A lot can happen in a closed museum. Moths can penetrate textiles. Changes in temperature or humidity can scare the mummies away.
Museums in the United States, Canada and Australia have reported thefts: a Van Gogh stolen from a Dutch art museum in March after it closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
But by far the biggest challenge was the drop in ticket profits, museum store sales and donations, closure, which puts museums around the world on a threat of failure.
Canadian museums are recovering from the closure of COVID-19 and want an emergency and ongoing investment to survive, according to a report prepared for the federal government.
The Canadian Museum Association (CMA) draft budget recommends that the 2021 federal budget increase and increase emergency museum assistance and increase continued investment by at least $60 million according to the year.
The CMA says there are 2,700 museums, science and cultural heritage centers in the country, which in combination receive about 30 million visitors a year.
“Canada’s national museum policy, which is over 30 years old, is unfortunately outdated; degrees of investment in museums are lower than in the 1970s; and our museums have been incredibly affected by the pandemic; it is very likely that some will close their doors permanently as a result, “according to the writing.
This underscores the fact that the price of the federal museum investment program has declined since its arrival in 1972. In 1977, investment reached its point: $15 million, or $63 million today, after adjusting for inflation.
It’s $16.2 million in 2016-17. A recently proposed review took a step forward with respect to the pandemic.
Earlier this year, a $500 million pandemic emergency fund committed to culture, heritage and sport, adding $53 million to museums.
CMA spokeswoman Rebecca MacKenzie said the industry appreciates the emergency investment it received, but that it’s not enough.
“The percentage of the emergency fund for museums is inadequate given the great loss of profits suffered by museums, which threatens their very existence,” he said.
It highlights the reports of UNESCO and the International Council of Museums recommending that one in eight museums in the world will not suffer the pandemic. The American Alliance of Museums recommends that one in 3 permanently close.
Many museums in Canada were unable to open this summer, MacKenzie said. Those that have reopened are a fall in tourism. Spring and summer fundraising opportunities had to be canceled.
There are fears that the artifacts are in danger: MacKenzie stated that the CMA has won judicial cases from museum staff that some collections have been left to the law enforcement of the workers of trained collection managers; that some borrowed collections had to be left unsecured and that some collections had to be placed in less favourable weather conditions.
Another fear is the protection of collections under stricter sanitation measures: cleaning agents can damage old objects.
Recent CMA studies have shown that Canada earns approximately $8.6 billion a year in economic benefits, plus a myriad of benefits, adding galleries, libraries, archives, and nonprofit museums.
“It can be argued that museums would be better positioned for the pandemic with a more fashionable policy and a good enough degree of funding,” MacKenzie said.
The monetary balance of the closing begins to appear. The Glenbow Museum in Calgary announced in July that it was 27 workers fired. While the ROM has reopened the public and called some staff members, i.e. those who care about the public, only 11 workers from the collections are back at work, 80%, of the 33 technicians and restaurateurs, according to OPSEU.
“The technicians in the collection, in particular, have not been able to take over our vital collections and their separation from these paintings has led them to feel deeply involved in the state of the objects,” according to OPSEU, which advocates the recovery of the collection. .
ROM spokeswoman Katie Bailey said the museum expects attendance grades to increase until September as more and more spaces and exhibitions open, allowing the museum to return to normal staffing.
Most museums around the world closed in April due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a recent report by the International Council of Museums (ICM), which conducted a global survey on the effect of the closure.
He estimates that one in 10 museums in the world may be forced to close permanently.
It was also feared that museum collections would be threatened: 17.5% of respondents in North America expressed fear that environmental situations could be limited to collection conservation.
Keeping the museum’s collections intact is a constant war: collectible technicians set traps to catch moths and other pests.
Pests can move even when a museum is complete: the ROM has detected two minor pest incidents in a small number of items in the textile even before the museum closes due to COVID-19, according to Bailey.
The ROM and Art Gallery of Ontario say they have continued their collections through wireless tracking and normal controls through the law enforcement of workers and museum professionals.
Sensitive works have been conscientiously preserved. In the AGO, Tim Whiten’s “Metamorphosis” about birth and rebirth was dismantled, the bear’s skin was sealed in polyethylene and stored in the indoor freezer to kill the pests. Eggshells have been cleaned from the exhibition.
At the Toronto Museum of Contemporary Art, revenue will meet this year’s goals, according to a spokesman.
The museum had to close exhibitions expressly acclaimed by critics by Canadian and foreign artists who had only been visual for about five weeks when it hit COVID-19.
The museum reopened in July with the advance sale of tickets required to allow a physical distance between visitors and new health, procedure and cleaning protocols.
“We have also incurred significant expenses to prepare the museum to receive the public in the safest way imaginable: greater cleanliness, sanitation and new management,” according to MOCA.
Other museums better resisted the typhoon.
“This is the first time I’ve been grateful to have such a small staff,” said Elizabeth Semmelhack, creative director and senior curator of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto.
“I think we were able to react temporarily and flexibly.”
He said the museum was built in particular to space out the collection and may simply leave everything as it is. They just turned off the lights.
“As any restorer will let you know, you must keep the artifacts in the dark, and that’s why by storing the artifacts, you keep the lighting artifacts off. In any case, the artifacts would possibly even be a little happier,” Semmelhack said. .
Francine Kopun is a Toronto journalist covering city hall and city politics for The Star. Follow her on Twitter: @KopunF