Museums and galleries can open again – but it won’t be straightforward

BARRY DIDCOCK

AFTER four months in which their activities have been restricted to digital offerings and online activities, the doors of the country’s art galleries and museums – and, importantly, their cafes and shops – are creaking open again as a degree of normality returns to life.

Phase Three of the Scottish Government’s route map out of lockdown allowed galleries to open from Wednesday, an announcement given a “warm welcome” by Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS), the national development body which supports 400 venues.

In a statement issued jointly with National Museums Scotland, the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS), Glasgow Life, V&A Dundee and Industrial Museums Scotland, MGS said that the sector was looking forward to doing all it could “to support Scotland’s recovery as soon as is safely possible, through spaces and collections that bring us together, comfort, educate, spark conversations and inspire creativity”.

However it noted that re-opening venues involves “individual logistical challenges”, such as the requirement for increased training for staff, new ticketing procedures, timed visiting slots (as already happens for some blockbuster exhibitions) and reduced opening hours.

There was a warning too: some museums and galleries, particularly those reliant on the support of volunteers, may not re-open at all “until they are financially and operationally able to do so”.

That’s a big If, so as well as a warm welcome to the news that galleries can re-open, it is also being given a cautious one. Just this week, after all, the director of London’s Natural History Museum, Sir Michael Dixon, said he expected social distancing requirements to cause an 80% drop in visitor numbers when the museum opens next month.

The picture is unlikely to be much different in Scotland, so with the arts sector struggling in common with everyone else, the ability to re-open could be a mixed blessing.

Accordingly, the picture is mixed. In Glasgow, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and