Museums no longer have reserves and fear high energy costs

The picture that emerged from the figures of the Museum Association last week was not good. Especially at many municipal museums, the reserves are exhausted. The visitor numbers are not yet at the old level, there is too little money and too little security to plan new exhibitions (which should again attract the public) and rising energy prices threaten the survival of a large part of the 471 members of the Museum Association. Almost half of the museums are now in the red. NRC spoke to three museum directors about their biggest problems.

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National Glass Museum

The National Glass Museum in Leerdam has survived the corona period reasonably well, says interim director Laurens Geurtz. “We have a national collection and have been supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and the municipality.” This partially compensates for the loss of visitor numbers. For this year, the museum is at 75 percent of the numbers in 2019. They are cautious about planning new exhibitions, also for fear of a corona wave in the autumn. “We will do more from our own collection, and rely less on third parties.” A Christmas exhibition will open in November, in collaboration with the Czech center in the Netherlands. “Many of the Christmas balls come from the Czech Republic.”

Geurtz is considerably more gloomy when it comes to energy prices. The museum also has a glassblowing workshop – and that involves a lot of heat and therefore energy. “We can’t cut costs by turning the heating down a few degrees.” Electricity costs have already risen by 250 percent since the new contract in July, the gas price – the kilns often burn gas – is still fixed until January. “You hear around you about a multiplication of gas prices. There is nothing more to plan for. We may have to cease operations in the workshop. Also because the basic materials for glass – sand, lime and soda – have increased enormously in price.”

The Glass Museum has a balanced budget for this year, but does not expect to be able to save it next year. “We had nothing left for corona to invest in where we want to go with the museum. There are no reserves.”

Municipal Museum Schiedam

The Stedelijk Museum Schiedam was actually lucky, it was closed for renovation almost the entire period of the lockdowns. “We did not have to pay rent for the period that we were closed, the municipality has done that nicely,” says director Anne de Haij. And since the festive reopening in May, the visitor numbers are also doing well.

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“It was exciting, we invested heavily in the new interior, which we saved for years. But due to the reopening effect and the successful Zoro Feigl exhibition, we have more than 8 percent more visitors this year than in 2019, which was also a top year.” After the reopening, the museum was optimistic about the future, with valuable new exhibitions on the agenda.

And now there is the energy crisis. The energy contract with Vattenfall runs through the municipality of Schiedam. “Before the summer, the municipality said the rates would be fixed until 2025.” But the museum has now been informed that the rates are quadrupling. De Haij has no idea how to compensate for that. “I don’t expect to have a correct budget next year. The real estate branch of the municipality will probably also, as every year, increase the rent according to the cpi index (consumer price index). It is now 12 percent.”

It has been a problem for some time that the subsidy is not increased by the same index as the rent. “If this continues, with the increased energy prices and the rent increase, I can close the doors, so to speak.” De Haij can hardly make cutbacks either. “If I increase the ticket price by 1 euro, that does not even cover a twentieth of the increase in energy costs.” Staffing is already very tight, she says, “and those people also have families”.

Art Museum The Hague

The Kunstmuseum Den Haag is one of the four major art museums in the Netherlands. “And only one of those museums is a Rijksmuseum,” says director Benno Tempel. “You often see this fallacy: people are insufficiently aware that the vast majority of museums receive their subsidy mainly from the municipality. That leads to all sorts of problems. For example, the government came up with a fantastic plan to compensate the covid damage, but the municipal museums had completely forgotten about it. That was later corrected, but still. These municipal museums are incredibly important in the cultural infrastructure, also for tourism and the image of municipalities.”

For the Kunstmuseum, the loss of public revenue has been partially compensated. Temple is not dissatisfied with that. He worries about staying away from the public. “We are at 70 percent of 2019. You also see that effect worldwide.” It is difficult for the planning and creation of new exhibitions that international loan traffic has come to a standstill due to the constant postponement and cancellation of exhibitions. “That house of cards has collapsed.” The museum is also taking a new corona wave into account. “But we are planning new exhibitions, otherwise you will keep postponing.”

Director Tempel expects energy prices to at least double. “I think we will be in the red next year, this year it is all about tense.” Unlike many museums, the Art Museums has not yet run out of reserves. “In many municipalities, museums are hardly allowed to hold equity capital. But our accountant has convinced the Municipality of The Hague that it is good to have a healthy equity capital, while that is irresponsibly low at many other museums.”