V&A Dundee slashes spending
“Mitigation measures” to shore up finances include halving exhibition programme
— In partnership with Hdk
In this edition: British Museum | British Library | Kew Gardens | National Railway Museum | Arts Council England | Tank Museum | Aberdeen Art Gallery | Orlando Museum of Art | Marc Quinn | Tate Liverpool
Happy Friday!
The British Library began its painstaking attempt to restore normality this week, following a ransomeware attack 11 weeks ago. The full story is below, and it should provide a stark warning to all cultural institutions including museums and galleries. The Library’s recovery will take over a year, and will cost millions.
The facts are that digital defences also cost money, and many venues are underprepared. And this is an international problem — this newsletter recently featured the news of the cyber attack on American museums including the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.
Yes the biggest targets are likely the major national institutions. But only in the sense that they have a higher number of cyber adversaries — their role in global soft power could put them in the cross hairs of hostile states. But for ransomware attacks, anyone with the hint of some dollar is fair game. My fear is that many institutions still won’t be prioritising this risk — and won’t have the money to do so. Unfortunately the question is not if there’ll be another cyber attack on a cultural venue, it’s when, and who, and how often. Hard choices will need to be made, and they need to be made now.
Just before we dive into the news, let me just say there is still time to vote in my poll on whether phones should be banned in museums. The results so far are very interesting.
— maxwell
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Need To Know
V&A Dundee’s “mitigation measures”
Concerning news coming from V&A Dundee this week: the now five-year-old museum lost £1m in the last financial year and is enacting significant new measures to cut costs and raise cash.
The institution will permanently halve the number of temporary exhibitions it hosts each year, to just one. Other “mitigation measures” include cutting the number of staff by 18, using its financial reserves, and setting much more ambitious fundraising targets. The Scottish government will be increasing its funding by 25% — to £3.8m —to shore up the finances, after already hiking it by £2m a year in 2021.
The museum’s Chair told the Courier newspaper the £1m loss was down to the investment they made in 2023’s Tartan exhibition. Tim Allan said “There was huge expense preparing for Tartan. It was the first exhibition curated and created by V&A Dundee rather than receiving it from somewhere else.” The show attracted 75,000 visitors, the income of which will be fed into the next financial year results.
Speaking to the Scottish Government, V&A director Leonie Bell said they had “no choice” but to become “extremely entrepreneurial” because its initial funding model did not cover its running costs. (Read more)
Orlando Museum’s “financial crisis”
“We are in a severe financial crisis” the executive director of the Orlando Museum of Art (OMA) said in an emergency meeting of trustees and donors before Christmas. The museum’s reserve funds “are nearing exhaustion level…We have also exhausted our lines of credit and have loans” Cathryn Mattson said, in a recording passed to the New York Times.
The dire straits follows the disastrous 2022 exhibition of Jean-Michel Basquiat paintings — which were seized from the walls by the FBI when it turned out they were fakes. In the following 18 months the gallery has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars hiring “crisis communication professionals” and “a legal defense team” to deal with the consequences including media scrutiny, a continuing FBI investigation, and the museum’s ongoing lawsuits against the owners of the purported Basquiats and their now-fired Director who greenlit the show.
Mattson said she was “projecting a shortfall this year of about $1 million.” The museum’s annual budget was $4 million. In a statement to the NYT about the recording, Mattson confirmed OMA had a “significant cash shortfall.” (Read more)
British Library inches back
The British Library has begun restoring its online catalogue as the first step in its recovery from a major cyberattack in October. The catalogue contains 36m records of printed and rare books, maps, journals and music scores, however access is limited to “read-only” for now. It’s thought the Library’s services won’t be back up and running fully until the END OF THE YEAR.
A known ransomware group claimed responsibility for the attack. Employee data had been stolen and was being offered for sale on the dark web. In a blog post this week, Sir Roly Keating, the library’s chief executive said “it has been a sobering couple of months for all of us.” He apologised for the library’s failure to protect personal data belonging to users and staff.
The Financial Times report that the library will be forced to spend up to £7m — about 40% of its reserves — on rebuilding its digital services. The library had refused to pay a £600,000 ransom. (Read more)
Writing in the Evening Standard, the Director of Oxford’s Bodleian Library calls on the UK government to financially support the British Library’s recovery and not let it fund it purely from its own reserves. The Library is “a critical part of the infrastructure of our democracy. In its hour of need the Government must recognise it as such” he said.
News from the UK
BM boycott call | The British Museum has said it’s "disappointing" that a campaign has been launched for architects to boycott the museum’s planned decade-long redevelopment as it will be part-funded by BP. Activist group BP or not BP? say “architects can't in good faith work” on the project. In a statement the museum said they would be working with firms “to create a net-zero estate." (Read more)
Quinn at Kew | Monumental sculptures by YBA Marc Quinn — him of the blood-head fame — will be installed across Kew Gardens this summer. The major exhibition will explore the relationship between people and plants and will feature new works developed through collaboration with Kew’s scientists and horticulturists. There’ll be blood here too — a new work will feature frozen animal blood. Light into Life will open in May. (Read more)
Tate to a tee | Partners since 2016, only now are they launching a clothing collaboration. Curated by Tate are four graphic T-shirts coming to Uniqlo next month and will feature work by artists including Alexander Calder. Uniqlo have also announced they’ll extend their support of UNIQLO Tate Play — Tate Modern’s family activity programme — until 2029. Tate Play’s next major new commission is by Yoko Ono this Easter. (Read more)
Flying again soon | Despite fears the iconic Flying Scotsman steam engine would never run on the mainline again after the contract to run it expired in December, the National Railway Museum have confirmed their intention to see it in full steam once more from the autumn. It’ll go on an extended public display at the York museum until the summer, but NRM will open a new tender process to find a custodian imminently. (Read more)
Numbers NOT tanking | This newsletter has previously reported on how Dorset’s Tank Museum is an online sensation. Now it’s a hit IRL too as it’s had record-breaking visitor numbers in 2023. 220,000 people visited last year, their highest annual footfall ever. The record came in their centenary year too and coincided with investment in accessibility, with the introduction of a wellbeing room, BSL tours, and quiet mornings. (Read more)
🔗 MORE: Bovington Tank Museum 'most-watched on YouTube' as it passes 100 million views (ITV News)
News from around the world
Belgium 🇧🇪 | Stolen 14 years ago in Israel, two paintings by Chagall and Picasso have been recovered from a basement in Antwerp. The works are said to be undamaged according to police. Investigators achieved a breakthrough in their decade-long search for the paintings at the end of 2022, when Belgian police received a tipoff that an art dealer in the Walloon capital of Namur was offering the two works for sale.(Read more)
Egypt 🇪🇬 | A contemporary arts center and cultural landmark in Cairo has been demolished by authorities without notice, and with hundreds of artworks still inside. The Darb 1718 centre was demolished to make room for a road expansion. The centre’s founder told a TV talk show that "everything inside was destroyed" including "the works of 150 foreign artists that are worth millions.” It’s the latest heritage site torn down for contentious development by the Egyptian government. (Read more)
Turkey 🇹🇷 | Former Whitechapel Gallery Director Iwona Blazwick has quit as the curator of the next Istanbul Biennial, which has also been postponed a year until 2025. These major new developments follow ongoing controversy since her appointment last year, when she was selected against the unanimous decision of the Biennial’s advisory board recommend the appointment of Turkish curator Defne Ayas as the curator. A statement said the postponement was down to “undesired divisions in art circles.” (Read more)
USA 🇺🇸 | Artwork including some by Rembrandt and Picasso have been severely damaged in a major fire at a private gallery in Seattle. So far 50-75 works on paper are thought destroyed while many others are being assessed to see if they’re salvageable. The blaze at the Davidson Galleries was “breaking our heart” according to the manager. (Read more)
Best of the rest
Financial breathing room | Arts Council England are extending their programme distributing public funds by an additional year due to the financial turmoil facing the sector. Those in receipt of cash for ‘23-’26 can apply for ‘27 while they draw up new business cases. (More)
Portrait of a King | A new photographic portrait of HM King Charles III has been unveiled. It’ll hang in public buildings including schools and council offices and was taken by photographer Hugo Burnand, who also snapped the coronation. (More)
Meanwhile in Scotland | HM The Queen has opened a new safe space in Aberdeen Art Gallery where victims of domestic abuse can ask staff for help. Crowds gathered as she also unveiled a sculpture paying tribute to abuse victims. (More)
Light up January | The eighth edition of the FREE Canary Wharf Winter Lights Festival has just opened. 13 works are being displayed and five are making their UK debut. It runs until 27 Jan. (More)
Power of Oprah | Pretty certain this is a first: Tate Liverpool’s next installation is named after an Oprah meme. Called — what else? — YOU GET A CAR [EVERYBODY GETS A CAR], it’ll show re-used material from the currently-being-renovated gallery. (More)
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Is it just me, or does the new photo of King Charles look remarkably like Jim Carrey as Count Olaf in the Lemony Snicket movie?