Fewer people went to museums last year (11.8 million visitors) than in 2020 (13.2 million), and fewer new exhibitions are opened, which means even fewer people come. And that while energy costs continue to rise. By comparison, in 2019, before the corona pandemic broke out, 32.6 million people went to the museum. There are therefore concerns about the time ahead, which will be difficult. This is apparent from the figures published by the Museum Association (471 museums) and the VSCD (association of theater and concert hall directors, 151 members). The Museum Association came up with the museum figures for 2021 on Monday, the VSCD already on Friday with Podia 2021. The museums are in worse shape than theaters and concert buildings, for which emergency support kept them upright during corona. But there too, sharply rising costs and disappointing visitor numbers are a threat.
“Museums were very inventive during the lockdowns, and still are,” says chairman of the Museum Association Vera Carasso. “But now they are in a downward spiral; the reserves are really running out, especially at the municipal museums, so they can create fewer new exhibitions – there were 37 percent fewer new exhibitions last year, for example. This means that these museums attract fewer visitors, which further reduces revenues.”
43 percent of the museums are now in the red, despite significant cutbacks during corona, they are unable to complete the budget. This is also because the loss of public income has not been compensated, or not sufficiently, with emergency support, as was the case in other parts of the cultural sector. Yes, museums have used the generic corona support, but it only covered part of the costs.
Museum Association: ‘Museums are the place to discuss current themes’
State museums received direct compensation for lost income, but municipal museums were dependent on how much support the municipality passed on to museums. The government has given the municipalities 410 million euros during the lockdowns to maintain the cultural infrastructure. That money was not earmarked, so municipalities could also spend it on other things, and what’s more, the concept of ‘cultural infrastructure’ is broad. The museums received a total of 25 million euros from this support, about 6 percent: 12 million euros in 2020, and 13 million in 2021.
“Municipalities must stand behind their museums and state how important they are. The museums really do a lot to be there for everyone and that is getting better and better. They are also very important for education.”
Good prognosis, but not enough
The stages were closed for seven months in 2021, and only fully open for visitors with a corona ticket for a month and a half. As a result, the number of performances decreased by 60 percent and the number of visitors by 78 percent compared to 2019.
The forecast for this year is that more visitors will come again, but not yet at the old level. For the museums, it will be between half and two-thirds of the number in 2019. Moreover, says Carasso, those forecasts are for the summer. “Now there is inflation and energy prices are skyrocketing. Maybe that’s why people go out less often.”
Rising energy costs are also a major problem for museums. Heating costs have always been high, especially in historic buildings, and museums will pay multiples of those amounts. “For smaller museums, the entire annual budget will soon be spent on energy costs. That is not possible. We really expect the government to do something about the high costs. It seems like everyone is waiting for each other.” She doesn’t want to go so far as to put many museums on the brink of collapse. “But the situation is very fragile, and if nothing happens, things will go wrong.”
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of September 12, 2022