UPDATE: The Latest Development - 6 June 2013
THIS is the latest statement from Ian Blatchford, Director and Chief Executive, Science Museum Group, which controls MOSI. It is extemely worrying.
"We welcome the Government's commitment to science and engineering and the recognition of its importance for boosting the economy.
"The Science Museum Group plays a vital role in helping to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers to drive the economy, showcase the best of British research for the British public and help them understand the complexities of modern research.
"However, for this success to be achieved, it is essential that the Government’s science policy is more joined up and that this is reflected in an on-going commitment to funding across the scientific community.
"In the past four years, we have dealt with a 25 per cent real terms cut in funding when the science base, funded by a different Government Department, has had to cope with a 10 per cent cut.
"We are investigating a range of options but if an additional 10 per cent cut is made when the spending review is announced at the end of this month, there would be little choice other than to close one of our museums, since our structural (year on year) deficit would rise from £2 million to £6 million.
"Cuts at this level will mean that we will again need to make savings across the whole Group, this includes the Science Museum in London and each of our sister museums in the north.
"I would rather have three world class museums than four mediocre museums. I should add that charging is not on the agenda because Government policy precludes it.”
The key sentence contains the phrase 'there would be little choice other than to close one of our museums', should the Science Museum Group suffer further cuts.
On the latest figures London Science Museum gets 3m visitors a year, MOSI 830,000, National Railway Museum (York) 716,000, National Media Museum (Bradford) 504,000.
So clearly the one that would have to go would be Bradford.
Not necessarily.
If you look at the amount of investment in museums and galleries in the Manchester region since the millennium it dwarfs that of Bradford or York - they might be deemed to need their museums more. If that is factored in then the axe could fall at MOSI, especially given the level of money needed to bring the museum in its entirety up-to-date.
What is clear is that London will be safe.
Despite the fact that all three Northern museums are relatively more important in their regions for both education and tourism than London's is to its region, the high traffic of incidental tourism ("What shall we do today mom it's raining?" "Hey, I have a leaftlet here for that Science Museum place, let's check that out, it looks neat.") in London and its capital city location will ensure survival.
What is also clear is that Blatchford was caught short by the breaking news earlier this week.
His panicky response hasn't helped matters, just left three superb Northern museums looking at three straws peeping out from a metropolitan mitt, hoping they pick the right one.
Read the words in the yellow box below for further analysis into the issue.
GOOD work from the Manchester Evening News here.
They found out that the Museum of Science and Industry in Castlefield could be closed down by the Science Museum Group to ensure the London Science Museum remains open.
Maybe in the end this is shock tactics by the Science Museums Group, a call-my-bluff tactic of pure brinkmanship.
This is what Yakub Qureshi wrote:
‘The Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) could be shut down under plans being considered by the national Science Museum Group.
‘The announcement also puts in jeopardy the National Media Museum in Bradford and the National Rail Museum in York.
‘The three northern visitor attractions, which are all part of the London-based museum group, have been put on the chopping block because of funding cuts.
‘Town Hall bosses in Manchester and the other northern cities have been engaged in emergency talks today in a bid to resolve the crisis.
MOSI
‘The Liverpool Road museum was forced to go into partnership with the London Science Museum after the government cut funding to ‘non-core museums’.
‘But the Science Museum Group now says that the only way it can overcome a huge operating debt is to jettison the three museums.
‘The plans will be put forward to the museum groups’s trustees in the autumn.'
In the official statement Confidential has received the Science Museum Group says.
“When the Museum of Science and Industry became part of the Science Museum Group its Board of Trustees agreed to the merger on the basis that they would transfer existing Grant in Aid on the condition that the site and collections would be preserved for a minimum of 25 years.
“The Science Museum Group has to address a large projected operating deficit from 2014 onwards and is assessing a range of options to address this situation. Despite making significant cost reductions across the Group, we are still faced with a significant annual deficit in 2014/15 and beyond because of cuts in Grant in Aid. The Group’s finances are expected to come under even greater pressure following the Spending Review on 26 June 2013.
“We have already undertaken a range of cost saving initiatives since the government cuts announced in October 2010, and we will look at further efficiencies to ensure that we continue to care for our collections and maintain our role in inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers. Our recommendations will go to the Board of Trustees in the Autumn.”
Responding to announcement Graham Stringer MP told the paper: “I’m appalled at the idea we will end up with only museums in London. Something like 90 per cent of the funding for art galleries and museums goes into London already. It’s an extraordinary amount.”
Andrew Stokes, chief executive of Marketing Manchester, says: “MOSI is a museum of national significance and its visitor figures speak for themselves. Its location on the site of the world’s first passenger railway station adds to its appeal and provides a real tourism hub for the Castlefield area. Marketing Manchester will support wholeheartedly any campaign to keep the museum’s doors open – not only for the people of Greater Manchester, but also for the million international visitors a year that the city attracts.”
Confidential comment from Jonathan Schofield
LAST year MOSI attracted more than 830,000 visitors. It is at the heart of tourism in the region.
It is also the largest science museum in Europe in terms of size and has one of the most important collections. Those collections are housed in buildings of international importance.
Maybe they want to force the government’s hands in getting more money, or attempt to push the museum onto the city council’s hands.
Whereas the London Science Museum occupies a fairly typical example of Victorian museum architecture, MOSI includes the oldest station and first passenger railway station in the world, next to the oldest railway warehouse.
Station buildingsThe world changed with these buildings, part of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway of 1830: their significance in terms of transport development and the ability of all sections of society to travel the country, is without parallel in the UK.
Of course much of the museum has been stagnant for many years with dusty exhibits in the farthest areas of the site. A proper use for the 1830 Warehouse mentioned above has never been delivered. The trustees had responsibility for keeping all the museum up-to-date and maybe got lost in finding funding for areas such as Revolution Manchester that opened in 2011.
Manchester Museum has shown what can be done in redeveloping itself and providing an enhanced visitor experience, although MOSI does not have the University of Manchester behind it and is ruled by a very different set of financial considerations.
So when news broke that the Science Museum Group was taking over MOSI in January 2012 it seemed a positive move - the Science Museum Group was then called the National Museums of Science and Industry (NMSI). Maybe the bigger institution could bring extra investment muscle?
These are the quotes Confidential reported at the time.
Douglas Gurr, NMSI Chair said; "MOSI holds exceptional collections housed in a landmark location and NMSI is delighted that such an important resource, both for Manchester and the country, is joining the NMSI group."
Peter Fell, MOSI Interim Chair said; "This move will secure the future of MOSI and allow us to continue to celebrate Manchester’s unique contribution to science and industry with the backing of the NMSI group."
Those words ring very hollow now.
Maybe in the end this news from the MEN is shock tactics by the Science Museum Group; a call-my-bluff tactic of pure brinkmanship. Maybe they want to force the government’s in to giving them more money, or an attempt to push the museum onto the city council’s hands. Since the latter can't even keep open Heaton Hall that is a non- starter.
What is certain is that proposing something as blatantly unfair and desperate as closing all the Science Museum Group’s northern properties while keeping on the equally struggling London one looks shocking.
They must know this, unless they are absolute idiots.
MOSIPerhaps the next announcement will be a proposal to charge visitors – even £1 per person would bring in almost a £1m to help pay the wages.
The legal ramifications of this might be insurmountable. Such a measure might also be the signal for other museums and galleries to follow suit, and then – bang! – another one of those profound British virtus that binds us together bites the dust.
Another way through for MOSI might involve the use of television. Confidential suggested some years ago that since ITV is leaving its city centre site then MOSI taking over the old Coronation Street set and part of the studios would massively increase revenue. Entrance fees to the Granada area could then be used to keep the other areas free.
It was then and remains now, a no-brainer. A no-brainer that nobody brainy or in authority in MOSI, the City Council or elsewhere seems capable of articulating.
After all is said and done Confidential is in no doubt that MOSI will be saved.
It is too important for this not to happen – in the same way as both National Media Museum in Bradford and the National Rail Museum in York need to have a certain future.
As elections loom the Coalition parties surely wouldn't let that happen. It's not just Labour party supporters who visit these places in their hundreds of thousands.
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