MH,
In my personal opinion free entry at the ‘nationals’ is OK when times are good and the funding stream is well fed – however when times get tough, as they are now and cuts start to be made that’s when things get difficult.
Pressure on funding comes in all sorts of ways and you’ve already seen some collections trying to generate further income e.g. car parking fees etc.; sadly IMHO it was almost inevitable that such things were likely to happen.
Don’t forget that some of the collections involved have already had significant investment from the HLF e.g. The Works at NRM at York.
Free entry does have a significant impact on the independent museum sector and I have commented on this about these parts several times in the past.
The biggest impact is the expectation from visitors that they should be allowed in for free to every museum, which can be very difficult to deal with. Especially when you have a Shop full of people wanting to get into say Cockpit-Fest and someone says it should be free – been there done that and sent explanatory emails and letters to try and pacify disgruntled visitors!!
Sign In
