It is the custodian of millions of objects, artefacts and manuscripts documenting 4,000 years of Cornwall’s history, a treasure trove loved by generations of locals and attractive to tourists, academics and people looking to trace their family links to the far south of mainland Britain.
But the Royal Cornwall Museum (RCM) in Truro is facing closure after the Conservative-controlled unitary council abruptly halted its core funding, a move that has drawn criticism from artists, historians and many citizens.
Chief executive Jonathan Morton said the museum – founded by the Royal Institution of Cornwall in 1818 – was “shocked, confused and stunned” that its funding had been cut midway through the financial year. The museum is seeking an urgent meeting with Cornwall Council, but Morton said it could be forced to close.
“It’s huge for us,” he said. “This has been our only reliable source of core funding at a time when money is very tight. We are talking to our auditors, but there is a risk of closure.”
Morton said the museum had a 50-year relationship with the council. “But it seems to have changed overnight with very limited communication.”
The museum has been inundated with passionate messages of support. “It was overwhelming,” he said. “It’s so clear what the museum means to people. It contains the history of Cornwall.
Novelists Patrick Gale and Liz Fenwick are among the many Cornwall-based artists who have expressed support. Gale said the museum highlights Cornwall’s language and history, the importance of its mineral wealth and plays a role in understanding humanity’s present and future. Fenwick said: “This museum is vital to Cornwall. It’s a huge resource.”
Mark Jenkin, the Cornish director of the acclaimed 2019 film Lure, said the Tories were “destroyers”, adding that he didn’t mean it in the Cornish sense (taking valuables from a shipwreck).
Kensa Broadhurst, a Cornish language expert at Exeter University, expressed her devastation. “This is one of our main archives. A wealth of knowledge is about to be lost to us,” he said.
The Cornish nationalists intervened. Progressive movement Kernow Youth tweeted: “Are children in Cornwall destined to grow up with no conditions at all?”
Visitors queued to talk about their favorite exhibits, from Bronze Age Cornish gold to a (very un-Cornish) Ancient Egyptian mummy. But fans say it’s no dusty repository, but continues to reflect what’s happening in Cornwall now. It recently hosted Threads of Survival, a collection of quilts reflecting life during the pandemic, and 6,000 pupils from almost every primary school in Cornwall attend each year.
The Council supported the RCM through its Culture Revenue Grants programme, but this has been replaced by the Culture and Creativity Investment programme. The museum is applying for £150,000 from this fund.
Organizations including galleries and theater companies were successful, but the RCM was not. The council said it had become clear this was not the “appropriate funding stream” for the museum.
Neighborhoods portfolio holder Carol Mould said the application process was “objectively assessed” but said it was no reflection on the museum’s “excellent work in culture and creative arts”. She said the council wanted to work with the museum to find an “alternative way forward”.
Andrew Graham, whose father, Winston Graham, wrote the Poldark novels, set in 18th and early 19th century Cornwall, said he was deeply worried. His father used RCM “heavily” for Poldark, which was adapted into hit TV shows in the 1970s and 2010s.
“Museums play an important role in the community,” he said. “Not only does it connect us to each other today, but it helps us understand where we came from.”
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