The pandemic is having rippling effects on all industries around the UK, nonetheless the museum sector. The UK government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund is proving not enough, as Museums Association (MA) has reported 3000 job losses so far.
The collected data includes all types of jobs in the museum industry, including exhibition staff, on-site retail and café employers and collection carers. As COVID 19 continues to damage the industry, MA believes more redundancies are expected as we head into the winter.
A troubling few months
Due to the ongoing concerns of COVID 19 museums in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were forced to close in March. Four months later in July, British museums were given the go ahead to reopen, providing they put in place the necessary social distancing measures in place. To do this, most museums have significantly had to reduce the capacity by as much as 75 to 85 per cent. The significant loss in visitor numbers has left an abundance of UK museums on the brink of collapse, leaving them with no choice but to make redundancies to aid survival.
The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) is one of the most notable visitor experiences to announce job losses. Last week, the London museum revealed plans to make 10 per cent of its workforce redundant, leaving 112 people unemployed in a bid to save £10 million.
London Southbank Centre is also expected to make 400 staff redundant, after suffering a £25 million loss this year.
Other museums to announce job losses include:
- Royal Academy of Arts plans to cut 150 jobs (40 per cent of jobs) in a bid to save £10 million annually
- Tate Modern has announced 313 redundancies across its four museums
- Beamish Museum has began consultation on the losses of 59 roles
MA has promised to help struggling museums as much as they can through the pandemic, a statement on the website reads:
“At the Museums Association we are working hard to provide the information, support and leadership that the sector needs during the Covid-19 pandemic. We are advocating to governments and stakeholders and making the case for the support and investment that museums and their workers need at this time.
“We have also taken several measures to support our members directly, including new content, practical advice, professional support and funding.”
In other museum news, a £55 Malaysia museum is set to open Spring next year.
