First thing off the top of my head: get our GLAM contacts in order and
ask them:
"We can't do political lobbying. But what can we do to help?"
It's reasonably clear that this is an ambit claim to see who kicks up
a fuss - like when the BBC discovered people love 6 Music, and that
their Asian Network demographic preferred 6 Music ;-)
So it strikes me as feasible that a fuss in the general name of the
arts is reasonably within WMUK's charitable objectives and won't
violate anyone's expectations of neutrality. It'll also be powerful
signaling that Wikimedia are one of the few thoroughly Internet groups
to actively work for the preservation of culture. (Much as, as Geni
has noted, we're the only web 2.0 site to give a hoot about
copyright.)
It will be worth remaining cognisant, of course, of the Iron Law of
Institutions: we care about the collections themselves, the museum
boards care about their power over the money per se and secondarily
about what it's spent on.
But the first step remains: offer them our help and ask what we, as
huge fans of museums and what they do, can do to help.
- d.