the ear of political movers. However, as can be seen from the Bury case, a determined and intransigent council will ignore them.

The significant thing is, in the Bury case, that the council gained £1.25 million, but lost....
future financial donations, future acquisition funding (see the reaction of the Art Fund above), future sponsors, future visitors, future acquisitions (after all, no collector would be happy to make a philanthropic gesture, to a museum which might off-load their gift). Long-term, the gain was probably of little lasting value, and the loss of good-will probably will take years to recover from.

It is these issues that would need to be high-lighted in submissions to save Broadfield House from closure.

Regards,

Marcus

[David E]

After querying Roger Dodsworth about this, I received confirmation that this is a proposal and not a definite conclusion.

The point is that I beleive Broadfield House (the building), nice though it is, is not pertinent to Stourbridge glass history. The museum could therefore be resited, which could be a far better knock-on effect.