Annual Report 2019/2020 Contents II President’s Foreword IV Secretary and Chief Executive’s Introduction VI Key figures IX pp. 1–63 Annual Report and Consolidated Financial Statements for the year ended 31 August 2020 XI Appendices Royal Academy of Arts Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W1J 0BD Telephone 020 7300 8000 royalacademy.org.uk The Royal Academy of Arts is a registered charity under Registered Charity Number 1125383 Registered as a company limited by a guarantee in England and Wales under Company Number 6298947 Registered Office: Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W1J 0BD © Royal Academy of Arts, 2020 Covering the period Portrait of Rebecca Salter PRA. Photo © Jooney Woodward. 1 September 2019 – Portrait of Axel Rüger. Photo © Cat Garcia. 31 August 2020 Contents I President’s I was so honoured to be elected as the Academy’s 27th President by my fellow Foreword Academicians in December 2019. It was a joyous occasion made even more special with the generous support of our wonderful staff, our loyal Friends, Patrons and sponsors. I wanted to take this moment to thank you all once again for your incredibly warm welcome. Of course, this has also been one of the most challenging years that the Royal Academy has ever faced, and none of us could have foreseen the events of the following months on that day in December when all of the Academicians came together for their Election Assembly. I never imagined that within months of being elected, I would be responsible for the temporary closure of the Academy on 17 March 2020 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Our first thought was for the safety of the public and our staff, but then immediately we realised how vital it would be for people to be able to continue to experience beauty, joy, humour and the sublime during this difficult time. Even though our doors were closed to the public, the important work of the Royal Academy continued in lockdown and our community adapted to exceptional circumstances with imagination and resilience which is entirely typical of the artist- led Royal Academy. As well as creating extraordinary digital content allowing people to experience the best of the Royal Academy, such as beautifully filmed videos of exhibitions including Picasso and Paper, which they could no longer access in person, we also worked hard to strengthen our community with the elections of both a new Keeper, Cathie Pilkington RA, and a Treasurer, Peter St. John (of Adam Caruso and Peter St. John RA). For the first time in our history, the Council of the Royal Academy met fortnightly online to ensure that the business of the Royal Academy was able to continue smoothly. I would like to personally thank all the Royal Academicians and staff for their tremendous dedication and consistent support for the Academy during this difficult year. In 2019/20, we also welcomed the election of painter Rana Begum in December 2019. In addition, Professor Sir Timothy Berners-Lee OM, Issey Miyake and Zadie Smith were elected Honorary Fellows. Scott Mead was appointed as a Corresponding Member and Professor Adrian Forty was appointed as Honorary Curator of Architecture. Sadly, our community also lost four Royal Academicians. We were saddened to learn of the deaths of the architects Edward Cullinan RA and Paul Koralek RA, the painter Jeffrey Camp RA and the sculptor John Wragg RA. However, the Royal Academy is not a venue that was designed for silence and it was both touching and astonishing to see the appetite of our Friends and supporters to return to the Royal Academy when we were permitted to reopen in July, and despite the limited numbers that we could allow into the building due to social distancing measures, it was particularly moving to see people seizing the opportunity to engage with art without the distraction of crowds. As the Royal Academy is independently funded, we could not have survived without the loyalty and generosity of our Friends and Supporters. Although it has occasionally been a struggle to stay positive, this strange year has also given the Royal Academy the opportunity to refocus on our core mission and values to ensure that we will continue to be a welcoming and inspiring home for art and architecture in the years ahead. Rebecca Salter PRA President of the Royal Academy II President’s Foreword III Secretary and Tuesday 17 March 2020 will be a date ingrained in the history of the Royal Chief Executive’s Academy for a long time to come, the day we closed our doors to the public due Introduction to the Coronavirus pandemic. Nothing could have prepared us for this day and the weeks that followed. Our beloved RA came to a sudden and unexpected halt, and what made it particularly difficult at that moment was that we were stepping into an uncertain future, without any perspective as to when we might be able to welcome our Friends and visitors again. The closure meant that several changes had to be made very quickly to our 2019/20 programme. Picasso and Paper and Léon Spilliaert were extended, and Gauguin and the Impressionists: Masterpieces from the Ordrupgaard Collection was postponed. For the first time in its long history, the Summer Exhibition 2020 moved to the autumn, thus becoming more of a ‘Winter Exhibition’. Regrettably, we also had to cancel two exhibitions; Angelica Kauffman and Cézanne: The Rock and Quarry Paintings. We are acutely aware of the work and scholarship that our curators and exhibition teams had put into these exhibitions. I would therefore like to take this opportunity to thank them along with all our lenders and partners who have been so accommodating to help us reschedule our programme while also doing their best to plan for the future. I also wish to express my gratitude to the Academy’s dedicated and hardworking staff. I have been so impressed by how my colleagues have coped with the challenging situations we have found ourselves in, and their camaraderie and support has sustained me and the Senior Leadership Team throughout. Within a day or two of the closure in March, we were working in new ways from home, meeting on digital platforms to allow us to steer the RA through the uncharted waters we found ourselves in. A core team of essential staff remained onsite during the closure period, safeguarding our buildings and checking on the facilities and works of art in our care. In all of this, we have been greatly supported by our President, Rebecca Salter RA, the Members of Council, the Royal Academy Trust, guided by its Chair, Lady Alison Myners, the Friends Board and its Chair, Clive Humby, and our committees. Closure of the RA during lockdown has placed our finances in a particularly precarious position. Unlike most of our peer organisations, the RA does not receive any public funding, and so we are reliant upon the support of visitors, donors, sponsors and especially our loyal Friends. We lessened the financial impact of closure through emergency fundraising campaigns, cost-cutting measures and nationwide government initiatives including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. However, the global pandemic has caused a sharp fall in our revenue, with our doors closed to the public for a considerable period and we are now faced with significant financial challenges. As a result, the Senior Leadership Team had to embark on a strategic review of the RA and its operations. Now more than ever, the need for retrenchment where we dramatically reduce our level of activity and consolidate our core activities to ensure the long-term survival of the Academy is needed. Unfortunately, this will also mean a reduction of our workforce, for which we had to enter a Collective Consultation process earlier in the autumn. Our foremost concern is sustainability, protecting the future of the Academy while allowing it to continue to be a beacon of hope and creativity and a source of inspiration, now more urgently needed than ever. One thing this year has taught us at the RA is our overwhelming ability to adapt and harness the moment, ensuring we continue to provide inspiration, solace, community, engagement and fun to our audiences, be that digitally or in person. It is our strong desire to continue to do what we do so well while offering an inclusive Axel Rüger and equitable environment for our visitors, staff and students. While we will need Secretary and Chief Executive courage and resilience for the time ahead, it is with the RA’s spirit in mind that I look forward with hope to the coming year. IV Secretary and Chief Executive’s Introduction V Note: The Royal Academy of Arts, Exhibitions 2019/20 established in 1768 by Royal Charter, was incorporated as a company Key figures limited by guarantee on 2 July 2007 Paid Friends Free Daily Average Total Attendance under company registration number 06298947 and is registered with the Helene Schjerfbeck 68, 410 Charity Commission under charity 23, 271 40, 078 5, 061 684 registration number 1125383. The Royal Academy of Arts has three Antony Gormley 132, 369 116, 223 35, 682 3, 842 284, 274 trading subsidiaries, R.A. Enterprises Limited, Burlington House Limited and Lucian Freud: The Self-portraits 60, 517 58, 3 91 14, 796 1, 502 133, 704 RA (Arts) Limited, the results for which are consolidated within the financial Eco-Visionaries: Confronting a statements. planet in a state of emergency 20, 286 17, 764 8, 476 517 46, 526 The figures quoted on the facing page Picasso and Paper (pre-closure) 44, 502 61, 645 11, 871 2, 227 118, 018 are drawn from the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities (“SOFA”), which form part of the Picasso and Paper (extended) 1, 364 5, 516 977 491 7, 8 57 audited financial statements, and represent the income and expenditure Léon Spilliaert (pre-closure) 3, 626 7, 878 1,190 529 12, 694 from ongoing activities and therefore exclude the Burlington Project financial Léon Spilliaert (extended) 1, 411 3, 822 162 154 5, 395 activities.