Government Urged to Protect Collections
July 8 2020
Picture: The Museums Association
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The recent Museum's Association newsletter reports on calls for the British government to use temporary powers to save the collections of independent museums that go into administration.
As the article explains:
Although this week's funding announcement offered a lifeline to the museum sector, many institutions remain at risk of insolvency. There is concern that if a number go into administration at the same time, the cultural heritage sector will have limited capacity to intervene and save collections from being broken up and sold off.
The Museums Association (MA), Collections Trust (CT) and Association of Independent Museums (AIM) are asking the government to use new powers created in the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020, which became law on 25 June and is applicable UK-wide, to delay the sale of assets from insolvent museums in order to give sector bodies time to intervene to protect those collections, as they would in normal times.
AHN reported about this phenomena back in April. Let's hope that something can be done to help councils resist selling off the family silver.
