Patrons, sponsors, grants and the state
Current and long-term possibilities in relation to museum finance
MúzeumCafé 21.
In Hungary there are more than nine hundred museum-related institutions registered with the relevant ministry and their number is growing year by year. These facts lend support to the hypothesis that there is a demand for the protection of culture and its presentation, and that the institutes founded for doing that can, by and large, be funded. The law defines a museum as an institution and specifies its tasks. Accordingly, a museum is based on a collection of scientifically organised cultural property and its mission is to constantly collect the defined materials of that cultural field, to keep a record of, look after, restore and analyse them, and publish the research results, as well as present them in exhibitions and other forms. A museum has at its disposal the necessary material and financial means, the appropriate buildings and qualified staff to implement these aims in line with professional standards. Institutions can only use the name ‘museum’ officially if they are properly recognised and have the appropriate licence to operate as such. In 2009 the number of such museums in Hungary was 130. Although this number has not changed significantly in recent years, a slow decline can be observed. The reason for this is that the relevant conditions which the state has specified are difficult to maintain over time, and thus every now and again an institution falls into a lower category. This happened, for example, last year when, with a view to reducing costs, the Hungarian Technical Museum was merged with the Transport Museum. However, although experience has shown that due to the merger the execution of tasks has become more efficient, on the financial side no savings have appeared. The level of state support is declining and even just to cover the costs of upkeep museums are compelled to seek other sources of income, extending the range of their activities, since only in this way can they perform their designated tasks in a proper manner. Hence in recent years the three main functions of museums – preservation, research and presentation – have been complemented with other activities. The range of examples includes producing and distributing new publications, running shops, restaurants and cafés, renting rooms to outside bodies, lending works of art, selling the rights of reproduction, setting up paying car parks and organising cultural tours. These together increase the income of museums as well as reach out towards meeting the demands of the public. At the same time they have given rise to a number of debates about the commercialisation of museums and its potential dangers. Looking at museum budgets it is obvious that the revenue gained from these extra activities has continuously grown in the last ten years, accounting for an increasing proportion of the total income at the disposal of museums. As an example it’s worth looking at the sources of income of the Fine Arts Museum in 2009. Besides 1,013 billion forints in budgetary support, the institute closed the year recording extra income of around one billion. Of this 65% came from ticket sales, 15% from sponsors, 15% from grants, and 5% from renting out space. Thus an important part of the museum’s subsistence comes from resources other than state support. It is obvious that no museum would be likely to relinquish such opportunities since they clearly contribute to the realisation of long-term plans, even if not always to the extent as is the case with the Fine Arts Museum. Just 10% of the National Theatre History Museum’s costs, for example, are covered by its own earnings. The above example of 65% generated by ticket sales shows that museums must strive to satisfy the demands of the public in as broad a way as possible. In this regard the Fine Arts Museum is in the vanguard with its Hungarian and English-language website, newly designed and with new content, offering online ticket sales, with its nearly 100 volunteers who help visitors to find their way around the museum, and with its museum education activities and so-called family packs which help to make the exhibitions enjoyable for children. The starting point of these processes, however, is the transformation of museums’ financial structures, with the gradual diminution of the state’s involvement. The decline of the state’s willingness to participate and the low level of sponsorship are possibly due to a situation where the benefits of cultural investment are not easily tangible. Thus it is important to stress culture and the positive effects of museums in society as a whole, taking into account so-called optional demand, whereby people value the possibility of being able at any time in the future to utilise the benefits a museum can offer and have no desire to abandon this. With their function of preservation, museums also represent existence value, namely museums simply by existing represent a benefit for people, even if they never visit them. Museums also have a bequest value, meaning that they give satisfaction to people with the knowledge that future generations will also be able to enjoy museums. In addition, in so far as museums satisfy the demands of visitors for learning, they contribute to the spin-off effect that extra knowledge can have for the benefit of the whole economy. The arts awaken new concepts and help to form new perspectives in the viewer, at once both analytical and critical. Thanks to this process cultural capital becomes embedded in human capital, thus promoting the further development of the entire economy. Cultural activity develops an inner disposition in people which can have a positive influence on others. Under the effects of social and economic changes the world of European museums has undergone transformation in the past two decades. On the one hand, these days temporary exhibitions are put together ‘in house’, by an institute’s own staff, in contrast with past experience when different museums dealing with the given theme organised an exhibition. On the other hand, a key issue now for directors of European museums is represented by the necessity of block-buster exhibitions, which usually generate significant income for the exhibiting institutes. Much is needed for such a major exhibition to be organised successfully, including personal contacts, support from the state and diplomatic efforts – not to mention the by no means unimportant matter of having several years available for organisation. These factors were present in connection with the large Van Gogh exhibition at the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts in 2006, which was one of Hungary’s most expensive exhibitions, costing almost half a billion forints. In Hungary there had never been such extensive support from a financial institute – sponsorship on the part of ING covered almost one quarter of the exhibition’s costs. Finance represents one of the most important issues for European museums today for the simple reason that the state is expecting them to take an increasing role in their own funding. Decreasing state support together with an increase in museums’ own income points in the direction that in the future the state will reduce its commitment to the level of ensuring only the very basic functioning of the institutions.