So said Nick Poole, director of the Collections Trust at a conference in November 2010. And yes, it is a time to rally, to seize this as a defining moment, where we challenge the status quo, take risks and secure our survival. Over the last 15 years museums have nurtured millions of new users and partners, transforming lives, regenerating communities and making places. Failing them is not an option and it is time for the museum as social enterprise to come of age.

Tempting as it may be, museums cannot hibernate and wait for normal service to resume. A new social economy is being built and we need to keep up with it. New ideas coupled with recent investment means there is some excellent practice to make available to the new politik – we have public popularity and social value on our side – but the job is not finished, not embedded, and not evenly spread. Over the next few years there will be casualties and hardship. For a few it may already

A New Model for Business

“ We have a choice. We can try and protect the world we have known. Or we can recognise that what is done, is done, and look to a brighter future, a future that we control, a future that we can design and build ourselves. And in this endeavour, in creating this future for museums, we want for nothing. We have some of the best museums in the world. Some of the richest collections. Some of the brightest people.”

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be too late; for some the cuts are already real and the response is urgent; but for most there is still time to rethink how we do business. Save money and make money; lose staff and create new posts; rationalise and innovate; more for less. This is the new reality, and if we own it and shape it then we stand a much better chance.

Museum directors need a new knowledge-set at their fingertips about governance structure, commissioning, enterprise and scenario-planning. There will be similar pressure on staff who will need to be flexible and multi-skilled. Workforce development programmes like Renaissance East of England’s skills bank, Share is the sort of low cost, self-help network that we may come to depend on.

Discussions in Lancashire between museums run by 6 different Local Authorities currently centre on sharing staff to counteract the impact of budget cuts, recruitment-freezes and redeployment in each of the various Local Authorities. But in their scenario-planning, they are also looking ahead to future options including joint management agreements and even a combined service. No-one knows yet if they will need to go this far, but they may still choose to if it makes for a more sustainable and locally relevant service.

Sustainability is on the agenda in East Cheshire where the Arts & Heritage Service recognises that the volunteer-run museums in Nantwich, Congleton and The Macclesfield Silk Heritage Trust are vulnerable. Small, diverse, and somewhat idiosyncratic, workable solutions have to be found from within these museums’ current orbit, not too far out of reach, for the changes to make sense and be owned by their communities.

The environmental imperative also brings business benefits, helping museums reduce both operating costs and energy use. Pioneering work from the region’s Green Museum Group, led by Renaissance NW, is part of a national agenda. Their Survival Strategy is a practical exploration of controlling internal environments, starting with maintenance, housekeeping and energy purchase, often with immediate payback.

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Bravery and willingness to make tough decisions is called for and the new reality is perhaps the best hand the museum world has been dealt to tackle its most controversial issue – collections rationalisation. Drowning under the weight of collections care, storage, documentation backlogs and often (let’s whisper it) mediocrity, few museums have been prepared to tackle this head on. One local museum service has been willing to risk a sectoral storm, challenging deeply-held norms and is in discussion with the MA about a series of disposals. Across the North West 22 museums have been involved in 15 collections reviews and in excess of 15,000 objects have been assessed, via the Renaissance programme. At Gallery Oldham this has led to new ways of thinking about how the museum can use the collection to generate income.

Some feel that that worst-case scenario planning, planning for closure, is an imperative for all museums charged with safeguarding collections, whether vulnerable or not. Scandinavian museums have a ‘living-will’ for all their key collections – with identified options, agreements and financing ready to support the transfer of assets should the need arise. We need to do the same and acknowledge it as a strength rather than an acceptance of inevitable failure.

New ways bring benefits as well as savings and efficiencies. Collaborative marketing doesn’t have to just focus on the leisure visitor but can extend to schools, community groups and 3rd sector agencies. Standpoint terminals are making it possible for small museums across the North West to gather and share data about their visitors, building up a benchmark to support joint advocacy (Note: In 2004 over 60% of museums in the region had not carried out a visitor survey within 3 years. Today, supported by Renaissance, 32 venues are collecting quarterly visitor data that is analysed and benchmarked.) Reading Museums’ Outside the Box scheme reaches 10,000 schoolchildren a year and delivers a healthy income in return .

Digital technology makes the notion of the distributed museum possible, and it is time to shake-off our building-centric focus and imagine high-speed networks broadcasting objects, lectures, idea cafes and meet the expert sessions into schools, cafes,

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lecture theatres across the globe.

Choosing the right governance model is hugely important and museums should lead that process rather than be bounced into decisions. AIM plans share its members’ trust status experiences by producing a do’s and don’ts list on its own website. Trust status won’t suit everyone, and it is important to ensure that the process is a positive one, led by opportunity rather than abdicated responsibility.

Social models are increasingly popular. In the last ten years mutuality in the UK has been through a substantial period of transformation. Many new mutuals have been established to provide public services in health, education and community services. The mutual models are seen as so essential to underpin the new social ideology, there may even be government incentives on offer.

The Museum of East Anglian Life is a well developed example of how a business model supports core purpose. It set up Abbot’s Hall Enterprises in January 2007, linking all trade to a social mission. The business aims to deliver on financial, social and environmental performance targets, thereby creating a ‘triple bottom line’. A community co-governance model for The Fleetwood Museum has kept a museum open and capped Lancashire County Council commitment at the level that it would have had to invest to simply mothball and store the collection.

Independent museums are ahead in the income generation game and have much to teach Local Authority museums about sustainable entrepreneurship. Whilst universal charging is unlikely, the opportunity to raise more money does exist. An additional £500,000 of sales generated in the Hub museums shows that there is still much to be gained from improving the basics – retail and catering (Note: From an unpublished report for the Sustainable Museums: Income Generation & Ethical Retail Project led by Marcus Chase of Manchester Art Gallery). At Norton Priory, volunteer-run catering delivers income and social purpose, and is now to extend to a commercial on-site micro-brewery .

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Technology brings it own opportunities from downloadable apps to prints-on-demand; ‘freemium’ services like on-line lectures, not to mention banner advertising, on-line sales and on-line giving. Social media, especially Twitter, has been used to great effect to raise awareness and funds for Bletchley Park, most recently for the Turing Papers. Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery hosts a collaborative museum, library and archive image bank encouraging designers to take inspiration from collections, and ultimately generate reproduction fees and licensing deals. The rich-content that museums supply is perfect for the digital economy and opens up new markets.

Commissioning is being promoted as a key opportunity for culture but is undeniably vast, complex and risky. The Local Government Improvement and Development agency has produced a comprehensive practical guide for the sector. To become a player you will need to learn the right language, understand the commissioning map for your area (based on the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment), identify where you fit and the likely routes in. Individual organisations will suffer from lack of visibility and are encouraged to collaborate.

No one is pretending that these things are going to be easy, but following a few basic good business principles will help set you on the right path:

One: Apply leadership

This is an opportunity for great individuals to perform, to step up to the mark and lead the museum out of a time of crisis. Successful organisations are audience focussed, collaborative, and have strong internal cultures. They cultivate advocates and they communicate results. Leadership for the sector is also required. We need a strong and united voice. We need to communicate our usefulness to the new social economy and our transformative qualities.

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Two: Have clarity of purpose

Be able to answer the question - what is this museum or gallery for? What purpose do you serve and for whose benefit? Understand the context in which you are operating, and your local priorities and needs. Use available data such as that freely available via the Office of National Statistics. Demonstrate how you meet those needs. Make the case that museums are necessary to bring about recovery and tackle inequalities.

Three: Redistribute resources

Be ruthless in identifying the activities that divert resources away from your core purpose and objectives. All bets are off, from standard opening hours, to whole buildings, collections, people, programmes. Be prepared to strip away anything that is a drain on resources, including collections – dispose, redistribute, even sell.

Four: Think Enterprise

Where are the new sources of income going to come from? Visitors? New commercial services? Technology? Donors? Business partners? Set up an internal working group with an entrepreneurial brief, to answer the question ‘if this were a profit making business what would it do to make money’?

Five: Learn to share

Explore all opportunities for achieving economies of scale and increased impact. Share staff, skills, programmes, communication channels, ideas and projects. Share in-sector (museums), cross-sector (attractions, libraries, festivals and other cultural and heritage organisations) and out-of-sector (health, education, tourism, business). Share with local communities right through to co-governance.

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And if we do all of this, where in five years time could we be? Still ‘public-service’ only less ‘public-sector’; more independent and entrepreneurial. There will have been some failures, mergers and loss, but survivors will have developed stronger business acumen; reconfigured in new partnerships; harnessed their social value and popularity. We will still be in the museums business, using our collections, skills and passions to make a difference and transform lives, only more so. Museums delivered in equal and reciprocal partnership with their users and neighbours.

Seeded question:

A regional strategy would be flying in the face of political ideology, but as smoke-signals go up across the region from vulnerable museums, we may need a response mechanism to help inform local decision-making, mentor-staff and, if appropriate, broker partnerships. With the dissolution of MLA and the changing role of Renaissance how can we make this happen? Do we need a leadership group to lend advocacy skill, strategic thinking and influence? Can we draw on the legacy of existing museum development officer networks and subject specialist mechanisms for specific advice? Who might co-ordinate it and what role might new technology play in mobilising the sector and protecting an equality and quality of museum-provision across the region?

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