Note: This interview took place on 25 February 2010. After the 6th May 2010 a Conservative/ Liberal Democrat coalition is in government with Jeremy Hunt taking charge of the culture portfolio.
A quick look at the opinion polls suggests the Conservatives may form the next government. The question for us is what will than mean for museums, galleries and the heritage sector in general? Are those who instinctively feel the Tories don’t value the sector justified, and what hard policy changes will the transition deliver? Set against a backdrop of a painful economic recession and steeply rising public debt how will the museums and heritage sector fare under a Conservative government and what implications are there for future funding and development?
At the time of writing the Tories retain a lead in the polls and if they win power this year then Jeremy Hunt will be the next Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport.
Jeremy is Member of Parliament for South West Surrey and in July 2007 was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet by David Cameron to take on the role of Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport. Born in 1966, Jermey grew up in Surrey and graduacted from Oxford University with a first-class honours degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. Before entering Parliament he was an entrepreneur who set up two successful businesses. Jeremy states that he is a strong believer that all parts of the Culture brief play a key role in the quality of life agenda.
Questions...
Nicholas Poole, Chief Executive, Collections Trust: “Some 53,000 people work in or with museums in the UK. Why should they vote Conservative this May?”
Jeremy Hunt: “Because we have a clear vision for museums and the wider cultural sector, to build on their recent successes. Our plans to restore the lottery to the original good causes will unleash more additional funding for the sector. Our plans to free museums from their ‘quango’ status, reform the philanthropy rules, and encourage them to build up endowments is a clear vision for their future. And we are great supporters of free admissions to museums and galleries”
May Redfern, museum consultant: “You’ve highlighted the social value of museums and said you’re going to scrap instrumentalist targets for museums. How else are you going to persuade key stakeholders such as treasury and taxpayers that: i) museums have a unique social value and ii) that their investment will get significant results for all of society?”
Jeremy Hunt: “One of the ways we are looking for the sector to grow is in terms of museums, and the arts more widely, engaging in direct dialogue with the public and tax payer about what they do, and its value. I think over the next few years, the arts institutions which will be most successful are those which consider, research and discuss openly with the public as well as Government, what their social value is both in terms of their direct activity and their contribution to other parts of society and the economy.”
Ben Cowell, Assistant Director, External Affairs, The National Trust: “Can you tell us more about your current thinking on your idea for merging the Heritage Lottery Fund into English Heritage, and what the impact of this will be for museums?”
Jeremy Hunt: “My main aim is to ensure greater efficiency in public spending so that more money makes it to frontline heritage organisations. I’ve had a good dialogue with both the Heritage Lottery Fund and English Heritage on potential options and we are continuing to develop our thinking.”
Matthew Tanner, Director and Chief Executive, ss Great Britain Trust: “What is the Conservative view of the Renaissance programme?”
Jeremy Hunt: “We are supportive of the concept of the Renasissance in the Regions programme, however following the independent review published last summer, we do have some concerns: The report was highly critical of the management of Renaissance in the Regions, including the criticisms of incomplete accounts, a lack of financial reporting and a lack of documentation”
David Fleming, Director, National Museums Liverpool: “In what ways will you ensure that Government support for museums is felt equally all around the country rather than just in London?”
Jeremy Hunt: “We will harness technology to ensure that all our major arts organisations are able to showcase their work on-line and we will encourage our national museums to work with regional museums both in terms of expertise and in the sharing of their collections”
Tony Butler, Director, Museum of East Anglian Life: “Apart from the usual ideas of improving the retail offer and encouraging philanthropic giving, how else would you encourage museums to be more entrepreneurial?”
Jeremy Hunt: “These are both great ideas. In addition, we will make it easier to give to the arts by reforming the rules surrounding philanthropy. We will make it possible for donors to give works of art while still alive, under the acceptance-in-lieu scheme; we will reform Gift Aid to make it simpler and easier to give; and we will change the tax rules to allow arts organisations to reward their donors.
Adding a fourth pillar to arts funding by enabling our leading museums and performing venues to build up endowments. Setting up endowments is the next big frontier for arts organisations to cross. Lottery funds will be made available to provide matched funding to institutions which set aside money for endowments. One-off endowment grants will also be available on a competitive basis from the Lottery every year. In return for long-term funding agreements, arts organisations will be encouraged to raise money for endowments”
Matthew Tanner, Director and Chief Executive, ss Great Britain Trust: “The Association of Independent Museums (AIM) believes many more museums would benefit from the efficiency and effectiveness of charity trust governance. Will this be Conservative policy? Can AIM help promote this approach?”
Jeremy Hunt: “We will legislate to give our national museums greater independence so that they are free to spend the money they raise as they see fit. Our museums are technically “quangos” – but in fact they are nothing of the sort. They are cultural organisations for which stewardship of the nation’s assets combines with a specific fund-raising remit. As such rules like year-end requirements to use or lose budgets are totally inappropriate. Likewise the requirement to hand back to the Treasury any funds raised, for which they then need to resecure permission to spend. We will introduce a Museums and Heritage Bill which will establish a new administrative status for non-departmental public bodies within the cultural and heritage sectors. This will recognise their role as public organisations with responsibility to steward the nation’s assets. But it will also allow them the independence to be truly effective and entrepreneurial fundraising bodies. They must have both the ability and responsibility to raise money both for capital projects and also for endowments to give them funding security over the long term”
Nicholas Poole, Chief Executive, Collections Trust: “You have spoken of wishing to explore a US-style cuture of philanthropy to help sustain museums & the arts. While philanthropy is good at supporting exhibitions and other high-profile activity, it has been less successful at providing support for ongoing functions such as preservation and management. How would you ensure that a move to promote philanthropy wouldn’t lead to a rise in short-termist thinking at the expense of future generations?”
Jeremy Hunt: “Our plans for philanthropy are firmly additional. And our plans to free up museums will give them a greater degree of freedom over how they organise themselves and their budgets. So, under our plans, if a museum director knows that philanthropy is good at supporting exhibitions and other high-profile activity, they will be free to direct their philanthropy income towards those activities, and allocate their taxpayer funding to ongoing functions such as preservation and management”
Emma Schmuecker, Conservator, Plowden and Smith: “Considering the Royal Armouries found itself in an unfortunate position after it agreed to become part of a PFI (Private finance Initiative). Does the Conservative party still think that PFIs can work, is this a good opportunity for museums and galleries?”
Jeremy Hunt: “George Osborne has promised to draw up an alternative to PFI for large scale public projects. We want them to be more transparent and to offer better value for money to the taxpayer. I will make sure that where appropriate, museums and galleries can take advantage of any new system we put in place.”
Bridget McKenzie, Director, Flow Associates: “Do you think there is a good business case for investing in making cultural collections and heritage knowledge more accessible by digital means? What opportunities in digital culture would a Conservative government invest in?”
Jeremy Hunt: “Yes, absolutely, and it has the potential to open up collections held in one part of the country to people living anywhere else. I know the British Museum has done some groundbreaking work in terms of digitising their collection, making it available online, and making people aware of it in imaginative ways such as ‘A History of the World in 100 Objects’. I would like to encourage more of this.”
Victoria Barlow, Collections Management, The Historic Dockyard, Chatham: “What do you see as the major issues that the museums sector needs to address in the next 5 years?”
Jeremy Hunt: “For me, building up endowments is the next big frontier to cross. We all know that Government spending will have to be curtailed, whoever wins the election, so it is unrealistic to expect increases in state funding. Moreover, organisations with significant endowments are in control of their own destiny in a way that those solely or mainly funded by the State are not. As I’ve said, we see endowments as being additional funding, and we firmly believe in the mixed model. I can imagine many institutions were envious of the wealth of some American museums backed by large endowments, although we see them struggling now, in more difficult financial weather. In contrast, in Italy, where many institutions are almost entirely dependent on state funding, they are very vulnerable when the public budget is under threat. The model of a mixture of Government, commercial, private and earned income in the UK creates better stability over the long term.”
Museum Identity would like to thank Jeremy Hunt MP and everyone who contributed questions for this interview
