Last weekend's #unmuteus parades might lead you to believe that, as soon as the weather allows, the culture world will be out of its misery in less than no time. The tens of thousands who took to the streets soon populate the halls again, and with a little more water with the beer, and slightly more expensive tokens, the night and event industry - which was also there for the 'culture' - will be back on top in no time. Only there were remarkably few theatre-goers among the demonstrators, and even fewer who called for the complete reopening of the museums. After all, those are not demonstrating, but waiting until it is really, definitely, completely safe to view a Rembrandt again.
The damage caused to museums by Corona runs into hundreds of millions. And this time it is also the big museums that are feeling it in their pockets. Even though, thanks to emergency aid, they were still able to make up for the worst hits. What is not going to come back in large numbers any time soon is attendance. Not only has Covid punched holes in the visitor base, which was traditionally older anyway, there is also a dent in confidence.
According to the Museum Association, the public is eager to get back into museums, and all lights are on green for renewed mass interest, there is some doubt about the positive reports. Right now, theatre attendance, for example, is still lagging well behind expectations. And that partly concerns the same target group. The fear is logical. After all, who guarantees that that cough in the potentially expected crowds for the Night Watch, is not a gamma variant in disguise? And what about that train anyway, and that snivelling fellow passenger?
Emergency bell
Today, the Museum Association announces the 2020 annual figures, and, as might be expected, they are not good. Of the 33 million visits in 2019, 13 million remained in 2020. Tourists stayed away in droves for a while: visits from abroad fell by 82 per cent. Much of dei damage is cushioned by generous emergency aid, but it mainly provides relief for the big well-known museums. In a clear break with earlier press releases on annual figures, the Museum Association is now sounding a firm alarm bell for smaller museums. These were always struggling, but now all the more so, it argues:
'Due to the large drop in visits, museums' own income halved, by €250 million. This was met by a combination of emergency aid and cuts. The emergency support received amounted to 149 million euros. Of this, most came from the state and only 12 million euro from municipalities, while more than half of museums have the municipality as their main funder. Smaller museums received comparatively little aid and have often cut into their reserves. Larger museums generally came through 2020 well, partly thanks to emergency support.'
Fewer FTEs
The financial losses have also led to reorganisations and thus layoffs, the Museum Association informs:
'Overall, they cut 125 million euros in costs, mainly by significantly reducing the number of exhibitions by 29 per cent (from 2,256 to 1,605). Employment also fell by 6,800 to 35,000. This mainly concerns salaried staff (with a decrease of 470 FTEs and 4.4 per cent) and volunteers and trainees (with a decrease of 320 FTEs, representing 11.5 per cent). In 2021, further layoffs are expected at about a third of museums, a survey by the Museum Association showed this spring.'
This is not a pleasant picture the association paints. In a cultural field that was able to survive until this month thanks to emergency support, the cold turkey termination of that support is still going to lead to major balderdash. Because attendance is not going to recover any time soon, tourism is nowhere near its old level. So the museum sector, long the darling of heritage parties VVD and CDA, will enter 2022 considerably battered.
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