incredible collection, has seen the team and I step outside of our comfort zones and work harder on product development. My view is that the collections within the Birmingham Museums are certainly inspirational enough to warrant their own bespoke product ranges, it’s purely a matter of deciding on the areas within our collections, choosing the products that best compliment them and finding a supplier who can deliver what we want. An example of an item that is very shortly to come to market is the umbrella we have had designed, which looks to be plain black on the outside but you open it up and inside is a replica of the great ceiling at Aston Hall. It really is a thing of beauty! Birmingham Museums Trust, and museums in general, face these days? I doubt you will find a director in the country who wouldn’t say funding, especially for regional museums, these days. The problem is twofold: the public do not always realise that Birmingham Museums is an Independent charitable trust, instead thinking we are part of the City Council. This certainly impacts the public’s willingness to donate. Also, public funding is in decline, and has been over the past five years or so. The trust has been affected by a drop in external funding, and our organisation has shrunk astronomically as a result. We find ourselves, as a sector, trying to do more and more with less and less and this does lead to growing What are the biggest challenges that the
brought a buzz to Aston Hall in September.
creatively to the benefit of our bank balance as well as our audiences. Examples include the Silent Disco we’re hosting in our Edwardian Tearooms, and the Independent Birmingham Festival that
Similarly a focus on our gift shops and seeing the potential of bespoke products as a result of Birmingham’s
6 FINE ART COLLECTOR AUTUMN 2017
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