Museums Facing Closure: Legal and Ethical Issues

The Museums Association (MA), with funding from Arts Council England, has published Museums Facing Closure: Legal and Ethical Issues, a document outlining the legal and ethical issues relating to museum closures. Drawing on research into over 20 recent museum closures in the UK, the document looks to understand how the governing bodies, employees, and the individuals involved responded.  Topics covered include how museums have dealt with a crisis that may lead to closure, how museums have planned for closure, and considerations around staff and volunteers, managing collections, museum buildings and sites, partnerships and contracts, IT and data, and the legacy of the museum.  Alistair Brown, the MA’s policy officer, said: ‘Most museums are hugely successful and have a great future ahead of them. But in a time of public funding cuts, 64 museums have closed across the UK since 2010 and more are at risk.  In putting this document together, we wanted to make sure that we are learning the lessons from those closures, and to ensure that support is available for museums facing this kind of crisis’. Download the document here.