Bosses at a Manchester museum have denied claims they told a national newspaper that it had been hit by government funding cuts for political reasons.
On Monday the deputy director of the People’s History Museum, Cath Birchall, was quoted in The Independent saying the museum was punished with cuts of £200,000 because it is running a “pacifist” exhibit about World War I.
But on Friday the museum told MM that Ms Birchall had been misquoted and that the cuts are ‘in no way related to curatorial or editorial choices the museum makes’.
A spokesman for the museum has also said that the exhibit does not take a pacifist approach.
The Independent’s article has resulted in criticism of the government’s supposed political motivation with Len McClusky, leader of public sector workers union Unite, accusing the Tories of trying to ‘erase working people from history’.
A petition has also been set up on 38degrees.org to restore the funding, which has already gained several hundred signatures.
Ms Birchall was quoted by The Independent as having said: “They don’t see the importance of a national museum that shows the effects of the war on ordinary people.
“The cut in our funding would seem to be the only explanation.”
Janneke Geene, Head of Business Development at the People’s History Museum, told MM that the funding cuts had been revealed four years ago and had not come as a surprise.
She said: “Unfortunately [Ms Birchall] was misquoted in the article you refer to.
“The exhibition does not have a pacifist approach to WWI but covers a wide angle.”
The exhibition in question, ‘A Land Fit for Heroes’ provides an insight into how the First World War altered the attitudes of British people and society as a whole.
In response to the alleged claim that the cuts were politically motivated, a Conservative spokesman said: “It is ridiculous to suggest there was anything political behind the reduction in funding, which was decided in 2010 and gave the museum five years to find alternative funds.
“Other museums, all over the country, faced the same decision and have found answers but PHM have been unable to.”
The People’s History Museum has known about the cuts since 2010, when the Department for Culture, Media & Sport declared public funding would cease in April 2015, from which point an alternative sponsor will be required.
It is not yet known how the Museum will raise the £200,000 shortfall in its funding, but Museum director Katy Archer says they are actively looking for an alternative source of income.
“The part the museum plays in representing our history is hugely important and something to be greatly valued and celebrated,” she said.
“We are working so hard to ensure we have sufficient core funding in place to perform the role that we do for the nation.”
Picture courtesy of Megan Eaves, with thanks.
