"It is my assessment that this is the most realistic and sustainable," says Britta Söderqvist, superintendent at the Museums of World Culture, who informed the staff on Monday.
Ahead of next year, the Swedish Property Board, which manages the state-owned museum premises, has terminated the lease agreement for the Ethnographic Museum at Gärdet in Stockholm and proposed a 57 percent rent increase, equivalent to 12.25 million kronor per year.
The World Culture Museums, which also includes the Mediterranean Museum, the East Asian Museum and the World Culture Museum in Gothenburg, expect similar rent increases for the Mediterranean and East Asian museums, whose leases expire next year.
Museums may be closed
If this happens, they write in their budget documents for 2027–2029 that funding will be "eroded" and "staff cuts will become necessary" unless they receive an additional 35 million kronor per year.
To cut costs, the plan is to terminate the contracts for the Mediterranean Museum and the East Asian Museum next year. The museums will then close, and it is unclear whether they will be revived.
"I understand that you have favorite museums and that there may be concerns about what happens to them, but we are doing this to secure the future development of museums," says Britta Söderqvist.
“Need to discuss”
Do you expect to have to lay off staff?
"We are not there yet at all. We have not looked at that issue. Everything that relates to the consequences of this proposal going forward needs to be discussed in the usual way together with the trade unions, and so on."
Minister of Culture Parisa Liljestrand (M) writes in a comment to TT that she has just received the budget documents and cannot comment.
"But we are aware that the authority has a challenging local situation and are monitoring the issue."
Previously, there have been plans to move the collections of the Mediterranean Museum and the East Asian Museum to the Ethnographic Museum.
Simon Uggla/TT
Facts: World culture on the back burner
TT
A merger of the Ethnographic, Mediterranean and East Asian Museums of World Culture in Stockholm has been discussed on and off for ten years.
The background is a 2015 analysis from the Swedish State Treasury that showed too much of the money was going to premises and personnel costs and too little to the operations themselves.
The now proposed rent increase for the Ethnographic Museum would mean that the proportion of the funds going to premises costs would increase from 42 to 45 percent.
Superintendent Britta Söderqvist on the question of whether a merger is still a possibility:
"The authority is already working to display the collections in all locations. We must and should develop this approach. Now it is incredibly important to talk internally about how we should move forward."
