Media Matters Report Continues

The fragmentation of the media and the strength of national and regional newspapers particularly in Scotland and the North West, combined with the reluctance of the old “Fleet Street” papers to travel outside London for cultural events, had created additional challenges for museums and galleries. Local media produced the audience but national UK media produced the profile – and the funding.

The role of Government in general and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in particular, was crucial to their success. Culture has moved up the government’s agenda but the DCMS was suffering as other government departments from media and public cynicism, induced by spin. At the same time, spin was nothing more than putting the best gloss on events – or is it? A bedrock of UK’s establishment, the BBC, had suffered a great dent in the unique trust it enjoyed from the public. Some delegates even cast aspersions on the BBC’s motives in creating interactive programmes which seemed to tread on their role and cannibalised their collections. There was no other way forward, however, if museums and galleries wanted those new audiences. Joining in interactive projects with the BBC and Culture Online was a major opportunity for museums and galleries as print and other traditional media continued to reach in smaller and smaller numbers of the already converted.

Blockbusters from Picasso and Matisse to Titian had chalked up impressive figures in attracting genuinely new audience. But blockbusters should do more than that, tell a story, create new understanding and above else emotion, according to Julian Spalding, Author and former Museum Director. They should also be part of the museum or gallery, extend the understanding of the collection and set an agenda – not just respond to popular culture or be simple revenue raisers. Museums and galleries had become very skilled at creating a bandwagon for exhibitions, such as Art Deco at the V & A, but they also had to be good not just in content but as visitor experiences. Frequently museum professionals only visited their own exhibitions during working hours – rather than at crowded weekends when people congregated round pictures on the audio-tour, craned their necks to read labels, and formed bottlenecks around badly placed introductory panels. How often did you hear of an exhibition being improved once it had started? However, the future of art blockbusters is limited due to high cost and the unavailability of paintings. Getting the blockbuster effect from the permanent collection or small off-the-wall exhibitions was the real challenge.

The Gulbenkian Prize for Museums and Galleries first awarded in 2003 is now the biggest arts prize in the UK worth £100,000. Why did the press not give it wall to wall coverage in its first year? The Chairman of the judges, Bamber Gascoigne, recognised the difference between this prize and the Turner which involved individuals. Even the Booker took years to become established and can now deliver credibility as well as brand to its media sponsor, the BBC. Sex, controversy and celebrities were all important ingredients. Booker as a mature prize could take any kind of controversy while celebrities had to be seen to deliver in a cynical climate. The Gulbenkian would grow into its own and the Galleries of Justice in Nottingham, the first prize winner claimed it had transformed the funding situation for this independent museum, which until now has received no local authority funding.

Ylva French, Conference Director

A conference pack including print-out of powerpoint presentations and some scripts is available from the Campaign for Museums, price £15 to cover photocopying, postage etc. Please send a cheque to Campaign for Museums, 35-37 Grosvenor Gardens, London SW1W OBX.