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ABSTRACT
In 2015–2016 the first comprehensive survey of museums in Ireland in a decade – the Irish Museums Survey 2016 – was undertaken as a collaborative project between the School of Art History and Cultural Policy, University College Dublin, and the Irish Museums Association. Since the Republic’s economic collapse in 2008 and the recession, museums have weathered significant shifts in governance and board structures, and drastic cutbacks that have affected programmes, staffing, and provision across the island. Yet, until recently we have not had an accurate picture of the “state of play” for Irish museums, hampering efforts to prioritise actions for museum support organisations, and preventing individual institutions to develop their own plans of advancement benchmarked against national data. Consequently, there has been a significant knowledge gap concerning the current state of Irish museums, stretching beyond the anecdotal, and bridging the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. This essay addresses the major findings of the Irish Museums Survey 2016, contextualised within the landscape of recent research on museums in the Republic and the North, and existing research infrastructures. In reviewing forms of museum provision and policy in both jurisdictions, it argues that the haphazard nature of data collection and the worrying findings of some aspects of the 2016 Survey require the enhancement of an all-island research culture, audit of national collections and institutions, and development of improved strategic planning for museums.
Acknowledgements
The author wishes to thank the research team of the Irish Museums Survey for their assistance, including Dr Colleen Thomas and Fernando Sanchez (Survey Coordinators), as well as the Survey committee Brian Crowley (Chair, IMA), Chris Bailey (NIMC), Paul Doyle (IMA), and Lesley-Ann Hayden (Heritage Council/MSPI). Special thanks are due to Gina O’Kelly (IMA Director of Operations) for her assistance with this article and leadership as part of the Survey team.
Notes
1. The Decade of Commemorations programme is an all-island initiative sponsored by both governments in the Republic and Northern Ireland, guided by an all-party consultation group, with resourcing for cultural projects and initiatives available on both sides of the border (see http://www.decadeofcentenaries.com).
2. Unless otherwise specified, “Irish” in this essay should be read as inclusive of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
3. The museum sector is not alone in adopting an all-island approach: the primary resource organisations for the visual arts and theatre (Visual Artists Ireland, Theatre Forum, and Theatre Northern Ireland) are also cross-border or close collaborators.
4. In 2015 Armagh County Museum was transferred from the NMNI system to Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon Borough Council, which accounts in part for subsequent reductions in grant-in-aid.
5. In the Republic this included the 2009–2015 moratorium on public sector recruitment, issued by the Department of Finance and covering the civil service, local authorities, and non-commercial state bodies, which has affected high numbers of public museums.
6. ‘All is changed, changed utterly: A terrible beauty is born’, from Easter, 1916 by William Butler Yeats (1916). The collected poems of W. B. Yeats, Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1991.
7. The period of the Troubles in Northern Ireland (1968–1998) dictated a different pattern of museum foundation and growth: by contrast, the key period of museum development was the 1960s, which included the foundation of the Ulster Museum (1962), the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum (1967), and later the Ulster-American Folk Park (1976). Today these three institutions comprise the National Museums of Northern Ireland (consolidated in 1998).
8. This is exemplified by Bourke’s (Citation2011) history of Irish museums from 1790 to 2000, which drops Northern Ireland from consideration post-partition.
9. In 2012 the W5 Science Centre was transferred from the NMNI system to the Odyssey Trust, followed by the reassignment of Armagh County Museum in 2012.
10. Members of the LAMN are designated museums under Section 68 (2) of the National Cultural Institutions Act, 1997, which grants them the capacity to retain archaeological objects on behalf of the State and receive loans from the NMI.
11. As example, none of the 46 research development awards made by the AHRC-funded Cultural Value initiative (2014–2016) went to a NI-based researcher, or to any project substantively concerned with the North (see http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/research/fundedthemesandprogrammes/culturalvalueproject/research-activities/).
12. ICOM museum definition: see http://archives.icom.museum/definition.html.
13. Comparative data tables are listed as 1994, 2005, and 2016 in the Survey to correspond with their years of publication; however each survey generally reflects data from 1993, 2004, and 2014, respectively.
14. Full details of sample size and number of museums responding to each question can be found in the published Survey.
15. However, in contrast to North America, for example, arts philanthropy in Ireland has been led by business-orientated organisations as Business to Arts in the Republic, and Arts & Business NI, achieving mixed success owing to economic fluctuations.
16. ‘Visitors’ in this case means unique visits, not unique visitors. Other data on frequency and patterns of NI museum attendance has been estimated via the 2015–2016 Continuous Household Survey by the Department of Communities (https://www.communities-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/communities/experience-of-museums-and-science-centres-in-Northern-Ireland-201516.pdf); unfortunately no equivalent data are available in the Republic, as museums have been omitted from research undertaken by the Arts Audiences initiative from the Arts Council of Ireland (excepting arts galleries).