Issue 40 winter 23 web - Flipbook - Page 102
Welsh Museums
in the Spotlight
The Museum Spotlight Survey which was published in
September monitors and assesses the ongoing health of
the museum sector in Wales - and has been running since
2006.
Volunteer levels are also yet to fully recover to prepandemic levels. In 2022, there were 1,893 volunteers
contributing 180,137 hours of volunteer support which is
32 per cent fewer volunteers in the workforce than in
2019.
Latest figures show that in 2022 there were over 3 million
visits to the museums in Wales that completed the survey.
This compares to 4.3 million visits in 2019. Museum
visitor levels overall have recovered to 69 per cent of pre
Covid-19 levels.
Deputy Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Dawn
Bowden, said: “We wish to thank all those museums who
contributed to the spotlight survey, which gives us
valuable insights and important information to better
understand the sector. Spotlight 2022 is clearly showing
that recovery from the pandemic is underway, but is far
from complete or uniform across the different types of
museums across the country. As a Welsh Government we
recognise the importance of our local and national
museum sector as a key element of our cultural life in
Wales, and their provision for both locals and visitors. We
are already providing support to help museums face some
of the challenges which were raised in the report and look
forward to working with the sector in the future.”
Museums make an important contribution to the Welsh
economy as well as to the museum’s local economy. They
attract both local people and tourists and drive visitor
spend. This spend benefits other business, particularly in
the hospitality industry and accommodation providers.
A key role of our Museums is to empower learning and
inspire. While in 2022, 320,000 learning participants
were welcomed to museums in Wales, both formal and
informal learning sessions are yet to recover to prepandemic numbers.
The full report can be found here:
https://www.gov.wales/museum-spotlight-survey-2022
Museums across Wales are a treasure trove of local and
national history and culture and the report found that
Museums have over 6,300,000 objects in their collections
and in order to make these collections accessible to
all - almost all museums offer some online access to their
collections.
Conservation & Heritage Journal
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