Economic impact of museums in the East Midlands – the results are in

November 19, 2013

In early 2013, Museum Development East Midlands in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, developed and distributed a survey to museums and heritage sites across the East Midlands.

The aim of the survey was to help prove the value and economic importance of museums both locally and regionally, to produce a tool to support you in promoting regional museums to stakeholders and funders.

Of the 225 museums across the East Midlands, 75 completed and returned the 2012 survey, equating to a third of all museums in our region.

Here are a few of our findings…

  • The total number of visitors to museums from survey returns totalled nearly 2m – this extrapolated across the region could mean around 6m people visited museums in the East Midlands during 2012.
  • There are around 400 Full Time Employed (FTE) staff working at the 57 museums who completed this question and 2470 volunteers. We estimate there are nearer to 9750 volunteers across all the region’s museums.
  • Respondent museums spent over £5m on goods and services locally.
  • Last year’s survey returns showed a 6% increase from the year before – however, we need to increase this figure further to really show the impact of museums in the region.
  • The most completed surveys were returned from Lincolnshire with 24 returned from a possible 54.
  • The least number were returned from Derbyshire and Northamptonshire.

In the New Year, Museum Development East Midlands and Nottingham Trent will produce a survey to capture economic impact information for 2013.

Keep an eye on your email inbox, MDEM website, our e-newsletters and on Twitter (@MusDevEM) for further updates and the release of our final report.

For more information about the survey and results, please contact Claire Browne, Regional Museum Development Manager, claire.browne@leics.gov.uk.

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