Museum reform seen from West Jutland

Negotiations on the upcoming museum reform are starting up again these days. We fully support a new reform that is based on the reality in which museums work. And we also support the proposal to maintain a high basic subsidy to museums so that we can maintain a strong and broad state-recognized museum landscape in Denmark.

The new proposal suggests that museums will be placed on three levels with different levels of financial support depending on how many visitors, turnover and research the museums have and do.

However, Museum Director Mette Bjerrum also has some points about the new proposal, which does not take into account museums like us, which for many years have focused on high self-earnings through admission and quality experiences for West Jutland's many citizens and tourists.

Flatter steps are needed in the models

The advantage of the step model is its incentive for museums to create a solid financial foundation through good visitor experiences and earnings. However, the model's high steps mean that museums with almost identical visitor numbers, such as Ringkøbing Fjord Museer and Vardemuseerne, will experience a difference in state subsidies of a two-digit million amount.

Relax the requirements from the middle step up to the top step

The new model suggests that museums are placed on three rungs. It's good to provide incentive to fight your way up the ladder with the financial gain that comes with it. But the model's requirements from the middle rung to the highest rung are so high that it results in a de facto "lock-in" for museums like ours that are just below the top rung.

Support the liberation of museums

The new reform should support that it is the museums, and not the Agency for Culture and Palaces, that define where we find our visitors. Museum visitors are no longer just those who walk through the door, they can also have a museum experience on tours in the landscape, at new types of visitor sites or in a canoe. Of course, we just need to document that they are real visitors.

Allow new museum designs and multiple disciplines

The current draft reform does not support that museums can make themselves stronger through mergers or operating agreements with museum-like institutions. This is despite the fact that museums have largely done just that since the municipal reform in 2007. As it is now, the fact that we operate Naturkraft, Fiskeriets Hus and Kaj Munks Præstegård is being questioned, even though we have made all three sites - and our own museum - stronger. The reform should also open up for museums to accommodate more disciplines, so that we can be state-recognized as both a cultural history and natural history museum.

Support self-employment - or provide proper compensation

As a state-recognized museum, we are not allowed to charge admission for children. At Ringkøbing Fjord Museums, we lose DKK 2 million a year in lost revenue in addition to what has been compensated in the current state subsidy since 2002. We have many school programs, but most of our guests under the age of 18 visit us as "regular guests". If we are to continue to give children free admission, then compensate us with at least DKK 50 per admission ticket we lose.

Archaeology should be a fourth discipline and qualify for subsidies

We have a model where we work together with Vardemuseerne in Archaeology West Jutland. With the new proposal, we risk only receiving half of the subsidy, even though we have the same basic staffing of archaeologists as other archaeological museums. It is therefore not appropriate for the continued and otherwise well-functioning construction if any future subsidy for archaeological activities only goes to one of the two museums.