Comment: Two sides should settle differences

Apr 28 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

ON THE face of it, it looks like a childish spat. National Museums Liverpool (NML) has ordered the Friends of National Museums Liverpool (FNML) out of its Albert Dock headquarters, after differences of opinion and a breakdown in relations between the two bodies.

It means the FNML, set up to give financial support and arrange volunteering in Liverpool’s museums and galleries, has effectively been disbanded and had its privileges – including advance viewings of new exhibitions – withdrawn.

Instead, NML has set up a new membership scheme that will be run by the institution itself.

At the heart of the matter is an ongoing disagreement between the FNML and NML about the way the museums are being run, and specifically the focus of the International Slavery Museum.

The NML accuses the chairman and the board of trustees of FNML of being "unsupportive" of the work of NML and pursuing its own agendas.

The FNML, for its part, criticises NML for "dumbing down" its exhibitions and museums.

This unseemly row is the last thing NML needs after a string of high-profile setbacks, which include the prospect of legal action from sacked Danish architects 3XN over the new Museum of Liverpool under construction at Mann Island.

And, certainly, the abrupt dismissal of FNML – which has given more than £800,000 in grants to NML to purchase artefacts and items, on top of hundreds of thousands of hours in unpaid volunteer time over the years – smacks of paranoia and a lack of confidence at the top of this important institution.

Rather than engaging in a very public war of words, it is hoped that both sides can sit down and try to resolve their differences, for the good of Liverpool’s cultural life.