A new report by the National Audit Office (NAO) reveals that the 17 museums and galleries funded directly by the Department for Culture Media and Sport generated revenues of £107.5m in 2002/2003, in addition to funds received from the DCMS. This is the lowest figure for five years, a fact attributed partly to the significant reduction in admissions income since the introduction of government subsidy to enable free admissions in 2001, and partly to reduced fundraising for specific capital projects.
Although trading income has increased from £17.7m in 1998/1999 to £21.5m in 2002/2003, it is no longer growing and the report recommends that the museums “need to look more closely at the profitability of some of their trading activities”. It cites e-commerce and membership schemes as examples of areas for potential growth. The NAO also sees potential for an increase in fundraising activity, and calls for “museums and galleries [to] inject more entrepreneurial skills into their management and planning.” To this end, the report concludes, “there may be scope to take collaboration beyond the sharing of information and into the pooling of some key resources.”
Published: 09-02-2004