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Vox pop
Should museums rely more heavily on volunteers to help deal with the impact of the spending cuts?
Simon Floyd, training and workforce development officer, Renaissance East
“There are all sorts of ways that volunteering can contribute to the development of museums and the sense in which they are ‘owned’ by their local community. The question is whether museums have the capacity or vision to make this happen. The sector already relies very heavily on volunteers and takes them too much for granted.
‘Volunteer coordinator’ is itself all too often a voluntary position – reactive as opposed to creative. If museums make a serious commitment to developing and managing volunteers, they will find opportunity in crisis. But it should not be spending cuts that are the driver but a genuine belief in the value of volunteering.”
Joy Todd, head of volunteering, Oxford University Museums and Collections
“I love volunteers. I am continually impressed by the range of skills and experience our volunteers have, as well as their enthusiasm and commitment.
Volunteers can increase the quantity and enhance the quality of educational programmes, public events, and front-of-house services. They can support curatorial and other office staff.
However, whilst the relationship between volunteers and museums can be mutually satisfying, this can only happen if volunteers are properly supported.
Having more volunteers doesn’t necessarily mean more work will get done. Supporting volunteers means having the infrastructure to manage and provide the opportunities for them to shine and truly be effective.”
Mark Crosby, deputy head of volunteering, National Trust
“Increasing volunteer involvement will bring huge benefits but the spark should not be saving money. Such a rationale is likely to send the wrong messages to staff and volunteers. More important is to look at the positive benefits volunteering can bring.
At the trust we do ‘rely’ on volunteers to open and maintain our places. However, it’s not the only reason we involve volunteers. Involving volunteers is part of delivering public benefit. If we had all the money in the world we would still seek volunteer participation to connect with local communities.
Volunteer involvement extends our budget rather than saves us money.”
John Marjoram, development officer, Federation of Museums and Art Galleries of Wales
“Volunteers bring much to museums. Many successful independent museums are run by volunteers. But the implication of calls for more use of volunteers to lessen the impact of spending cuts, is fewer paid professional staff.
Many local authority museums are at risk. Volunteers need supervision and direction – if the sole museum professional is made redundant who undertakes this role?
Fewer paid staff will impact on the wider sector as many provide support to museums as curatorial advisors under the Accreditation scheme. There is a real danger that over-reliance on volunteers will lead to a serious erosion of standards.”