Covid: Liverpool museums launch appeal to avoid cuts

A museums group whose donations dropped by 95% during the coronavirus pandemic has set up a fundraising appeal in a bid to avoid making cuts.

National Museums Liverpool welcomed 200,000 visitors in 2020 compared to the usual three million per year.

Head of development Rowena Dean said: "We usually get £400,000 a year through donation boxes so you can see how devastating that is."

The group aims to raise £5,000 by mid-June.

It runs seven attractions including the International Slavery Museum, Merseyside Maritime Museum and the Walker Art Gallery.

The venues reopened last summer but were closed again when further restrictions kicked in.

Last autumn about 100 jobs came under threat after the pandemic caused its income to fall by about £5.9m.

Ms Dean said: "We received funding from the government, which goes a long way to do what we need to do, but it by no means covers absolutely everything.

"For every £1 we get, we need to generate another 45p and that's from shops, cafes and donations - obviously we've not been able to do any of that over recent months.

"Even while we have not had visitors in the building, the work still goes on.

"We've still been feeding the fish, caring for those collections, planning exhibitions, looking after those buildings. So a huge amount has been going on."

Tickets to all the museums remain free of charge, but people must now book online before visiting for test-and-trace purposes.

Those making reservations are also urged to donate online.

Earlier this year the national Art Fund charity told how many museums and galleries were fighting for survival during the pandemic.

Ms Dean said their fund-raising efforts would not cover all their losses "but absolutely everything helps".

She added: "It's really important that we don't have to make those really difficult cuts and that we can continue to provide the full offer."

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