British Public Museums' Management Reform Between 1979 And 1997

As a symbol of human civilization,museum has emerged as early as in several centuries B.C.With the process of social development,people's curiosity about the world increased fiercely.As a result,museum,which converges the gems of human wisdom,received increasing attention and went through numbers of evolution.Its collections were enriched from artistic works to historical,cultural and geographical objects etc.;while its functions were extended from simple collection and preservation to public exhibition and research.Till twentieth century,museum has developed into an important device for many countries to provide public education and enjoyment.As a welfare state,the United Kingdom has a large number of museums.Owing to its enduring history and experience of being a great empire,the UK enjoys a high reputation in terms of the quality of its museums.Thus,British museums can be taken as a good example for museums in the world to follow.This paper will analyze the management reform of British museums,and sum up lessons for museums in other countries.Although British museums enjoy worldwide reputation,their development track is not always smooth.On the contrary,they have encountered unprecedented challenges since the late 1970s.As soon as Mrs.Thatcher came into power in 1979,the UK government rapidly initiated financial reform in large scale.Deep cuts in public spending and sharp shrinking of central finance pushed British museums,which used to depend heavily on government funds,into financial crisis.What else,due to the government's strong advocacy of market competition,those non-for-profit museums were forced to prove their economic value.Under such condition,British museums had no idea but to change their operational mode,and tried to find other way out by applying management skills.At the same time,large number of new museums and recreational facilities sprang up during that period,which led to fierce competition for the original museums.Compared with their rivals,traditional museums were in disadvantage in terms of attracting public attention.In order to retain their customers to keep a foot in the market,a thorough management reform was extremely urgent for British museums.What else,as Mrs.Thatcher advocated for market competition,the British government has provided a large amount of policy support,which made the eighteen years between 1979 and 1997 became the most significant period for museum management reform.Till the end of Conservative government in 1997,British public museums have succeeded in establishing a comprehensive management framework.Therefore,this paper will focus on the analysis of British public museums' management reform from 1979 to 1997.The management reform of British museums mainly consists of funding,strategic planning,performance assessment,personnel management,collection management and marketing etc.Under the pressure of funding reduction,British museums initiated exploration on plural funding.Government funding was still the most important capital source for British museums,but the way of allocating the funds has changed.After the Heritage Lottery Fund was established in 1994,it also became an important channel for British museums to get government grants.On the basis of government funding,many museums also began to get money by charging admission fees.While some museums set compulsory admission,some others used voluntary admission or charges for special exhibitions to raise money.What else,with policy support,many museums started to collect money through the pursuit of sponsorship and donations.The funding reform not only resolved financial crisis of British museums,but also endowed them with more autonomy in operation.With the government's supervision and guidance,British museums also began to establish strategic planning and set performance indicators.Development plans helped museums to be more steadfast in their goals,while performance assessments provided museums with chances to better understand themselves,so that they would know how to exploit their advantages and make up for disadvantages in the next development stage.The Museums and Galleries Commission initiated registration scheme in 1988,which set up regulations for museums' governing bodies.By attaching importance to the professional ability of governing bodies,and encouraging internal communications,the regulations effectively solved the conflicts between the board of trustees and directors,which ensured the normal operation of routine administration.What's more,on the basis of National Vocational Qualifications,the British government established Museum Training Institute to set up qualification standards for museum staff and provide them with in-service training.As an essential part of museum operation,collection management received attention from the government.According to the government's guidelines on conservation,acquisition and disposal,British museums built comprehensive collection management structure.Among all of the fields of museum management,marketing was the one that received the most government support.Since the late 1980s,British government and relevant organizations have provided museums with a large number of policies,schemes and programs to promote marketing devices.Through the reform of exhibition forms and provision of public facilities,museums realized the application of marketing in their management.Till the end of Conservative government in 1997,British public museums have initiated reforms on funding,planning,performance assessment,personnel management,collections and marketing.They not only realized the "zero to one"change of management,but also established a complete structure of management.In the next twenty years after 1997,the whole structure of museum management remained unchanged despite some small modifications.Because of the fast development of technologies since the 1990s,museums' application of new technologies in their marketing became the most prominent changes in the post-1997 era.The introduction of virtual reality increased the enjoyment of exhibitions,which helped to raise the number of visitors year by year.By establishing official websites,museums provide people from the world with the opportunity to learn about museums at anywhere and anytime.What is more,owing to its feature of sharing real-time information in large scale,social media is also frequently used in museum marketing.It's openness ensures that museum relevant messages can be transmitted to the whole world in a short time,which effectively helps to expand fame of the museums,and close the gap between audience and museums.After decades of effort,British museums have not only gone through the severe challenges,but also made great achievements in terms of revenues and visitor number.As for methodology,this paper is a combination of theoretic research and case study.The author will review previous studies,introduce the background of museums'reform and summarize the reform practices of museums to construct the theoretic frame for the paper.According to the contents of different reforms,some examples will be used to do case studies.In the conclusion part,the author will sum up the analyses of the whole paper,and conclude the achievements and deficiencies of British museums' management in those years.