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18. The Finances of Deaf Museums

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Intro Chapter 18

Intro Chapter 18

Finances are a major problem for all Museums, both mainstream Museums and Deaf Museums. Especially now: the Covid-pandemic was a very bad time for all Museums: no visitors. More recently the energy crisis has become a problem.   A final problem for mainstream Museums: the rising personnel costs. 

That is one problem that most Deaf Museums do not have to worry about: most do not have any paid employees. They depend on volunteers for most activities. Volunteers are the 'human capital' of Deaf Museums. But unfortunately, finding and keeping volunteers is not easy either.

18.1 The Finances

18.1 The Finances

Finances

 In our survey of Deaf Museums, we asked two questions about the financial position of the Museum. In the table you can see the answers. 

Is your museum a commercial enterprise, do you make a profit? 
Do you receive funding? From whom?

Kuurojen museo

The museum is not a commercial enterprise. The costs of the museum are included in the total budget of the Finnish Labour museum Werstas.

We of course apply for grants for special purposes like exhibitions.

Norsk Døvemuseum

We do not make a profit. The Deaf Museum in Norway is a part of a big collaboration of museums in our region, called Museene i Sør-Trøndelag (MiST).

The museum in MiST receives fundings from the cultural department, so does the Deaf Museum.

Musée d'Histoire et de Culture des Sourds

Our museum is a “Law 1901” type association (non-profit organisation). We don't make a profit. 

We ensure that our finances are balanced.

We receive grants at various levels, donations from individuals and associations.

Deaf Heritage Centre UK

We are an independent charity and receive funding through grants from Government departments, trusts and foundations, the National Lottery.

We always have to apply for funding.

Very little of our funding comes from other income.

Døvehistorisk Selskab

We have 80 members who pay 30 euro/year/member.

The Danish Deaf Association supports us with 3.000-3.500 euro/year.

But we had a project for registration in the years 2017-2021 which was supported with 70.000 euro funding.

 

18.2 Income

18.2 Income

The Deaf Museums in Finland and Norway receive structural funding from the national government - but only because they are part of large mainstream Museums. The other Museums depend on donations and grants. 

The Musée d'Histoire et de Culture des Sourds can use a historic building for free. The Døvehistorisk Selskab can use 4 rooms in the School for the Deaf in Copenhagen, for free. The other Museums have to pay rent. 

Sources of income are: 

  • admission fees - although several of the Deaf Museums do not charge for admission;
  • contributions by members or friends of the Museum;
  • renting out rooms;
  • a Museum shop;
  • donations. 


Text asking for donations

"The Deaf Heritage Centre UK  does not charge for access to its Museum, Archives and Library. As the organisation relies mainly on charitable donations , we would deeply appreciate visitors placing a donation in the Donation Box situated within the Museum Library. These donations help us to build up an Acquisitions Fund that is used to purchased new artefacts to preserve and display. (source: BDHS website)"

image 2022 10 26 210219445

Source: https://norsk-dovemuseum.no/venneforening

18.3 Personnel

18.3 Personnel

In our survey we also asked about the people working at the Museum

Do you have any paid employees? If yes: how many? 

Do you depend on volunteers? How many volunteers work at your Museum?

The people who work at your Museum (as professionals or as volunteers) have they had any special training in Museum Skills, other relevant training? 

In the table, you can read the answers. 

Kuurojen museo

We have one full time worker who concentrates on the Museum of the Deaf and deaf history.
The other personnel take part in the work for example by planning the exhibitons, database, collection work etc.
All workers have some academic training and also training in Museum Skills.

Norsk Døvemuseum

We are going through a change when it comes to staff, but yes, we have paid employees.

The Deaf Museum is working together with Sverresborg folkmuseum in Trondheim. Here we have about 30 employees. Three of these are involved with the Deaf Museum.

We do have a volunteer group, The people who are working at our museum have been offered courses in sign language.

Musée d'Histoire et de Culture des Sourds

Paid employees: no.

Volunteers: yes.

It depends on the times but there is always at least one person. In addition, there is always someone present every Tuesday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. to receive the public.

We’re planning training in cataloguing and archiving.

Deaf Heritage Centre UK

No paid staff. About 3 persons on a regular basis; about 5 on an irregular basis.

Yes, they’ve had relevant training.

Døvehistorisk Selskab

We have only 6 volunteers and 5 board members who work for the society.

 

Only the Deaf Museums that are part of a mainstream Museum (Kuurojen Museo, Norsk Døvemuseum) have paid employees. All other Deaf Museums depend on volunteers.

18.4 Volunteers

18.4 Volunteers

All Deaf Museums depend on volunteers; some do not have any paid employees (see above).

From the website of the Deaf Heritage Centre UK:

"The BDHS (British Deaf History Society) has depended hugely on the work carried out by volunteers and still does, even with the recent part-time appointments for the curator and archivist. For those who work with the museum, the volunteers have regularly had training sessions. Other volunteers have researched and been responsible for publishing books. Other volunteers help out with archives and other general work.

The BDHS is always grateful for any offer to volunteer with its work. If you are interested, please contact the office address on these web pages by email, phone or post."

Source: BDHS website

18.5. EU Funding

18.5. EU Funding

The EU has funded and is funding a number of projects for and sometimes by Deaf sign language users. The funding usually is for transnational projects with partners in a number of countries.

Each EU funding programme has its own rules and regulations. Usually, there are online forms to complete - with very many questions. Writing a proposal may take weeks or month and is not funded. Usually, there are regular calls for proposals with strict deadlines. 

The chances of receiving funding vary per programme, but may not exceed 30%: 70% of all applications are rejected, but the percentage depends on the programme and  how many applications were submitted.  

The Deaf Museums project  and the MADE project (Museum and Art education for Deaf Empowerment) were funded under the Erasmus+ programme: https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu

The SignHub project: "Preserving, researching and fostering the linguistic, historical and cultural heritage of European Deaf signing communities with an integral resource", was a 4-year research project (2016-2020) funded under the Horizon 2020 programme. 

A recent call under the Horizon 2021-2027 programme, included a programme called "New ways of participatory management and sustainable financing of museums and other cultural institutions": 

"Museums and other cultural institutions (such as libraries, galleries, archives, memorial sites, etc.) play a key-role in social inclusion and cohesion. They create the sense of belonging, build shared identities, promote cultural awareness and historical reflection, improve people’s well-being and contribute to sustainable development and growth at local, regional and national level. Nowadays, museums and other cultural institutions are facing several challenges such as scarce funding, new legal obligations with regard to their collections (e.g. related to intellectual property rights), insufficient numbers of visitors or, to the other extreme, massive tourist crowds, which necessitate new and expensive conservation means and security tools. All these challenges are threatening the existence and efficient work of museums and other cultural institutions.

(..)

Expected Outcome:

Projects should contribute to at least two of the following expected outcomes:

    • Explore new ways of participatory cultural management and sustainable financing for museums and other cultural institutions, in particular during and after times of crises such as the coronavirus pandemic.
    • Ensure better access to cultural heritage and engagement with local communities, to preserve and strengthen social cohesion through inclusive and participatory procedures.
    • Strengthen the sense of belonging to a common European space while respecting cultural and ethnolinguistic diversity, as well as developing an awareness of cultural pluralism.
    • Promote the role of museums and other cultural institutions in well-being, health, resilience, social inclusion and society’s dealing with trauma and post-crisis recovery.
    • Foster the role of museums and other cultural institutions in sustainable economic growth and regional development."

Source: EU Funding and Tender Opportunities

On the EU website Culture and Creativity you can consult an interactive guide for the cultural and creative sectors with all the funding sources of the European Union available in 2021-2027.

 cultureu fundingguide front cover

 


 Further Reading:

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Quotes:

  • "An important matter for any minority group is that written documents in public archives are often drawn up by the majority group and do not always reflect a minority as it sees itself. Thus, preserving sign language narration is of the utmost importance and a challenge to those working in the field of Deaf history."
    In: TIINA NAUKKARINEN, Finnish Museum of the Deaf: Presenting the Life of Carl Oscar Malm (1826–1863)
  • "Histories have for too long emphasized the controversies over communication methods and the accomplishments of hearing people in the education of deaf students, with inadequate attention paid to those deaf individuals who created communication bridges and distinguished themselves as change agents in their respective field of endeavour."
    from: Harry G. Lang, Bonny Meath-Lang: Deaf Persons in the Arts and Sciences, 1995
  • "For many members of the Deaf community their shared history is both personal and social. Deaf people will have gone to the same school, in many cases boarding schools where most of their younger lives will have been spent together, and then met again at their Deaf clubs, Deaf social events, reunions and other more personal events.
    One of the first things a Deaf person will often ask on meeting, before asking your name, is what school or Deaf club you go to. Making this connection is an important part of any greeting, as it will then help an individual to understand what shared history or people in common you may have."
    from: The Cultural Model of Deafness
  • “Stories of disability are largely absent from museum displays. Where they appear, they often reflect deeply entrenched, negative attitudes towards physical and mental difference. Research reveals that museums don’t simply reflect attitudes; they are active in shaping conversations about difference.
    Projects created with disabled people show that museums hold enormous potential to shape more progressive, accurate and respectful ways of understanding human diversity. Why wouldn’t we take up this opportunity? ”
    Richard Sandell, co-director, Research Centre for Museums and Galleries, University of Leicester
  • “One story makes you weak. But as soon as we have one-hundred stories, you will be strong.”
    Chris Cleave in "Little Bee", 2008
  • "What has become clear is that museums don’t just function as custodians of the past anymore; instead, they have embraced their responsibility towards the communities of the present: a responsibility to represent them, to speak to them, and to be open to dialogue with them."
    Tim Deakin, August 2021
  • "The Deaf community is international. What binds Deaf people, despite their different national sign languages, is their shared visual communication, history, cultural activities, and the need for a Deaf “space” where people come together."

    from: The Cultural Model of Deafness
  • "Opening ourselves to the Deaf community, listening to and respecting them as co-creators and experts telling the stories they want told, makes our practice richer, and has ongoing positive effects for the community.
    These embryonic relationships hopefully encourage Deaf people to feel welcome in our space — it’s their space too.
    For both side, communities and museum professionals, while genuinely, openly and truly committing to working together can be time-consuming, it repays any investment many-fold."
    Corinne Ball: Expressing ourselves’: creating a Deaf exhibition", 2020
  • "The UN Declaration of Human Rights states that “Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community”. This is based on the principle that citizens are not just consumers of cultural capital created by others; we have agency and the right to contribute through culture to the wider good of society."
    Source: A manifesto for museum learning and engagement
  • "As recently as the 1970s, deaf history did not exist. There were available sketches of various hearing men, primarily teachers, who were credited with bringing knowledge and enlightenment to generations of deaf children, but deaf adults were absent."

    In: Preface to: "Deaf History Unvailed, Interpretations from the New Scholarship". John Vickrey van Cleve, editor
    Publisher: Gallaudet University Press, 1993
  • "Inclusion is moving from “we tolerate your presence” to “we WANT you here with us”.
    Jillian Enright in The Social Model of Disability, 2021
  • "The most significant function of museums is as centres for cultural democracy, where children and adults learn through practical experience that we all have cultural rights. Having the opportunity to create, and to give to others, may be one of our greatest sources of fulfilment. Culture is everywhere and is created by everyone."
    Source: A manifesto for museum learning and engagement
  • "Nina Simon has described true inclusion in a museum context as occurring when museums value the diversity in their audience, value those individuals’ potential and contributions, when they actively link those diverse people across differences, and when the organisation reaches out with generosity and curiosity at the core.
    On a practical level this sort of museum practice would see widespread inclusion of people with disabilities in the planning of museum exhibitions, on museum boards and steering committees, and working in curatorial roles."
    In: Corinne Ball: Expressing Ourselves, 2020
  • "The Finnish Museum of the Deaf) was founded by deaf people, and, thus, its task has been to strengthen their identity and historical communality.

    Most of our materials have a connection to the key experiences that generations of deaf people have shared. These are important in understanding the past and keeping the collective memory alive."
    In: TIINA NAUKKARINEN, Finnish Museum of the Deaf: Presenting the Life of Carl Oscar Malm (1826–1863)
  • the past can hurt

    From: Walt Disney, The Lion King

  • "It was only during the past decade that recognition of the importance of preserving Deaf history has emerged. In the main, Deaf heritage, culture and folklore has been passed down from generation to generation via the medium of sign language and fingerspelling. (..) It is also vital that the history of Deaf people is made available to future generations, especially Deaf schoolchildren as part of their history lessons."
    A. Murray Holmes,  in: Cruel Legacy, an introduction of Deaf people in history, by A.F. Dimmock, 1993
  • "After all, we are all of us explorers, and we all have much to bring to each other from our own
    journeyings."
    Ladd, P. (2003). Understanding Deaf Culture: In Search of Deafhood.
  • "Museums can increase our sense of wellbeing, help us feel proud of where we have come from, and inspire, challenge and stimulate us."
    Source: https://www.museumsassociation.org/campaigns/museums-change-lives/
  • "Until the fall semester of 1986, the history department at Gallaudet University had never before offered a course in the history of deaf people.
    In the 122 years, to that point, since the founding of the university, which was specifically intended for the education of deaf peoples, no one had ever taught a course about this very group of people.
    In all of those years the history department had offered courses on a wide range of topics but never deaf history. "
    ENNIS, WILLIAM T., et al. “A Conversation: Looking Back on 25 Years of A Place of Their Own.” Sign Language Studies, vol. 17, no. 1, 2016, pp. 26–41. 
  • "Deaf people have always had a sense of their history as it was being passed down in stories told by generations of students walking in the hallways of their residential schools and by others who congregated in their clubs, ran associations, attended religious services, and played in sporting events.
    With these activities, the deaf community exhibited hallmarks of agency — an effort to maintain their social, cultural, and political autonomy amid intense pressure to conform as hearing, speaking people."
    BRIAN H. GREENWALD AND JOSEPH J. MURRAY, in: Sign Language Studies, Volume 17, Number 1, Fall 2016
  • "And yet, even within a large and, in many ways, traditional organization such as this (Trøndelag Folk Museum, Norway), the museum's encounter with Deaf culture contributed to profound changes and a process, still underway, which challenges our own understanding of what a museum is today, our role in society and our obligations towards more diverse audiences than those we had previously engaged or even recognized."
    Hanna Mellemsether, in:  Re-presenting Disability: Activism and Agency in the Museum, 2013
  • "Deaf mute, deaf and dumb, hearing impaired – the choices are many and not without consequences. Words have many meanings, they convey attitudes and prejudices and may hurt, even when used in a well-intended context."
    Hanna Mellemsether, in:  Re-presenting Disability: Activism and Agency in the Museum, 2013
  • "Access to and participation in culture is a basic human right. Everyone has a right to representation and agency in museums, and communities should have the power to decide how they engage."
    Source: A manifesto for museum learning and engagement
  • "This (Deaf) Museum is not intended as a casual show, to be seen once and forgotten. Its pretensions are nobler; it has a humanitarian aim. By its solid and tangible evidences, making history memorable and attractive by illustration, it serves a double purpose: to dispel ignorance and prejudice regarding the deaf, and to raise the victims of this prejudice and ignorance to their true level in society."
    The British Deaf Monthly, Vol. VI (p.265) 1897. In: Deaf Museums and Archival Centres, 2006
  • "Beyond works of art and objects, museums collect shared heritage, memories and living cultures as well as what we call intangible collectables."
    Source: We are Museums
  • “If you do not know where you come from, then you don't know where you are, and if you don't know where you are, then you don't know where you're going. And if you don't know where you're going, you're probably going wrong.”
    Terry Pratchett, I Shall Wear Midnight
  • "Museums can increase our sense of wellbeing, help us feel proud of where we have come from, and inspire, challenge and stimulate us."
    Source: Museums Change Lives