Ukrainian museums are asking for help. They lack space, money, and attention. Today 90 percent of collections are hidden away in storerooms because the exhibition halls are too small. Storerooms are often unventilated and have leaky roofs. Provincial museums have guidebooks dating back decades and no updated brochures. Computer databases are a luxury that at best only 5 out of 390 functioning Ukrainian museums can afford. Forget about Web sites, which are standard practice in the West. The state should know about all this and understand that without its help and support Ukraine will lose its cultural product. This was the brief conclusion of a roundtable held on Nov. 29, organized by the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine’s Institute of Art, Folklore and Ethnological Studies. Museum workers quoted Viktor Yushchenko as saying during the recent presidential hearings: “Why is it that so many nations are searching for their roots dating back only one thousand years, whereas we have museum exhibits dating to the 4th, 5th, and 6th centuries BC, but are unable to present them properly?”
There are a number of answers to this question. It is common knowledge that Ukrainian museums are regarded as voracious spending units. They are empty, consuming millions of hryvnias every year and have the nerve to declare that their problems boil down to insufficient funding. It’s another subject altogether that current budget appropriations are only large enough to offer meager wages to museum staff and to pay for municipal services. Repairs and replenishing museum stocks are closed subjects. This doesn’t just refer to provincial museums that have to make do with local budget appropriations. For example, the staff of one of Ukraine’s five open-air museums, Pyrohovo, says that some items on display are in disastrous condition. According to the museum’s director, Mykola Khodakovsky, uncontrolled construction taking place in the vicinity of the museum will eventually put an end to its very essence — an oasis of Ukrainian traditions and culture. As for museum collections, there is every reason to declare that our descendants will most likely not be fortunate enough to see the creative heritage of our time. There is no money to purchase items for museums and philanthropy is not popular in Ukraine, for a number of reasons. However, the most perplexing fact is that this crisis comes at the very time when Ukrainians are showing a greater interest in museums. Statistics collected by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism indicate that last year the number of visitors to Ukrainian museums increased by four million, compared to 2003.
On the other hand, museums are to blame for many of their problems. In the West, for example, even though museums are supported by the budget, they never miss an opportunity to earn money, if only to systematically replenish their stocks. In addition to the traditional business of selling booklets and souvenirs, museums lease out their premises for presentations and conferences. They open cafes and collaborate with tour operators that include museums in their itineraries. Meanwhile, such initiatives get the cold shoulder in Ukraine. Museum workers have repeatedly said that notions like revenue, market, and marketing are not for them. In their opinion, adapting museum booklet texts to the “average brain” is not necessary in their opinion because there are regular visitors, people who are sufficiently well versed in the field and literate. Hanna Skrypnyk, director of the Institute of Art, Folklore, and Ethnological Studies, told the Nov. 29 roundtable that commercializing museums is not a cure-all; all pertinent matters must be carefully considered. As for museums leasing out their premises, she believes they are nothing to write home about. This is a measure they are forced to take.
To be fair, there are some positive signs. For example, last year the Feodosia Picture Gallery earned more than a million hryvnias, relying on its own resources. The Kyivan Cave Monastery Preserve may be considered a model in this respect. The number of people willing to explore it has significantly increased owing to the preserve’s active collaboration with travel agencies and to advertising. Souvenirs and the introduction of paid services (e.g., allowing people to take pictures and use video cameras) have generated additional revenues.
This is precisely why Culture and Tourism Minister Ihor Likhovoi is urging museum workers to learn to sell their products. Bureaucrats generally believe that Mystetsky arsenal (Art Arsenal) should serve as a powerful impetus for the museum business. It is clear, however, that this project will also become the apple of contention for museums, as few if any appear willing to part with any of their collections to fill the “general pot.”
