BAFM YORKSHIRE & HUMBERSIDE AREA
YORKS & HUMBERSIDE AREA REP: DR HARIS LIVAS-DAWES
Dr Haris Livas-Dawes has had a long career in government, media and academia. Spending most of her adult life (35 years) in Greece, she directed the International Feature Section of the Greek news agency and then became Advisor to cabinet ministers in international relations (her PhD field), She also worked as a foreign correspondent and international journalist as well as having senior level position in business. Many of these jobs were simultaneous as after her first husband’s death when she was pregnant with their sixth child, she became the sole support of the family in an era when government support was non-existent. She has always worked in the community sector and in Hull sits on seven community boards and chairs three of them. She also is responsible for ‘The Livas Collection’ at the British Museum and works as an environmental lobbyist in London. She now lives in Hull in an old Victorian house with her second husband, an aeronautical engineer.
Yorkshire and Humberside Area Conference 2011
'Culture in a Time of Crisis'
Chairs and other officers of art galleries and museums in the Yorkshire and Humber area met recently in Hull for a regional get together of BAFM. Our speaker was a senior culture officer from Hull City Council who spoke on ‘Culture in the Time of Crisis’. His words have relevance to all museums that are currently facing cultural constraints. Simon Green pointed out that the cultural sector today is changing beyond all recognition due to the great challenges facing it and the unprecedented speed of change. It’s especially hard to keep up with the rapid pace of change since there have been no comparable circumstances, therefore no past experiences to draw on. Mr Green believes a considerable proportion of the populace is interested in culture; they come from a whole range of circumstances but have in common a passion for the arts. Today’s changes affect them all, but there’s nothing any one government can do about this as the changes are geo-political with all sorts of global issues behind local issues. Those who work in the cultural sector are trying, however, to shape the changes affecting them. They want an active role and are not satisfied with just letting things happen to them.
Fortunately, in Hull there has been continuous support for culture from all political parties who are surely proud of Hull’s seven free museums, many of them close together in the Museum Quarter; proud of Hull’s theatres, Hull Truck and the Hull New Theatre; proud of the new History Centre housing the archives; proud of the world’s only submarium, ‘The Deep’; proud of the big festivals held every year and proud, too, of the fact that culture and leisure services are very highly developed for a city of our size (250,000) with a disadvantaged population that can be hard to reach.
Financial problems persist. £50 million has to be saved out of the cultural budget which represents 20% of the budget. Renaissance funding is in place for next year, but after that is expected to decrease. Museum staff are horrified and worried about their jobs. There are no plans to charge admission to Hull’s museums since that has been tried in the past and led to 35% fewer visitors. Reducing opening hours is a possibility, so is increasing the amount of spaces available for corporate hire. The Friends of Ferens Art Gallery already has a corporate membership scheme and two big players have recently signed up: Kingston Communications and Princes Quay Shopping Centre. Mr Green thinks the use of volunteers is a necessity, although the Friends have said they don’t want to upset the staff by taking over some of their duties. If volunteers are used there would have to be a clear role and expectations for them. Volunteers could also use this experience for their own Skills Development.
Basically what has happened is that all the risks for the cultural sector have now been transferred from national government to local councils. “So the risks are ours, but the credits will be ours too if we can pull it off.”
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