Increased funding is needed to meet the rising costs of running national institutions, according to museum and gallery directors.
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National Museum of Australia director Andrew Sayers said it was becoming increasingly expensive to simply keep the building open and the collection safe.
''All those things are constantly rising in terms of the costs and we're really challenged in that the funding hasn't risen correspondingly,'' he said.
''No matter how successful we might be in terms of raising private sector funds to fund acquisitions or to fund special exhibitions, actually running these organisations, just the infrastructure is something that is increasingly challenged in terms of funding.''
National Gallery of Australia director Ron Radford said that the economic environment was presenting serious challenges.
''Costs go up for power [and] we've got a larger gallery now to maintain,'' he said. ''Any additional funding would be helpful.''
Mr Radford said fundraising for acquisitions and sponsorship could ''very possibly'' be the direction of future funding after recording an all-time high throughout the past financial year. ''We had a record in our own funding for acquisitions and for sponsorships of $16million,'' he said.
''All together, we raised about $27.5million which is about 46 per cent of our funding.''
Mr Radford said the gallery was also working within the constraints of the efficiency dividend.
''When staff left, we didn't replace some of them,'' he said. ''But some of them will be replaced this year.''
The Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee issued revised figures on the impact of the efficiency dividend yesterday, with the cumulative effect on the National Gallery from 2007-08 through to 2010-11 estimated at $2.942 million.
ACT Liberal Senator Gary Humphries said the updated figure represented a further $169,000 than estimated in July.
''The cumulative impact of the Government's efficiency dividend on our national institutions has ripped further funding from their already depleted budgets,'' Senator Humphries said.
The figures also included updated estimated impacts on the National Library at $3.964million, the National Film and Sound Archive at $1.449million, and the National Archives of Australia at $4.855million. Stephanie Anderson
