The Stage

Guardians court private sector to oust V&A from Theatre Museum

Published Thursday 10 May 2007 at 12:00 by Alistair Smith

Campaigners bidding to reopen the Theatre Museum are preparing to turn their backs on the Victoria and Albert Museum in favour of a private investor who will open the Covent Garden site to commercial use.

The Guardians of the Theatre Museum have revealed they are considering “radical alternatives” after their latest approach to work with the V&A, the Theatre Museum’s parent institution, was rebuffed. One option would be to run the Theatreland site in partnership with a commercial operation whose profits could be used to support the museum.

Following a response from V&A chair Paula Ridley declining to endorse the Guardians’ fund-raising campaign, the campaigners have warned that they will be forced to change tack and look at the possibility of launching a free-standing museum, run in partnership with a private enterprise.

Ian Herbert, one of the leading figures on the Guardians’ steering committee, explained: “Paula Ridley’s response effectively puts an end to our hopes of a successful collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum to retain the Theatre Museum at its current Covent Garden site. We are now considering radical alternatives, in the continuing belief that the institution’s true home lies in Theatreland.

“These include the possibility of a commercial partnership with a private enterprise. The V&A was once described as an “ace caff with a museum attached” and we are wondering whether this might not provide the answer for the Theatre Museum’s future.”

However, in her letter to the Guardians, Ridley appeared to rule out proposals for a free-standing museum, something which V&A director Mark Jones had previously said the organisation would consider.

Last year, he told The Stage that “if someone wants to put forward an idea that there should be a free-standing theatre museum, we would consider it”.

Now, responding to the Guardians’ claim that the Theatre Museum had originally been envisaged as a free-standing institution, rather than a department of the V&A, Ridley commented: “Whatever the original intention… the Theatre Museum has been run for better or worse as a department of the V&A. The original files are in any case, I understand, unclear on the free-standing point.

“The collections have been accessioned by the V&A. It is not in our power to de-accession them, as this would require primary legislation. Any transfer to any other body is not a decision therefore the trustees could make. These legal points would become a matter for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.”