Local authorities

Middlesborough Council has decided against selling artwork from its £32.5m collection to help avoid bankruptcy after research into the legalities of the process concluded it could result in the "threat of significant legal challenges".

Director of Regeneration Richard Horniman said it could also affect future grant funding for the town.

Horniman told councillors: “Following some joint work between ourselves and Mima (Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art), it is clear that the ownership of the artworks is legally open to interpretation and therefore a challenge.

"For example, the LS Lowry painting was donated by the artist to the council for the people of Middlesbrough."

“The council technically own [the Lowry painting] but wouldn’t be able to try and sell it without the threat of significant legal challenge.

"Recent examples have shown it is very easy to prevent such sales and cause huge reputational damage in the process.”

Middlesbrough Council is one of at least 19 local authorities to receive exceptional financial support from the government, to help it avoid effective bankruptcy.

A spokesperson for ACE told the BBC that although they understood the financial difficulties faced by local authorities, selling off art should not be used to cover short-term gaps in funding as it would “erode the long-held and hard-won trust that the public have in museums and will cause irreversible damage to the UK’s cultural inheritance.”

A 19th-Century Hampshire windmill that houses a display of historic farming artefacts has closed following the withdrawal of council funding from its operator.

Eastleigh Borough Council terminated its funding agreement with Hampshire Culture Trust (HCT) in February last year.

The trust then requested that Hampshire County Council (HCC) allow it to end operations at the Grade II-listed Bursledon Windmill.

HCT has been responsible for providing the council’s museum and heritage services since 2014, the same year that the windmill had its wind shaft and sails replaced following a £94,000 Heritage Lottery Fund grant.

A report found that the trust had made efforts to keep the windmill open by diversifying revenue through grants, donations or commercial opportunities but said it would not be "sufficient to support the financial viability of the venue".

The historic items displayed at the windmill may now be transferred to the authority or a new operator.

Earlier this year, HCT warned that five more venues, out of the 24 it operates, face closure after HCC, its primary funder, proposed reducing its annual funding from £2.5m to £1.9m by 2027.

The trust, an ACE National Portfolio Organisation, said Ashcroft Arts Centre in Fareham, Westbury Manor Museum and Eastleigh Museum are expected to shut early next year, while Curtis Museum in Alton and Andover Museum and the Museum of the Iron Age are facing withdrawal by 2026.

York Museums Trust (YMT) has revealed it lost £400,000 in revenue because one of its sites was closed for three months following the discovery of reinforced autoclaved concrete (RAAC).

The Castle Museum, housed in the former York County Gaol, was shut between September and December while undergoing remedial works to deal with RAAC from a roof installed in the 1980s.

In a report due to be presented to councillors on 9 April, Kathryn Blacker, Chief Executive of York Museums Trust, said that despite reopening on 8 December, the museum suffered losses over the Christmas period as it was not able to fully market its intended programme of events.

Blacker added: "We had to drop our prices in this period, and we had much lower visitor numbers, which impacted our retail and catering on-site".

The closure cost York Museums Trust around £400,000 in addition to the £80,0000 paid from its reserves to cover the remedial works. 

“Unfortunately, we have still not been able to reopen the upper half of the female prison because of the need to mitigate remaining RAAC issues," Blacker wrote.

Predicting a drop in visitor numbers from 2023 to 2024, Blacker continued: “We remain loss-making given our reliance on visitor income and trading through our Enterprise subsidiary for 70% our funding."

She said the organisation has £0.8m in its reserves, amounting to less than two months of operating costs.

YMT currently receives an annual grant of £300,000 from City of York Council, which Blacker notes was reduced from £600k in 2015-16 and £1.1m in 2014-15. 

The organisation hopes to secure a £5m grant from Arts Council England's Museum Estate and Development Fund in 2024-25 to help with re-roofing costs and recoup losses.

A library in Somerset with a specialist performing arts section offering music and drama resources to the public faces closure as the local council looks to save money.

Yeovil Library has more than 40,000 items in its collection, including manuscripts, musicals and plays, and is described as a “unique asset” by Performing Arts Library Outreach Officer Natalie Snelson. 

"We're really lucky to have a performing arts library in Somerset as we are the only one in the county," she said.

Somerset Council is considering closing the library as it revises all of its service areas to save money following "extraordinary financial pressures".

Federica Smith-Roberts, Executive Member for Communities, Housing and Culture, said: "The potential closure of this service would reduce access to, and participation in, the performing arts across Somerset - but we are some way from this point.

"Libraries play a hugely important role in our communities and, before taking any decision, we would talk to the Department for Culture Media and Sport and would also consult the public.”