Spring also brought the Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces’ quality assessment of the entire Museum Salling. The assessment is first and foremost very positive news, but it also means saying goodbye to an old acquaintance – the museum’s Greenlandic collection.
“The overall assessment is “satisfactory” – which the museum’s board and management are very happy about and proud of,” says a happy museum director Per Lunde Lauridsen. “The last time the museum was assessed in 2016, the report gave the museum a lot of knocks. But the employees, management and board have since then – well supported by Skive Municipality – worked hard to improve conditions. And we must say that they have succeeded,” says Per Lunde Lauridsen.
The report contains a number of positive assessments and points with very satisfactory results. For example, the Board is very pleased that the museum has established a main storage facility so that the majority of the stored objects are preserved under optimal conditions” (extract from page 14 of the report). It is also very satisfactory that the museum has many volunteers, extensive research in the field of nature, many and varied communication and teaching programs, and that the museum works based on an overall and ambitious strategy for the museum’s overall activities in the period 2021-2025, to name a few.
Order on Fur
The Agency for Culture and Palaces has also pointed out opportunities for improvement, which Museum Salling is already in the process of finding solutions to – and has one year to rectify.
“The Agency was not satisfied with some of the remaining storage facilities at Fur. Some of this was fixed in connection with the extension and rebuilding of the welcome building, but we have not yet had the resources to reorganize some of the storerooms, even though this has been a wish of the staff at Fur Museum for some time,” says Per Lunde Lauridsen.
But the museum director already has the solution at hand: He explains that a few weeks ago, Museum Salling – like all other Danish museums – unexpectedly received around DKK 250,000 from Minister of Culture Jakob Engel-Schmidt for the collections area. “We have used the money to get the storage conditions at Fur in order as soon as possible. It’s a real relief to get an unexpected financial boost,” says Per Lunde Lauridsen.
A collection returns home
The new quality assessment also means a final farewell to something that Museum Salling has cherished for many years: the Greenlandic collection. Already in 2016, the collection was criticized by the Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces, and now there is no way around it – Museum Salling has asked the Greenland National Museum if they will accept the collection so that the items can return home.
“It will no doubt be emotional for some of the locals, but it makes perfect sense for Greenland that more of the collected Greenlandic objects return – and contribute to the Greenlandic sense of identity and cultural heritage” says Per Lunde Lauridsen and notes: “But we will of course keep our iconic polar bear, as it plays an important role for the Skibonites”.
At the Greenland National Museum, the offer to take over the collection was received positively: “We see great value in the collection – to develop our knowledge of Greenlandic cultural history” says Deputy Director Christian Koch Madsen, Greenland National Museum.
Victories and difficult changes
The Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces’ quality assessment will be included in the management and board’s strategy work and decision-making processes.
“The report’s positive assessment shows that in recent years, Museum Salling has taken a long, tough step and managed to make significant progress in terms of quality. This is a victory we can only be satisfied with,” says Morten Enggaard, Chairman of the Board of Museum Salling:
“It’s no secret that 2023 in particular was a year of very difficult changes at Museum Salling. Among other things, the museum had to lay off six valued employees for financial reasons, which was a difficult situation for everyone. A good and satisfactory quality assessment is therefore good news, which helps to lift the mood at the museum,” says Morten Enggaard.
The Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces’ quality assessment can be seen HERE
For further information please contact us:
Museum Manager Per Lunde Lauridsen
T: 99156870
