I'm out of a job in 2 months....

Found out this morning. Not wholly unexpected, but upsetting for someone in my game. My department is way over budget on staffing and is slashing accordingly after pressure from the Directorate to reign it in. After four years of looking after the V&A's collection of works on paper and more recently historic archival objects, my job vanishes into thin air! This happened to me a year ago and has now happened again. It feels like a cartoon where I am running to stay one step ahead of a collapsing bridge! We have become dependent on an ever increasing band of volunteers and interns who, ironically, it has been my job to train and co-ordinate! (Poor souls believe it is a fast track to a career in museums and heritage!)

It is a scary time, as my industry has been cut to ribbons by successive governments (no party political arguments on this thread please!) and the health and well being of national collections such as the V&A are seriously at risk. It all looks very lovely when you walk in the door, but behind the scenes things operate on a shoestring of staffing and resources. I know from daily first hand experience, there are precious, valuable works of art of all kinds slowly rotting away and will simply never see conservation. I shouldn't tell you this, but ourselves, the BM and National Gallery are on London's top 20 potential terrorist hits and we have been on high alert since 9/11. This diverts and enormous percentage from our operations budget to increasingly higher and expensive levels of security. I'm part of the fall out from that, as we still try to come to terms with a £7 million budget cut 3 years ago, with another one on it's way courtesy of Mr. Cameron.

Worse things happen and I am certainly not in need of pity. The experience in archives gives me options outside arts and heritage. Though I am conscious of my age for the first time as I prepare for the job market.

But please remember the importance of our national and local museums, collections and heritage sites to successive generations! These places and things enrich our lives to an enormous degree and belong to us all. Remember your visit to the Science or National History museum and the thing and the exhibit or object that first got your attention and perhaps gave you an interest that stayed with you for life. Please visit and support them whenever you can, take your kids and see what takes their interest. Get involved if you can with something local, or there is great value to be had by joining the National Trust or English Heritage. Do your Xmas shopping at Wentworth Castle for example instead of Meadowhall, it all makes a difference and helps preserve and make accessible these lovely things for generations to come.

Better get on with some work, I've got absolutely shitloads to do and 40 thousand topographical photographs are not going to catalogue themselves. Peace up.

 

I'm assuming it's free entry to the V&A? If so, would it be feasible to charge a small fee which would not deter people from visiting but would quickly add up if there are 2-2.5m per year?

Genuinely sorry to hear about your situation as it happened to me and there's no two ways about it - it's crap. I still managed to agree about BFC though - mainly Davey and Mace Rigters at that time.

 

Great post, and genuinely sorry to hear about the job situation. There are ridiculous pressures on budgets in many sectors, where reliance on volunteers to do the jobs of paid professionals will become the norm. Sadly, there will be an inevitable impact in the loss of that professionalism.

 

I wouldn't like to see the introduction of an admission to a national museum. They were introduced by the Tory government in the 90s then scrapped by Labour, though it did take them a while. Major museums are funded by public money so in a sense we have already paid for them. They should be free as to be inclusive to everybody though there is an growing argument to charge tourists and non UK citizens.

I went to a conference in 2010 at our place about this chaired by Kevin Spacey of all the major London directors. Boris was on the panel and argued the case for charges but was shouted down in no uncertain terms by our then Director, Mark Jones (great man). The cuts were just starting to bite, and it wore on him dreadfully as it meant peoples livelihoods and the future of the collection were badly affected.

 

Sorry to hear about this Paul, hope you can get something sorted quickly mate.

 

Sorry to hear about the job thing, its never pleasant but as you say particularly daunting when age comes into it. Know what you mean on charges but surely given the number of visitors a token quid each (or even two) wouldn't hurt anybody and would surely help finances (as long as it went back into that establishment). Its probably illegal but what about slapping a charge on foreigners? call it giving them a chance to show their appreciation!

 

sorry to hear the bad news mate hope something suitable pans out pretty quickly for you.
i too believe that museums etc should be freely accesible to the masses so don't believe in a surcharge to see these relics.
but i do believe in a not for profit marketable merchandising of the items on display such as a programme of items displayed at certain periods and could be personalised for customers date of visit etc etc.
as long as these purchases were optional and went to pay extra staff or projects i can't see there being any problem imo.
surely just cos we're in a downturn doesn't stop us existing as certain people keep telling us to.
anyway mate as i said all the best and when one door closes another opens, thats a fact as i've also been ther a couple of times. so don't get too despondent chin up.

 

Mr c sorry to hear about your plight.Have you ever thought of working abroad, I live 4 miles outside Washington dc,and we have the smithsonian mueseums here,think theres around 15 all on the mall between the capitol building and the Washington monument. Dont know what degrees and the like you had or if you even want to but you could goggle them and see if they require any one of your skill set and also find out if they would be willingto sponser you to come over.

The way of life here is fantastic.
just something you might well consider, or you could visit DC direct flights from manchester and go visit these places if youve never done it. They are fantastic places.

 

Maybe if you spent more time working instead of posting on this daft forum, you would not be getting the bullet!!

Seriously though, best of wjith getting another job.

Hth

 

I feel for you mate,i went through the same scenario with the pit closures,its like a smack in the teeth,even more so if you enjoy your job...try not to let it get you down and good luck for the future.....
by the way if i were you and there is chance of going abroad,especially to the states i'd be off like a shot,,

 

next we will be hearing of national treasures being sold off to collectors

First of all good luck in finding future employment Sir, I hope you are not out of a job for too long.

As my heading says, next we will be hearing how national treasures/works of art are being sold to private collectors or other Museums/galleries.Does the Lottery fund any of this, I don't know.

 

I'd love that! Or New York. It is a very competitive industry, I think the U.S. fairs better because, despite what we might feel about commercial and financial industries, it does have a very healthy corporate/philanthropical relationship with it's major institutions. The Smithsonian is a great example, as is the Guggenheim in New York.

I find myself at a disadvantage sometimes as I don't have a direct museum qualification, my degree and post grad were in Fine Art. I've had to fight my way up from the bottom, often involving a lot of unpaid work to get the experience and going that extra mile we hear so much about. Saying that, the V&A, along with the Lovre, Hermitage etc set the standards for the care and access of international art collections and is a great recommendation and something I'm very proud of.

But it's not the time to find yourself out of work in this business. My line manager Ella, younger than me - is the Grand daughter of the famous War Artist Eric Ravilious who died in action in WW2, her Dad James was also a very famous photographer. When I came back from my meeting with my dpt head and HR today she just looked at my face and burst into tears. It wasn't just about my situation, it was a lament for the industry and the work we try to do.

I'm deliberately staying out the pub tonight, there's a load of bankers drink at my pub and I am just not in the mood for that sort today.

 

Really really sorry to hear that mate. Hopefully your undoubted talent and passion for your work will see you through.

 

**** news, Paul.
But keep the attitude you clearly have, and you'll be sorted in no time.
And as bad as the news was, your post itself was very interesting.
Good luck, mate. I certainly know how you're feeling at the moment.

 

A couple of years ago, Lady Kaht and I paid our first visit to Barcelona. We paid - I think - about e20 for a ticket to see about five major attractions (galleries, Gaudi buildings, etc). We thought we'd got a right bargain. You go to London and you see gazillions of Japs, Americans, bugger it - all nationalities - benefitting from our cultural crown jewels. A nominal charge similar to Barcelona's would bring in millions and millions, and perhaps avoid the scenario you have decsribed, Mr C.

Of course, one problem with that is ensuring that the revenue actually goes to the cause in whose name it is raised. God alone knows what happens to all the fuel duty we pay?

As for the security issue - in many ways I'm not surprised. The National Gallery paid £11M to the Fitzwilliam family for Stubbs' portrait of Whistlejacket in 1989. God alone knows what that painting is worth now - and it's a long way off the most famous/most valuable works in the National Gallery. The sell-out crowds for the Da Vinci exhibition earlier this year demonstrated the appetite for exhibitions truly worth seeing. As usual in this country, we're missing a trick.

 

i loose my job on 22nd sept after 28 years apparently Mr Patel who works for IBM is cheaper than me

 

Hobby craft have a sale on wax crayons so you'll still be able to knock some sinister drawings up.


Seriously it's ***** being made redundant but remember the old adage when one door closes another opens...

 

I'll be alreight old flower. I'm more bothered about telling Joanna when she gets back from Poland on Sunday.:nails:

They can't re-deploy me this time because there's nothing coming up in my pay band that I can do or would want to. I'm just filling in application for a post in the Exhibitions dpt which will mean more admin but a pay rise, a competitive application rather that re-deployment.

 

Good luck finding something. One of my past roles involved having the British Library as a client and was fortunate enough to see behind the scenes of conservation and preservation and some of the collections that as you say, may never see the light of day.

Completely agree with the free nature of museums and having our heritage and past on display for future generations to learn from. The flipside to London's main museums are the smaller ones across the country. A few weekends ago I went to Ipswich and the museum there was completely empty. Ipswich had an interesting development over many generations back to the Iron age which I never knew. If it had been a price to get in, I probably wouldn't have bothered.

Similar with the Horniman Museum just up the road from me in Forest Hill, London.

It's a tricky one with tourists though (obviously you'd have to charge everyone... or have an honesty box prominent at the point of entry). Whenever I've been on city breaks, I've never had a problem paying to enter. The Vasa Museum in Stockholm a prime example. London may benefit from tourist revenues, but would it suffer footfall and would our younger generations have access to history and learn and gain understanding?

Anyway, best of luck