Glasgow galleries are more popular but Edinburgh's get all the cash

WE continue our investigation today of whether Glasgow is being fairly treated by government with a comparison which shows how its galleries and museums get their funding from city taxpayers while Edinburgh's main attractions are backed by millions of pounds from central government...

IT'S raining heavily and tourists visiting Glasgow's world-renowned Burrell Collection aren't viewing the exhibits - they're more intent on making sure they don't trip over the buckets catching drips from its leaky roof.

It's been a problem for 10 years but at a cost of around £5million, the repairs will have to wait.

If money couldn't be found for them when times were good, what chance is there of them being given priority when schools are being closed to save money and people everywhere are losing their jobs on a daily basis?

If the same problem affected the less popular National Galleries or National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, there would have been little difficulty finding the money.

That's because they get Scottish Government support - over the last financial year alone they've had access to more than £41m.

For the National Galleries it amounted to £12.2m, plus £1.26m for purchases, and £1.23m for the Scottish National Portrait Gallery project capital costs.

Just a few streets away, the National Museum of Scotland gets even more taxpayers' cash.

Its running costs this year are £21m. Then there's the £710,000 for purchases and £5.26m for capital projects such as the Royal Museum and the Museum of Flight.

Glasgow gets a share of £500,000 from a central government fund which supports museums and galleries throughout Scotland with recognised collections of national significance.

It's nothing compared to the millions available to Edinburgh yet Glasgow foots the bill for running Kelvingrove, the Burrell, Fossil Grove, Gallery of Modern Art, the Museums Resource Centre, Martyrs School, McLellan Galleries, the Transport Museum, Open Museum, People's Palace and Winter Gardens, Pollok House, Provand's Lordship, St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art and Scotland Street School Museum.

That is costing city council taxpayers £14m this year and the new £74m Riverside Museum has received no government funding.

Bailie Liz Cameron, chairwoman of Culture and Sport Glasgow, believes that is "perverse", particularly when other big UK cities benefit from central government handouts.

She said: "All we're asking for is recognition that Glasgow's cultural estate brings added value to Scotland's economy.

"It is simply perverse cities such as Leeds, Bradford, Liverpool and Manchester receive tens of millions of pounds in national funding for a handful of museums, while Glasgow, with its 13 museums, receives not a single penny.

"Times are tough and the public purse is tight, but Glasgow should be applauded for continuing to invest so heavily."

Despite the financial handicap, Glasgow spends £70m a year on Culture and Sport in what officials believe is the highest per capita spend on leisure and culture by any UK local authority.

The facilities are used by 14m people a year and they say it's outstanding value for money, working out at around £5 a head.

And, of course, the four million people who visit the galleries and museums get in for free. That compares to £20 for a visit to the National Museum and £12 to go round the National Galleries.

As Culture and Sport Glasgow's director of development and commercial operations Anthony McReavy says, Glasgow offers a "phenomenal bargain".

The value of Glasgow's cultural centres is huge - not just to the local economy but also because of the number of foreign tourists they attract.

Research shows they generate up to £180m for Glasgow and about £95m of that is from overseas tourists. So as well as providing a service to Glaswegians and other Scots, they are also a major contributor to the Scottish economy.

Glasgow's museums have been described by the director of the British Museum, Professor Neil McGregor, as galleries of international standing which should be recognised nationally.

Under increasing budgetary pressures because of the recession, council leader Steven Purcell knows how valuable an asset the cultural treasures are in bringing in tourists.

He said: "The city is rightly proud of its museums and galleries, but the failure to provide first-class funding for our world-class museums threatens our ability to invest in their future."

Kelvingrove is top for visitor numbers

KELVINGROVE Art Gallery and Museum remains Scotland's most visited attraction.

Last year a global survey placed it 14th in the world just behind the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg and ahead of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Uffizi gallery in Florence, Italy, and the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam, Holland.

Visitors for the past 12 months have not been finalised but in 2007 almost 4.2million people visited Glasgow's art galleries and museums.

Kelvingrove attracted 2,232,475 visitors, compared with 937,770 for the National Galleries in Edinburgh and 841,849 for the National Museum in the same year.

Over the same period, Edin-burgh Castle recorded 1,229,703 visitors.

The full list of visitor figures for Glasgow in 2007 were: