Report on 29th AIM Annual Conference 4–6 May 2006

What does Renaissance do for us?

The conference examined the Renaissance in the Regions programme and its impact, or lack of it, on smaller and medium sized independent museums.

AIM stakes its claim to a bigger slice of the cake
Independent museums took major strides at AIM’s annual conference in May in the battle for a bigger slice of the cake represented by the Renaissance programme, administered by MLA, the Council for Museums, Libraries and Archives.

New research commissioned by AIM into the effect of Renaissance on independent museums, and a powerful duo of networking sessions focusing on linking Museum Development Officers and their work for small museums, and bringing together independents from within the hubs and Designated collections were major outcomes of the three-day event.

Hosted by AIM member, ss Great Britain, fresh from a major £12.5 million refurbishment, more than 150 people from the independent sector met together to trade views and network, infused with the spirit of this year’s celebrations of the 200th anniversary of the birth of the ship’s inventor, Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
MLA chief executive Chris Batts, unexpectedly given the floor as the Conference peaked during the main sessions, said it was time for “a programme of transformation” within Renaissance.

From a scheme which had initially set out to create centres of excellence, benefits were now beginning to cascade down to smaller museums, he said. The great achievement of Renaissance had been to put the museum sector on the Government’s radar, based on the demonstration of genuine value, and it was vital that that change in perception was there to stay.

The need for a national strategy was accepted and a working group led by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport was under way (see report on page ??). “We need now to see the programme as a process of maturity,” he said. “The future has to be about convergence and collaboration.” Chris Batts said he would take back to MLA all the issues raised in the Conference sessions.

AIM chairman Bill Ferris welcomed his words: “If only we had had this approach at the beginning. . ..” This view was echoed by AIM vice chairman Sam Mullins, who as AIM chairman had worked hard during the embryonic stages of Renaissance to get independents included at all.

The evidence-based success was working with politicians, he accepted, but it was time to address the re-branding of Renaissance within the sector. “We are looking for better streams of formal and informal communication,” he said, adding that independents were at last beginning to see chinks through which opportunities might arise.

“Renaissance is clearly the only game in town. It is a vast investment in the sector and it would be churlish not to align our support with it,” he said, adding that independents were just that – independent - and museum boards had to ask whether Renaissance aims chimed with their own objectives.

AIM members had been very good at taking advantage of opportunities in the past, such as job creation and Gift Aid, and Renaissance was another of these. But he warned that museums, already extraordinarily busy institutions, were drowning in information and rafts of form-filling, and accountability needed streamlining to allow more time for ideas generation and actual achievement.

Museums outside the nationals and big regionals represented “bandit country” to many in the formal museum sector, he suggested, but they had proved their worth over the last 25+ years. He called for a Museum Development Officer network “completed and infilled” to aid smaller museums, and for a ring-fenced stabilisation scheme for the seven Designated independents which received no core funding.

The success of Renaissance in turning the tide of funding for museums was to be applauded, but it was time to see independents more engaged with the programme: “Is Renaissance a vehicle for improvement of just for delivery of performance indicators?” Independents could offer sets of skills at a level not found elsewhere in the sector – fundraising, marketing, leverage, social enterprise.
“These may be new for Renaissance, but they are basic business principles used by independent museums since the late 1960s,” he pointed out, adding that the independent sector was fast growing, with some 15 local authorities currently considering turning their museums into charitable trusts.

As part of AIM’s efforts to improve independents’ performance within Renaissance AIM Council has decided to hold a meeting with independents within the hubs and with Designated collections.

* AIM-commissioned research shows effect of Renaissance on independents
* National one-day networking session planned for Museum Development Officers