Struggling museums forced by cuts to replace staff with volunteers as school visits drop
More depressing grist to the public cuts mill and their impact on our wider cultural life. This article tells us:
A survey of more than 120 museums and museum services across the country found that more than a third had cut their paid staff while nearly half had increased the number of unpaid interns and volunteers required to maintain their institutions.
The study by the Museums Association (MA) found that staff reductions were primarily the result of a loss of public investment, with just shy of half reporting a cut to their overall income in the 12 months to July this year and nearly a quarter losing more than 10 per cent of their earnings.
The industry body said that members were concerned that the loss of paid staff, including curators, would lead to lower standards, in particular in the care and interpretation of museum collections.
One local authority museum, based in south England, reported: “We have gone over to a professional volunteer model with many of our front-of-house staff new volunteers.”