Aabid Abrahams, Iziko Museums of South Africa
As the coronavirus pandemic continues on, many museums across South Africa are rapidly responding to the changing situation. Institutions of all sizes are confronted with uncertainties, with no specific date for when the Covid-19 crisis might recede. Most museums are forced to shut their doors, as they evaluate difficult decisions about programming and staffing although maintaining their mission to serve the surrounding communities with insufficient returns.
Many other industries have gradually reopened, museums are reopening as well in a slow and gradual wave. One could say larger institutions such as Iziko South African Museum with corporate structures and with larger reserves as well as their social media influence, are more able to resurface with less strain. The more vulnerable institutes are the medium and small-size museums, which are regularly used for important gatherings for the surrounding communities.
The working environment has defiantly not been the same since the emergence of Covid-19. The environment which one works in has dramatically changed since the introduction of safety measures to reduce and avoid any contact with Covid-19, which ensures the safety of staff members. Staff members would either work from home or they are allocated days that they would come in to work on site and rotating staff members to ensure 50 percent capacity in any given work space. Most staff have ensured safety measures when coming to work as well, by avoiding public transport and reducing their “covid-19 footprint”.
With many questions abound about how museums will operate as the pandemic recedes, an important one is how they are being funded. Indicating a huge test of financial resilience, the Covid-19 pandemic has defiantly led to an increase in the transparency about institutional finances, thus for many museums, this pandemic could present an opportunity to rethink the funding strategies that are in place and visualize new sustainable models.