Museum cuts - Des McCulloch speaks out

Many Gurnites will know Cawdor resident Des McCulloch, Des has been speaking to the Press and Journal about pay-offs that are proposed for Inverness Museum.

"Des McCulloch, a full-time attendant at the museum for seven years, claimed that the full picture had been kept from staff.

He said: “On the surface, the cuts didn’t seem so bad when we were told the museums owned by the council would be receiving a 15% cut to their budget. But they didn’t tell us that all the cuts would be taking place at the Inverness museum.” "

Read more in the Press and Journal

MSP urges Highland Council to keep Nairn Museum open

"Highlands and Islands Labour MSP David Stewart has urged Highland Council to provide enough money to keep Nairn Museum open.
He has written to the local authority’s Chief Executive Alistair Dodds asking him to ensure the council maintains its £14,000 a year service level agreement with the museum’s trustees.
The council owns Viewfield House, the museum’s home, and leases it rent free to the museum’s trustees, for which they are extremely grateful.
However the museum would find itself in serious difficulty if the council adopts a suggestion in a consultation document to reduce funding by 66.66%, to less than £5,000. "

More here.

Museums in the Highlands prepare their case against cuts

We've already heard how cuts in funding could mean the end of Nairn museum in Viewfield. Museums across the Highlands have developed a strategy to fight their corner. They plan a meeting in Inverness on the 26th of May, their blog states: 'It will be a high-profile meeting with a press-launch and will kick-off with a press photo-shoot; many influential stakeholders will be invited.'

As part of their strategy the HMIF recommends that members:

'Go to your ward forum meetings. There is a time for questions at the end of the meeting so have a question prepared and don’t be afraid to ask for a response. Remember you are fighting for your museum.
Invite everyone when you have an exhibition opening! Local councillors, Hugh Fraser, any one you feel will help your museum. Don’t take no for an answer.
Create a case study for your museum. Be brief and focused but detail the community value of your museum and quantify volunteer and board hours as well as any retail sales. This is your opportunity to sell your museum – pass a copy to us but also make sure local councillors see it.
Solicit letters of support from Schools, MSPs, MPs, MEPs, local councillors, community councils and local celebrities. Pass this information to us but again make sure it goes to your Councils
Ask local people to feed into the consultation process as they need to make their voices heard as well. The link to the Blog on the Council’s web page is here: http://www.highland.gov.uk/yourcouncil/news/blog/ '

Just another facet of the impact the cuts could potentially have on the cultural and social live of the Highlands. Anyone heading for the budget blog will be disappointed however. The Highland Council website proclaims: ' this will commence following the General Election on 6th May. Why the delay? Many people are worried about these cuts and wish to state their views, surely any off-topic party-political point scoring posts could simply be deleted?

You can find the Museums blog here.