V&A risks breaking its promise to protect theatre collections, ex-archivist claims

A former archivist at the V&A has claimed that a promise by the museum to keep its Theatre and Performance collections accessible is at risk of being broken, and has called for a wider consultation on their future.

As reported by The Stage earlier this week, the V&A is considering proposals to axe its Theatre and Performance department, whose curators look after the collection of the same name.

According to the Public and Commercial Services Union, 50 out of 200 jobs across the organisation’s curatorial and research departments, library and archive are at risk.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row programme, Guy Baxter – former archivist and conservation manager at the V&A – warned that the scale of job losses would have a particular impact on the theatre collection.

“Although [the cuts] seem to be across the board, that is where the biggest impact will be seen – on those collections where it’s not just about the shop window and not just about objects on display, but what happens in back offices as well,” he said.

He added: “When the Theatre Museum closed in 2007, there were some promises made by the V&A – to the theatre world, the theatre sector, the creative industries, to staff and to the general public – about the idea that, having moved out of Theatreland, the access to those collections and their visibility would not be lost.

"To a large extent it lived up to that promise. The exhibition programme that has come out of the Theatre and Performance collections in the past 10 years has been extraordinary – vibrant and fantastic – and they have remained accessible to those who need to see them. But there is a real danger at the moment that [the V&A’s earlier] promise is being broken – that promise to keep them accessible.”

Under the proposed restructure, the entire department for Theatre and Performance would be dissolved, with curators split across the following four departments: Europe and the Americas: Medieval to Revolution; Europe and the Americas: Long Nineteenth Century; Europe and the Americas: Modern and Contemporary; and African and Asian Cultures.

However, Baxter – who was archivist at the V&A Theatre Museum – said: “It doesn’t matter what structure they end up with, if you haven’t got anyone who is able to provide access to the collections, if you haven’t got people who are able to tell the stories within those collections, then what is the point of having the most sophisticated or simple curatorial structure?”

He said he would like to see “a wider stakeholder consultation” with people in theatre and the creative industries.

“Think about what theatre and performance have been through in the past year – we need to do everything we can to help get them back on their feet and that means being able to access these kind of resources,” he said.

In a statement provided to Front Row, the V&A said it was facing a “catastrophic £10 million deficit” and that “recovery will take years”.

“We are forced to explore all routes to reduce costs across the museum in order to protect our future,” it said, but reiterated that specialisms would be retained and that there would continue to be dedicated rooms for Theatre and Performance.

It comes as a petition is launched to protect the Theatre and Performance department, signed by more than 2,000 people at the time of writing.

The petition warns: “The V&A has decided to close the department of Theatre and Performance as part of a massive organisational remodelling of the structure of the museum moving into a new structure. This will have a disproportionate and devastating effect on these collections and on the pool of knowledge, expertise and enthusiasm that underpin them and help to make them accessible.”

However, a spokeswoman for the V&A said the Theatre and Performance objects were moving to a new, public collections store in Stratford, and that the move “will make them more accessible than ever before”.

“Theatre and Performance colleagues who look after their archive and library would be redeployed within the new expanded research department,” she said, adding that it was inaccurate to suggest there had not been a wider consultation.

“The proposals have been led by our director of collections with input from the V&A executive board. Before putting proposals to staff, we undertook discussions with various experts and advisers in the sector both in the UK and internationally, looking to benchmark this approach against other leading institutions,” she said.