The Tank Museum and Covid 19.

Some of you might be interested in AFVs and could be aware of this however bare with me.
The Tank Museum has a YouTube channel and the staff there have made a real effort during the period of the current difficulties to upload material in order to help their supporters with both the Director and the Curator producing material from home.
The NRM also has a YouTube channel and, well, just have a look at it.

Looked yet?

Nothing in 4 months.

Interestingly the Tank Museum costs £13.00 for an adult visit, it is a limited company and it does receive funding, lottery money via Arts Council England and the Heritage Lottery fund and it is the only museum in the country that makes what might be called a profit.

The NRM is a part of the Science Museum Group and being owned by the state exercises a free entry policy and so on.

The difference in approach of the two organisations is peculiar since you might think that a museum would value its supporters but one is very active in this and the other not so.

If you have to pay for something in an obvious manner you probably value it more than something that appears to be free. You want an experience that is a satisfactory exchange for what you have paid as your entry fee. But if you pay nothing what are your expectations?

One museum charges for entry and the museum needs this money to exist and without people being willing to pay for what they offer they would cease to exist. The museum has to offer an excellent package to not only attract a visitor the once but also to make them become a repeat visitor and supporter. And it really seems to value those who visit it, when unusual occurrences take place they rise to the occasion, offer something back to their supporters.

A National Museum maybe believes that it has a right to exist regardless. The visitor may not be valued so highly because there is no obvious exchange at the point of entry. You are just a number and though funding depends on numbers through the door this lack of exchange maybe has a negative impact on how those working at and for this museum view the nature and value of a visitor.

A diversion, parks and gardens. We have all I suspect availed ourselves of the facilities offered by a Municipal park or garden. Some of these are quite wonderful but others the less so and the maintenance of these facilities frequently appears to be the first port of call when economies have to be made. Many years ago I paid my first visit to Kew. The cost of entry was modest but the gardens were better maintained and the visitors had a markedly better behaviour towards what they were experiencing. Was I mistaken? Well I had visited the Municipal parks around where I lived and where I had visited and holidayed too, my first job was as a gardener working towards providing a decent environment for the mentally unfortunate (a position that made me realise that some families are truly vile). Between a grim sense of entitlement, lack of gratitude, ignorance and more lies a range of behaviour and actions. Frequently unappreciative and wantonly destructive.

What I am saying is that if you actually have to conduct a financial transaction in exchange for an experience you may well attach a higher value to that experience and this possibly works both ways, provider and consumer.

I do find it odd that the NRM has done little or nothing to continue and maintain the links with its customer base whereas Bovington has a program of action.

But as the NRM appears to be totally committed to the production of a railway themed cafe and associated childrens' play area, should I be surprised?

 

"Only musuem to make a profit". So singling out the NRM as a failure on the back of the tank musuem smells of hobby horse. Ditto the state-owned bit.

Kiddy stuff is interesting. Do you have kids. Until I did, I thought the LT musuem im Covent Garden the worst musuem in the world, as proper display is clearly not top of it's list. Now I have kids, I see it's virtue. If the NRM gets future enthusiasts through the door, it's arguably supporting the whole sector.

I suspect that the tank musuem probably has the best demographic to get money from too (there is an unhealthy interest in ww2 IMO).

 

I've not visited the NRM for about 5 years, but when I did I had to queue to get in to be asked by a teenager if I would like to make a donation. 'I'll look first and then decide was my answer'. And yes, it has become a cafe / gift shop with exhibits attached.
Bovington offers more 'Museum' in my opinion.
Pat

 

https://learning-resources.sciencemuseum.org.uk/resources/

Seems to be plenty of resource and activities there for those stuck at home.

The public resourced IWM group provides a full national perspective upon warfare.

 

I think there's a lot in what you say about the relationship between payment and perceived value. But after that, I'm afraid I rapidly lose sympathy with you. Some thoughts:
1. Kew Gardens is a botanical gardens, not a park. The purpose, nature and audience of Kew is fundamentally different to that of the average municipal park, and to use the two as a comparison is meaningless.
2. Location. Bovington is in deepest Dorset, and somewhere you have to make an effort to visit; the NRM is in one of the UK's major tourist hotspots.
3. Admission Fees. A hotly contested area (and I'm sure one that's appeared on here in the past), but it's worth note that the Blair government put the national museums under a lot of pressure to offer free admission in return for grant funding - I believe the numbers now mean this is a bit of a faustian bargain.

I suspect the NRM knows that it's core audience (based on numbers and spend) is transitory, based on day visitors to York, and has limited attachment; it then manages it's relationships accordingly. Bovington has worked out that it's appeal is different, and is working them.

My praise goes to Bovington for what they do, but I'm not sure I'll damn the NRM for not following suit.

 

I've been hassled in the queue (real or virtual) for donations at museums, stately homes, cathederals and preserved railways in the queue.

 

I have been visiting the NRM for 45 years and always enjoy my visits. I am happy to donate because it gives me so much pleasure. I would like to see some of the exhibits presented in a different way but I am just thankful for so much good stuff (for want of a better expression).
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