Concern as funding for Bristol Museums could be cut by more than £400,000

Plans to slash council spending on Bristol’s museums will damage the post-pandemic recovery and be felt for years to come, warns an independent charity.

Faced with bridging a £19.5m funding gap in 2022-23, the council is proposing to cut £436,000 for the museums and archives service – more than ten per cent of its usual annual funding.

The budget, which is due to be confirmed at a meeting on Tuesday, has met with concern from unions and Friends of Bristol Museums, Galleries and Archives (FBMGA), a charity that argues the reduction is “a false economy” and will “dramatically reduce their ability to function”.

UNISON meanwhile warns the move means staffing levels will be “decimated”.

Bristol City Council says balancing the budget and avoiding cuts to frontline services require savings to the culture service in line with other departments and that no final decisions have been made while a review is underway.

Mayor Marvin Rees has said the budget has avoided making frontline cuts, but the friends group says the impact for the cultural service will be enormous.

A charity has warned the funding cuts will hinder the ability to put on big exhibitions such as Grayson’s Art Club, currently at Bristol Museum & Gallery – photo: Jon Craig

“The cuts will inevitably reduce the ability of the museums to put on big and successful exhibitions which bring visitors from the local area and beyond, such as the current Grayson Perry’s Art Club and the annual Wildlife Photographer of the Year,” says chair of the group, Sue Thurlow.

“The museums and galleries are vital to Bristol’s post-pandemic recovery, bringing people back into the city and attracting high-spending visitors to Bristol.”

Thurlow says the group understands the need to make savings but argues the cuts are a “false economy”, adding: “The council must reconsider these planned cuts because the damage caused to the museums and archives will be felt across the city and beyond for years to come.”

Museums & archives operates across seven visitor sites which are all currently free to enter – Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, M Shed, Blaise Museum, The Red Lodge Museum, The Georgian House Museum, Bristol Archives and Kings Weston Roman Villa. Adult admission fees for The Red Lodge and The Georgian House would be introduced under the council’s budget.

A table listing each council service’s cost reductions that was agreed by cabinet last month showed £83,000 less money a year for museums & archives from 2023/24.

But the same table going to full council now also shows an additional £353,000 reduction from the following year which wasn’t there before, and a new ongoing total of £436,000.

In a statement to cabinet last month, Bristol UNISON representative Steve Mills said only the lower figure had been included when staff had already been told it would be much higher.

He said: “This level of reduction, we are told, will necessitate job losses – we estimate at the very least eight to ten people being made redundant but the real number will likely be considerably more and possibly double.

“Our staffing levels will literally be decimated, as will the service we provide.”

Joanna Burch-Brown, the co-chair of the We Are Bristol History Commission, has also condemned the proposed cuts.

Speaking in the wake of a report that recommended the statue of Edward Colston should remain on display in a Bristol museum, Burch Brown said: “The city’s just shown how important museums are, with so many people calling for the statue to go into the museum and to develop more resources educating about the city’s history, including its links to slavery.

“This is a moment to grow museums and culture, as part of building back and supporting learning in our communities – we should be investing in culture, not cutting back.”

Colston’s statue currently remains in the M Shed, but hidden from public view – Photo: Martin Booth

A Bristol City Council spokesperson said: “The cabinet has proposed a balanced budget that means we can avoid cuts to crucial front line services.

“Savings need to be made to the culture service in line with other savings being made by other departments.

“There is currently a review of the culture service and no final decisions have been made.”

He said the higher number in the budget papers going to full council was the total saving over three years.

Main photo: Ellie Pipe

Adam Postans is a local democracy reporter for Bristol 

Read more: Colston statue should remain on display in museum, commission finds 

Listen to the latest Bristol24/7 Behind the Headlines podcast: