Culture's value

What is more concerning, however, is that these cash-flow problems are being experienced now before the deepest funding cuts have hit the town hall budget which pays for much of their running costs.

Sadly, the Steel City missed out on the UK City of Culture title and the economic benefits that this accolade would have brought Sheffield and the wider region.

Now it emerges that for the second time in three years the trust responsible for running the city's museums and galleries is short of money, despite staff taking the admirable step of agreeing to a pay cut.

Museum Sheffield's bosses argue that the trust operates efficiently but is simply "critically under-funded".

A short-term cash flow can be easily solved but the long-term problem facing Sheffield's museums, and 150 similar attractions across Yorkshire, is much more difficult: how do they cope with the inevitable drop in state funding?

In this age of austerity, when so much attention is given to the impact of spending cuts on jobs, the economic recovery and frontline public services, the importance of celebrating Yorkshire's art, culture and heritage is in danger of being overlooked.

However, the region's museums are not only valuable resources in their own right – but also key assets to Yorkshire's tourist industry which continues to underpin the local economy.

Finding a way to maintain them as popular visitor attractions in the face of funding cuts is, therefore, not a luxury but a financial necessity.