Each year, Museum Development and the Arts Council conduct the ‘Annual Museum survey’; a comprehensive survey of all things museums (including industrial sites), from visitor numbers to social media followers to staff numbers. Each year’s report holds valuable data that better allows us to understand the sector’s priorities, needs and challenges.
In collaboration with PS Research, all of the Annual Museum Surveys from 2019 – 2024 – have been analysed giving a comprehensive insight into the evolving state of the museums sector right from the eve of Covid-19 to last year. The key findings are:
- Opening hours have shown a gradual and sustained recovery since the pandemic. However, opening hours in more than a third (36%) of museums are down from 2019-20.
- While opening hours have recovered, visitor numbers are yet to return to pre-pandemic levels.
- Museums are engaging more education providers than they were in 2019-20.
- Social media following of museums has grown significantly since 2019-20.
- Overall, staffing numbers have changed little since 2019-20. However, contract hires as a percentage of hires is increasing.
- The number of museum volunteers has generally recovered to pre-pandemic levels, but 2 in 5 museums still record lower numbers.
The report is interactive and available now, you can read it on the Arts Council website.
Industrial Heritage Networks 