Funding museum agendas: challenges and opportunities

Abstract

Museums have, over the last two centuries, performed a number of functions that reflect the aspirations both of those who establish and manage such operations and, increasingly, of external stakeholders as well. As agendas for museums continue to develop and shift, museum managers are increasingly being required to secure additional funding so that they can deliver both core and secondary functions. This paper explores the changing expectations that the sector has faced since the late eighteenth/early nineteenth century and examines how museums in the north of England are seeking to generate revenue, to enable them to meet contemporary demands on their services.

Keywords:

• museums
• objectives
• fundraising
• income generation
• Yorkshire

Notes

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-gender.