Michele Rivet
Michèle Rivet, C.M., is a retired Quebec jurist, first president of the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal, and Vice-Chair of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights board who now leads ICOM research on public museum funding.
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APPEARANCES
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PODCASTS
Sep 29, 2026
Carol ScottHOST
Gosh, so with all of this, what did your study find about the impact of public funding decline on museums?
Michele RivetGUEST
The decrease in many cases has resulted in reduced visitor attendance, fewer in-house and outreach programs, operational challenges, and job losses.
Michele RivetGUEST
First, in some countries, reduced resources for developing public programs resulted a drop in attendance, which then resulted in a further decrease in state funding.
Michele RivetGUEST
Second, as museums' own source of revenues decline overall, promotional activities would be limited, and museums produce fewer exhibitions.
Michele RivetGUEST
Third, in some countries, the flow-on effect of the COVID pandemic has had the effect of reducing the number of museums opening days.
5 MINS LATER
Carol ScottHOST
So what did your study reveal about how museums are responding to decreases in ongoing operational funding?