Surviving in troubled times Some thoughts from Dr. László Horváth, head of the Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok County Museums’ Directorate
István Szathmáry
MúzeumCafé 7.
Historian and county museum director László Horváth was born in the town of Gyöngyös in 1965. Following his secondary schooling there, he graduated from the Faculty of Arts of Budapest’s Eötvös Loránd University, and then he gained a Ph.D. in the history of religion at Debrecen University. His field of research focuses on the Modern Age, including peasant migration and emigration. He began working in the Mátra Museum in Gyöngyös, then from 1993 he was appointed to the post of director at the Hatvany Lajos Museum in Hatvan. He has been in charge of the Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok County Museums’ Directorate since 2002.
“At present county museum organisations can be said to represent the weakest link in Hungary’s museum network and activity, since the position of county authorities maintaining them is volatile, to put it mildly,” says László Horváth. Nevertheless, he himself can see several ways forwards for provincial museums, enabling them to survive and recover from the present, difficult situation. He regards insecurity as the greatest problem in that it is impossible to know what the future holds and that every penny has to be fought for.
“At present insecurity represents the worst, especially when it also affects the maintaining authority. Thus it is a rather complex matter to answer any questions concerning the future. Looking back from troubled times today, the 1960s and 1970s may seem to have represented the golden age of provincial museums, though even then museums were not all in the same position. A kind of ‘middle way’ has always characterised our organisation, considering the number of both institutions and employees. The then average position made it easier to handle the present situation. We haven’t been exposed to either considerable experimentation or enforced reduction, at least not yet. We are proud to say – and it is not simply the doing of the museum director – that all our eight museums and more than 20 properties have managed to survive the most difficult times so far. This is mainly due to the county authority, which, incidentally, is not in a very good financial position. We hope their attitude won’t change in the future. If we look at Hungary from this aspect we can see a major step backwards taking place in the western part of the country. I deliberately won’t give names, although four or five counties could be mentioned. Are these counties in the worst economic position in Hungary? Nevertheless, cultural expenses were held back there first, even by reducing county organisations. In contrast, our county, which is considered to be in a disadvantageous region, has supported culture far more strongly.
“A museum is never complete. Cutting down has been the price of survival and I am not absolutely satisfied with this situation. If you ask whether we could have done more with more money, I would definitely say ‘yes’. At the same time, we have taken care, even in the present situation, not to pursue a two-faced policy – such that it hasn’t happened, for example, that in one part of the county everything is available, while elsewhere even toilet paper is lacking. Every museum has its monthly operational sum from the budget provided by the maintainer. That is the basis, but naturally the opportunities vary. Today, obtaining external financial assistance is gaining in importance.
“Currently, culture as a whole is experiencing competition, which also has its positive aspects. As regards sponsors and outside financing, we are not badly off in our region. These times are not easy for museums, but at least they make it clear that we have to stand on our own two feet. Still, we can look back at rather positive results. Let me take the towns in turn. The Tiszafüred museum has been completely renewed in this decade. The Tiszaföldvár and Mezőtúr museums have moved to new locations and the change in both places has led to an improvement in quality. Floods struck the museum in Kunszentmárton on two occasions, but the exhibition regained its footing both times. In Túrkeve the museum is operating in two buildings with entirely new permanent exhibitions and research rooms. And we could talk about the new investments and change of image in the Jászberény museum – at the moment we are working on the final resolution of the storage facilities. Until recently 18-20 outstanding experts with academic degrees worked in the directorate. Today there are not as many, partly due to retirement and partly to cut-backs. However, success can still be assured and the museums are being well-managed. The team continues to comprise colleagues working at a high standard.