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Cultural institutions face ‘devastating’ loss of funds
The Jewish Museum has received a £1m bailout as fundraisers are cancelled and fears of a donations drought grow
May 21, 2020 10:04
By, jacob judah
1 min read
The Jewish Museum has received a £1m bailout as fundraisers are cancelled and fears of a donations drought grow
May 21, 2020 10:04ByJacob Judah, jacob judah
The Jewish community faces a “devastating and long-lasting” hit to its cultural institutions as the coronavirus pandemic throws their financial viability into question, leading Jewish arts figures have warned.
The Jewish Museum was revealed this week to have received an almost £1 million bailout from Arts Council England, while questions remain over whether its Camden Town building will re-open once the Covid-19 lockdown is lifted.
The museum’s exhibitions programme has been declared “on pause” and new interim director Frances Jeens has said she will shift its focus towards online educational provision.
The Jewish Museum’s former chair Lord Young, who has stepped down after a decade, told the JC that the Museum’s Camden Town buildings “did not receive enough footfall” to make the museum viable.
Michael Etherton, chief executive of UK Jewish Film, writes in this week’s JC that the financial fallout of the pandemic makes it unclear “whether our precious cultural assets will still be around in a year’s time”.
His warning comes after Jewish Music Institute chair Jennifer Jankel said that the organisation had suffered a “major blow” because of last week’s cancellation of its annual fundraiser. It is seeking to “rebuild support through donations online”.
Mr Etherton writes: “Most, if not all, of our Jewish cultural organisations have little, if any medium to long-term funding and are worryingly reliant on year-to-year funding.
“As the recession begins to bite, the danger is that sponsors withdraw their support.”
The Jewish Museum, meanwhile, said last week that it was planning an unspecified number of redundancies in a bid to “put the organisation on a more sustainable financial footing”.
Abigail Morris, its director between 2012 and February 2020, wrote in an article for the JC’s website: “Sadly, financial pressures mean the Jewish Museum London can no longer afford the ground-breaking artistic programme” that it previously delivered.
On the concerns over its continued occupation of the building in Camden, the Jewish Museum said: “A phased reopening is a central objective of the current leadership”.
Confirming that it had received the Arts Council money, the museum added: “This exceptional course of action has been taken because of the organisation’s strategic significance nationally and its important work with the museum sector, local people and the wider Jewish community.”
