On 2nd July, the NI Executive announced relaxations to the Coronavirus restrictions which included agreement that museums and galleries could re-open from the 3rd July 2020.
07 July 2020
Since Lockdown NI local Museum Managers have been communicating on a regular basis, most recently regarding the challenges to re-opening.
Some key observations during Lockdown and as we move into this new relaxed phase:
- Museums are resilient organisations and will flex and adapt
- No accredited museum opened on 3rd July, or is likely to open before the July holiday period
- Local museum across NI are at different stages of preparedness for re-opening
- There will be a staggered re-opening of accredited local museums over the next few months
- Many staff are still on furlough
- There is a cost to re-opening to ensure that social distancing guidelines are followed; there is also a cost to working at home (e.g. IT equipment)
- Digital infrastructure, good and not so good, continues to impact on the working from home experience
- What will re-opening look like? It will include reduced opening hours, ticketed times, managed tours and restricted access to areas within the museums
- Some museums may not be able to open, or may find it financial unsustainable to re-open, and may remain closed to the public for several more months
- The visitor experience will be fundamentally different upon re-opening
- Online resources have proved popular with the public during Lockdown and will continue to be developed
- Social media has also enabled museums to remain engaged with audiences
- Antedotal evidence suggests that some museums have attracted new audiences during Lockdown and re-opening offers new potential audiences
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