Dear Jerrie,

I always think that the strongest argument for government funding of a museum
is the value of its collections as cultural heritage to the
community--regardless of what the museum does with them in terms of exhibits, programs, and
other activities.  Obviously, this position is much stronger when the institution
actually belongs to the government entity and you can insist that the
government bears an absolute responsibility and duty to maintain the museum and its
collections to protect this heritage for the community in the long term.  But I
think that even if the museum gets only a portion of its funding from the
government, cuts or elimination of customary funding clearly impact the operation
of the museum and its ability to maintain its collections properly.  It seems
to me that if you stress the educational value of exhibits and programs, it's
too easy for government funders to think to themselves (even if they don't
articulate it), yes, yes, but schools are the core of education, and as long as
we keep the schools operating, everything else in that category--such as
museums--is optional.

That pretty much sums up my theory of why so many museums are getting hit so
hard by government funding cuts.  I suspect that the efforts by museums to
make their exhibits and ancillary programs proactively educational through
"compelling" and enticing projects to attract more visitors may actually be
backfiring.  Ironically, we exploit entertainment values to make our museums more
attractive to increase visitorship, thinking that will endear them to our funding
sources, but in the cold light of day, when money is tight, it may be too easy
to dismiss "edutainment" as comparatively frivolous compared to other needs.
I'm just guessing at what goes through the minds of those who have to stretch
funds to cover a wide range of expenditures, but if I'm right, the best tack
might be to stress the importance of supporting museums because of their
uniqueness as the treasure houses for objects of culture and heritage, and the
patrimony, if you will, of the entire community or region.

David Haberstich

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