Museum mangagement in a time of change : impacts of cultural policy on museums in Britain, 1979-1997

Abstract

This paper examines some of the major impacts of British cultural policy in the 1980s and 1990s, with particular reference to museum management. The paper identifies three major themes of cultural policy at national and local level during the period as the needs for (1) plural funding, (2) customer orientation and (3) management for efficiency and effectiveness, and examines their impacts on local authority museums. The paper consists of three major parts and a concluding part as follows: • the themes of government policy in culture reiterated through the decades, and environmental changes surrounding the museum sector in the UK (Part 1) • a case study of museums owned and run by local authorities, which provides empirical findings on the subject. Three specific areas—income generation, public service orientation and strategic management—receive attention (Part 2) • the theoretical analysis of issues in museum management (Part 3). This report aims to contribute to the following research themes. Primary readership may be different for each: • the context and issues in which the UK museum sector has been operating in the last few decades, as an introduction to the subject for those who are not yet familiar with it, and also for those who wish to reflect systematically on the changes they have known by experience (Part 1) • a case study of management changes in the local authority museum sector, which may be of interest to those working in the sector, or to cultural policy makers who have a stake in museums (Part 2) • a theorisation of museum management, aimed at museum managers and researchers, and cultural policy makers and researchers, both in the UK and beyond (Part 3) • a study of museum marketing, its development, state of the art, issues and problems, for those particularly interested in marketing (Chapters 5, 7 and 9) • a proposal of research topics in visitor studies for practical use (Chapter 9) • a study of public service management, for those who wish to compare the experience of culture to other areas of public policy (Chapters 4, 6, 7 and 11).

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