Introduction

The early 21st century brought considerable changes to the way museums and universities were constituted and understood. Initiatives like the UK government-funded Renaissance in the Regions programme encouraged museums to broaden their audiences and think of themselves as lifelong educators, situating learning at the centre of museum practice. However, ongoing funding problems within the museum sector continued to contribute to an erosion of curatorial skills as specialist roles were replaced with more general posts. At the same time, the university sector saw an increasing emphasis on the importance of the Higher Education Funding Council for England, which wanted academics in the UK to share their work beyond the academy. In addition, the introduction and steady increase of student fees and the rapid expansion of the student body (Arnold-Foster and Speight, 2010) led universities to place a greater emphasis on student employability and ‘real world’ engagement.

Decreasing public subsidy has been an issue for both sectors, with teaching grants rescinded for all but science, technology, engineering and maths subjects and some of the social sciences in 2011, placing particular strains on arts, design and humanities departments. Museums have suffered similar problems, seeing a reduction in Renaissance funding, cuts to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, pressure on local government spending and increased competition for grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Arts Council England. These circumstances have encouraged museums and universities to think creatively about ways of delivering their core obligations of research, knowledge exchange and public engagement through collaborations with new partners. This chapter aims to explore how museum-university partnerships can be activated to form mutually beneficial, sustainable relationships through two case studies from the Share Academy initiative.

Share Academy

Share Academy, a partnership between University College London, University of the Arts London and the London Museums Group, was set up in 2012 in response to the emerging cultural and economic landscape. Share Academy was born of a belief that, in a world where everyone was being asked to do more with reduced resources, universities and museums had a lot to offer one another. Universities tend to have greater experience of managed risk taking, critical thinking and academic research while museums bring their incredible collections, subject specific knowledge and a superior understanding of how to take complex subject matter and render it in ways the general public can understand.