A chapter I wrote before parental leave – “Funding through Policy Attachment: An Examination of Funding for the Dawson City Museum” – was recently published.
Abstract: Using the Dawson City Museum as a case study, the chapter considers the ways community museums engage in policy attachment for survival and growth due to limitations within existing funding programs targeting museums. It demonstrates how the Museum has aligned its objectives with a variety of funding initiatives, such as those related to unemployment and tourism. Through policy attachment, the Museum was able to grow and develop, expanding its activities despite having few permanent full-time year-round staff. However, policy attachment requires ongoing work to (re)attach museum work to changing government priorities and, therefore, has a high human resource cost. As a result, the Museum became dependent on a variety of employment programs and the availability of contract workers with an existing relationship to the Museum to engage in the different projects that could be attached to grant programs outside heritage branches. These programs and experienced labor became less available. At the same time, core museum funding increased, reducing the need for policy attachment. As a result, the Museum saw a decline in the breadth of activity they could accomplish and, therefore, their role as an active community member but has been able to focus energy on work seen as crucial.
Link: It is in the book Financial Management in Museums: Theory, Practice and Context available here.
If you do not have access and would like a copy, please send me an email (robinnelson@museoception.ca).
I am hoping to have the remaining outputs from the project available soon! However, I have decided to take a more extended leave to stay at home with my little one and have more limited time for research projects.
Museoception 