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September 2023 - Culture and Heritage

Survey of Welsh museums finds that there are 32% fewer volunteers than there were pre-pandemic: A survey of museums in Wales has found that there are a third fewer volunteers in the museum workforce than there were pre-pandemic. It also found that visitor numbers have recovered to 69% of the levels seen in 2019, with more than a third reporting continued disruption to their normal operating pattern.

The Museum Spotlight Survey 2022 looked at the state of museums in Wales in 2022 following the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. It plays a "unique role in monitoring and assessing the ongoing health of the museum sector in Wales", according to the government website.

A key finding of the annual research was that visitor numbers, learning activities and volunteer participation all remain below pre-pandemic levels.

However, the research also found that university museums have increased their volunteer numbers, with independent museums also being more successful at maintaining their volunteer headcount than national and local authority governed organisations.

Annual visitors and learning services

In 2019 the number of annual visitors was recorded at 4,333,520, which compares to just 3,011,763 in 2022, with museums also reporting facing challenges when it comes to attracting schools back to visit.

The survey also looked at the learning services offered by museums in Wales, finding that in 2022, learning participants for formal and informal sessions are growing again although there is still some way to go before they match pre-pandemic levels. For example, in 2022 there were 7,619 sessions offered overall, compared to 29,950 in 2019. There were 5,463 formal sessions recorded in 2022 compared to almost twice that number in 2019 (10,387). When it comes to informal learning sessions there was a huge difference revealed, with 2,156 available in 2022 compared with 19,563 pre-pandemic.

The research also highlighted how many participants took part in the sessions, with 908,818 recorded in 2019 compared with 319,664 in 2022.

Face to face learning sessions

In 2022, 70,506 participants took part in face-to-face learning sessions with the majority of the sessions available being delivered at national museums (1,069) followed by independent museums (739) and local authority museums (452). There were also 175 sessions provided at university museums with 70 taking place at National Trust sites. 

In terms of informal learning sessions, 69,146 participants took part, with independent museums offering the most sessions (1,148) followed by local authority (566) and the National Trust (203). University museums held 46 informal learning sessions, whilst national museums offered no face-to-face informal learning sessions at all, found the research.

You can find out more here: www.gov.wales/museum-spotlight-survey-2022

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