"The British Museum and the V&A, in particular, hold the best of many other nations' art and culture. What does it say to people from the rest of the world if we say, 'We've got your stuff, but we're going to charge you to come in'? I don't like that idea."
"Introducing admission charges for international visitors at national museums would be logistically complex as well as ideologically at odds with the global collections that the UK has accumulated. If charges were introduced, the British Museum would be placed in the unenviable position of having to charge Nigerian tourists to see the Benin Bronzes, or Egyptians to view the Rosetta Stone."
"A modest tax incentive for endowment giving would not be unaffordable, and it would be transformational. The Tate's Future Fund endowment, worth £43m at its launch last year, now stands at £55m and has a target of £150m by 2030."
Maria Balshaw, Tate's outgoing director, opposes introducing admission charges for international visitors at UK national museums, arguing it contradicts the principle of global access to cultural collections. She highlights the problematic optics of charging Nigerian tourists to see Benin Bronzes or Egyptians to view the Rosetta Stone. A Cultural Policy Unit report supports this position, noting such charges would be logistically complex and ideologically inconsistent with accumulated global collections. However, some politicians, including Labour peer Margaret Hodge, advocate for charging overseas visitors through an ID card system. Balshaw proposes that at least 80% of revenue from such charges be allocated to the culture sector to maintain free admission. She also recommends tax incentives for museum donors to boost endowment funds.
#museum-admission-policy #cultural-access-and-equity #international-visitor-charges #museum-funding-and-endowments
Read at The Art Newspaper - International art news and events
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