The report, Local Authorities and Independent Museums, was commissioned by the Association of Independent Museums (AIM), which hopes it will help museums identify good practice in areas where local authorities can help independents thrive.
It shows that independent museums generate a total of £300m per year - a quarter of the total museum economy in the UK – but local authorities only spend 0.2% of their budgets on them.
“While larger local authority-supported museums have both the capacity and political connections, small museums often find themselves at the margins of the council’s structures and business,” says Adrian Babbidge, author of the report.
“Only very few councils have the benefit of a heritage or museums strategy that demonstrates foresight, provides clarity of intent, and where it is accompanied by funding support, establishes a framework for a relationship based on all those elements required for a successful partnership – trust, equality, common vision and sharing of beliefs and risks.”
AIM chairman, Bill Ferris, welcomed the report and added: “We hope independent museums can use this report to improve their relationships with their own local authorities, and that local authorities will see it as a wake-up call in their support of independent museums.”
