Hot on the heels of the news that the operation of St David's Hall could be handed over to Academy Music Group (AMG) - an organisation with a track record of largely dreadful, soulless, profit-maximising venues - comes the revelation that another of Cardiff's council-run cultural assets is under threat.
Proposals have been tabled to move the Museum of Cardiff (formerly the Cardiff Story Museum) out of its current home in the Old Library on the Hayes, possibly to an alternative location or possibly transforming it into a mobile exhibition.
It should be acknowledged that Cardiff Council are clearly in a very difficult position, confronted with spiralling costs and an urgent need to making significant savings. In a consultation exercise earlier this year, respondents suggested that the Council's top three priorities should be education and youth services, supporting vulnerable children and families, and supporting vulnerable adults and older people. It's hard to argue that those shouldn't be at the top of the agenda.
And yet the way in which the Museum of Cardiff proposal is framed is very odd, focused on the suggestion that it should be relocated to a "more suitable" place. What could possibly be more suitable for a museum about Cardiff's past and present than a historic building right at the heart of the city?
If the concern is a lack of footfall, that could easily be rectified if they actually bothered to advertise its existence. It has appeal for all ages, and its hands-on exhibits have been a favourite of my son ever since we moved here in 2016.
What's more, as conservator Jane Henderson has pointed out, the museum was established with the help of lottery funding - so the proposal would undo that work and quite possibly make those who hold the lottery purse-strings less inclined to invest in Cardiff-based projects in future.
Perhaps most damning, though, is what the move would signify. In a tweet, Cardiff Civic Society noted that they have "previously expressed concerns about the erasure of working-class history in the city", and that the current proposal represents "the same approach" towards an institution that has defined itself as "an actively activist museum".
The plans to welcome the Museum of Military Medicine to the Bay with open arms at the same time as failing/refusing to find the funds to reopen the Butetown History & Arts Centre have already caused consternation and anger. The eviction of the Museum of Cardiff would be another deeply problematic decision, betraying a lack of interest in keeping the memory of the city's vibrant multicultural, multiethnic heritage alive - and perhaps even quite the opposite.
The public consultation on the proposal kicks off this Friday (23rd), so here's hoping that it's knocked back by the weight of local opposition.
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