Sell council owned artworks and stop 'Wasting Monet', says TaxPayers' Alliance
July 4 2024
Picture: Bristol Museum & Art Gallery
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The BBC have run a story regarding calls from the TaxPayers' Alliance pressure group 'urging the authority to sell some of the collection to help balance its books.' More precisely, a report from the group has criticised several council museums, including that of the Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, for the large value (numerical and financial) of artworks kept in storage.
To quote parts of the article:
The council owns nearly 38,000 works of art, including five by Bristol street artist Banksy, with each worth an average of more than £3,500.
But only 4,245 pieces - 11.2% - are on public display, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service. [...]
The Taxpayers' Alliance said that despite being in nearly £100bn of combined debt, UK councils had built up art collections worth almost £1.5bn.
Report author Jonathan Eida said: “These findings won’t paint a pretty picture for hard-pressed taxpayers who have been hammered year after year by record-busting council tax hikes."
Bristol's collection of 37,983 works of art is nearly 15 times bigger than the National Gallery's and six times that for the average council.
Bristol council have rebuffed these claims explaining their 'collection is a vital part of the city’s cultural and educational offer, with a value that extends beyond an insurers’ estimate.'
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Regular readers will know that AHN has being calling on galleries and museums to do more to get works of art out of storage and on display (if not within galleries, then out on loan to other institutions). This debate will be an interesting one to keep an eye on in the upcoming years.
