Chief Executive's blog: Coronavirus recovery and collections care

Details of the first tranche of the £1.57 billion Cultural Recovery Fund grant awards made by Arts Council England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund have were published in October and social media was briefly enlivened by a blaze of colourful celebratory posts under the banner of #HereForCulture. Here for Culture is a Government-led movement that aims to unite the public, Government, and cultural organisations in support of the UK’s cinemas, theatres, music venues, museums, galleries, and the broader heritage sector – a noble aim. This is certainly a time of rejoicing for many, and it is no exaggeration to suggest that these grants will be a vital lifeline for many charitable and commercial organisations working in the cultural heritage sector. The impact of the Coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown has sorely tested many organisations and, with no immediate end in sight, it seems certain that there will still be challenging times ahead for many.

Thankfully, Icon remained relatively stable over the summer of 2020 and we were able to continue with most of our planned activity in one way or another despite the constraints of the lockdown. However, as our attention turns to setting our strategic priorities and our budget for 2020-21, we have also been thinking hard about what might happen over the next 12 to 18 months and how we can ensure that we equip ourselves to support our members and the profession in the face of a highly unpredictable future.

Obviously, securing our existing income streams will be fundamental to maintaining a strong operational base. We were therefore genuinely heartened and encouraged to see that our membership numbers have stayed within the usual range as we reach the end of this year’s renewal season. I am also happy to report that we have also had some early successes in response to the renewed emphasis on membership marketing that we’ve put in place.

However, we cannot rest on our laurels and must continue our efforts to diversify our sources of income. We have been actively exploring new methods of fundraising (our recent Crowdfunding campaign) and have also been investigating new sources of grant finance. This activity has borne fruit at a modest scale with the welcome news of support for accreditation from The Leche Trust, but we have also been successful in securing funding from the Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage. I am delighted to announce that Icon is one of the 445 heritage organisations that have been supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund through the investment of £103 million of Government funding. We have received a grant award of £99,400 which will enable us to commission valuable business development and marketing support as well as a new website project to provide an online gallery for student members. In addition, a portion of the funding will be used to help finance the digital transformation project that will secure our new membership database.

Aside from making a substantial contribution to our financial wellbeing the fact that we were successful in a competitive application process demonstrates that Icon is seen a vital organism within the cultural heritage ecosystem. Receiving this grant shows that the work that we do to support the conservation profession has been recognised by funders and by policy-makers; the fact that they have chosen to invest in our future is testament to the importance of the role that we play. So, in addition to using our grant wisely, we also need to capitalise on this recognition and make sure that conservation remains firmly on the radar of our stakeholders.

The imperative to ensure that objects and collections continue to be responsibly cared for at a time when many large cultural institutions are reducing their operational teams was one of the factors driving a major Icon policy initiative over the summer months – the publication of our position statement on the value of the care of collections. Having read the various commentaries on the restructuring programmes undertaken by a range of organisations from the National Trust to regional museums and galleries with increasing dismay, we felt that Icon should support our members by offering a comprehensive and coherent message about the value of our profession. However, we also felt that we needed to collaborate with and offer support to our fellow cultural heritage professionals in order to demonstrate to decision-makers that good custodianship of cultural heritage requires a range of skills and expertise. We wanted to articulate our understanding of how conservation works alongside collections management and curatorial services to ensure that objects and collections remain safe and accessible both now and in the future.

The key messages that we wanted to communicate are that:

• Conservators form a distinct and expert profession with their own “standards and judgement and ethics”, ethical guidance and code of conduct.
• Conservation is one of three pillars of collections care that are essential to ensuring that our shared cultural heritage is safeguarded.
• Investing in conservation supports the economy, offers a way to nurture healthier and happier lives, and plays a role in delivering sustainability in the face of climate change.

We also argued that conservation can contribute to the responsible post-Covid rebuilding through:

• Fulfilling the responsibilities of stewardship by safeguarding cultural heritage entrusted to the care of regional and national museums and institutions.
• Retaining valuable intellectual and practical skills and ensuring the continuity of specialist knowledge and expertise in both the public and private sectors.
• Building resilience in a cost-effective way by prioritising early interventions that prevent problems that would be much more expensive to deal with later

We have now shared this document, and the shorter summary, with a wide range of stakeholders. It has been very well received and widely disseminated, and we very much hope that members will continue find it useful to support their personal advocacy within their own organisations and with clients.

Although it was a response to the particular threats arising from the Coronavirus pandemic, it is worth noting that developing this position statement is part of a wider programme of work that aims to ensure that we are equipped with powerful and positive messages that we can use in our ongoing advocacy work. We must continue to ensure that policy-makers, and the wider public, embrace our belief that preserving the physical remains of the past can help us understand ourselves better, which in turn equips us to make better decisions for our future. Investing in conservation therefore shows moral responsibility to future generations. It also helps organisations make a successful case for support that demonstrates the important contribution they make to delivering Government priorities in areas such as jobs, skills, soft power, and innovation.