Cultural Services Annual Report 2012/13

The four service delivery areas are:

The four main service delivery areas are now: Ÿ Halls and Music Development Ÿ Fine and Applied Art Ÿ Museum Services Ÿ Learning and Engagement

Cultural Services provide the operation, management, development and promotion of arts, heritage, cultural and services throughout the city through access to high quality educational resources, promoting inclusion in delivering outreach activities.

Facts and Figures

Ÿ The continues to deliver a varied programme of performances, conferences, events and graduations with 380 taking place. The total attendance of the Caird Hall was up for the third year with 147,916 a 9% increase on the previous year. Ÿ The McManus attendance figures were 168,173 which was 7% above last year. Ÿ Cultural Services hosted Ten Drawings by Leonardo – A Diamond Jubilee exhibition from the Royal Collection in The McManus and the second in a series of four partnership exhibitions with V&A London Selling Dreams: One Hundred Years of Fashion Photograph. Ÿ The Creative Learning programme delivered 334 events and activities to 5,205 children, young people and adults. Ÿ Museums Galleries funded “Driving Forward: The Dundee Transport Collection” to research and document transport related objects in the museum collection. www.leisureandculturedundee.com/culture Caird Hall The Caird Hall is Dundee's major arts, entertainment and conference venue staging a wide ranging programme of events throughout the year. The building is Grade A listed and has a four star theatre grading awarded by Visit Scotland. Despite being in the midst of a recession the bookings for the Caird Hall continued to be buoyant as well as attracting new event promoters to the city. In total we hosted 380 events with an audience figure of 147,916. The Caird Hall is critical to the cultural mix of the City bringing additional business and revenue to the local economy. It is also used by local event organisers and promoters, schools, universities, churches etc. The Caird Hall is on the national touring circuit for major concerts, conferences and events. The programme is constantly changing to ensure engagement with an ever demanding local and national audience. The year opened in April with Scotland's best loved play – “The Steamie” celebrating 25 years, with six performances. The Show provided so many memories for the members of the audience a number of whom had been to the local steamie with their mothers. Dundee Football Club held a Dinner celebrating with the members of the original team, VIP guests and over 650 fans, the winning of the Scottish League 50 years ago. A grand night for all. Other highlights included Resurrection Day, Madama Butterfly, The Boys' Brigade Brass Band Competition and the Order of the Eastern Star and Jehovah Witnesses Spring Conventions. The Indie Rock Band The Vaccines rocked May followed closely by the Solid Solver 60's Show, 80's Mania and Ladies of Country. The first fundraising Concert by Dundee Philharmonic Chorus and Orchestra was warmly welcomed by the audience. Other events included the Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers, Nor' East of Scotland cat show and Tayside Contracts Awards dinner. The Educational Institute of Scotland held their AGM in June and the Guiding Association celebrated their Jubilee. Jimmy Carr returned with his Gagging Order Tour to a full house. His Holiness the Dalai Lama delivered the 2013 Margaret Harris Lecture on Religion as part of the 's Annual Graduation celebrations. It was truly a wonderful event for the Caird Hall to host and one for the history book. Presentations for local schools and football associations ended the month. The people's tenor Alfie Boe delighted a sell-out audience and the Dundee Weavers celebrated their 500th Anniversary with a tea party in the Marryat Hall. Dare Protoplay extended their event from the Caird Hall to include a Marquee in City Square providing fantastic opportunities for gamers of all ages and abilities. The Church of Scotland returned

www.leisureandculturedundee.com/culture to Dundee with the Guild AGM and over 1800 delegates attended from all parts of Scotland. Alterative comedians were the highlight of the Autumn Series including Rhod Gilbert, Stewart Francis, two nights of Frankie Boyle and an amazing four sell-out shows by Scotland's own Kevin Bridges. Deacon Blue returned to the Caird Hall on their tour Celebrating 25 years of the Raintown album, a real nostalgic gig. The Baptist Assembly of Scotland held their Annual Conference in October. An all star cast appeared in the major touring production of the Calendar Girls with eight performances and the end of 2012 saw amazing Concerts by Mumford & Sons, The Proclaimers and Dundee's own The View all with capacity audiences. One Night in Vienna welcomed 2013, the sparkling Strauss spectacular. Anton and Erin, the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, Boogie Nights the Concert and Carmina Burana were some of the highlights in spring. A new event for the venue was the Scottish Children's Book Awards, which took place in March, with over 800 primary schoolchildren attending and over 65,000 viewing the event on the Education Glow system. A long time ambition has been to have one of the original film projectors used in the Caird Hall in 1943-44 on display and this was realised in January when the restoration team from the Stockport Plaza, led by David Eve, visited the venue and completed the difficult task of moving the equipment to the foyer. The Friends of the Caird Hall Organ continue to stage fundraising events to assist in the promotion of the organ. The Silent Movie Night Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Second Organathon raised over £3,500.

Dundee City Box Office Dundee City Box Office is the main ticketing agency in Dundee providing a professional service to promoters, venues, event organisers, amateur societies and charitable groups in the area. The Box Office continues to improve the quality of service provided to all customers with the AudeinceView ticketing system and the website and online booking facility is increasing in popularity. The Whitehall re-opened its doors and the Box Office provides the ticketing service for this venue. The total number of tickets sold was 116,003.

www.leisureandculturedundee.com/culture Music Development The Soundbase Summer Slam and Soundbase Byte music workshops in July and November for 12 – 18 year olds once again proved successful and thoroughly enjoyed by all participants. The Dundee Musicians Awards received a large number of applications and the external panel of judges allocated funding to Sarah Harrop to attend an Estil voice training course as continuing professional development for Choir Leader, Nicole Vasey to audition and subsequently train at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland's Junior Conservatoire for professional voice training and local Dundee Band Mass Consensus to support the collaboration with the string section of the based The Tinderbox Orchestra on the new Mass Consensus Album. The music grants were administered on behalf of Dundee City Council providing support to the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Ensemble, Assembly Direct, Dundee Choral Union, Dundee Symphony Orchestra, Dundee Chamber Music

Club, Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, Music in Hospitals, Dundee Blues Bonanza and Children's Classics to further encourage the musical offering within the City. Scotland Sings in December, an initiative by 'Hands Up for Trad' saw a number of Dundee singing groups and choirs coming together to sing in public spaces, from the Caird Hall to the Wellgate and McManus Galleries. The Fest 'n' Furious Concert took place in February with RURA and the Lorne MacDougall Band to continue the promotion of Traditional Music within the City. World Music is embedded in the Caird Hall programme with concerts from Taiko Drumming from the Mugenkyo Group and New Orleans Jazz by Django à la Créole. A successful collaboration between Music Development and Tayside Health Arts Trust to provide 8 music workshops for the Speakeasy Group in February and March, culminated in a performance at the DCA. The Youth Music Forum continues to provide information to musicians and professionals working in music related professions, A total of 28 performances and events were staged with 1,195 participants.

Burgh Halls The total attendance for the year for the Burgh Halls was 9,163 from 526 bookings.

www.leisureandculturedundee.com/culture The McManus Exhibition Programme The McManus continued in the delivery of the temporary exhibition programme working with key national partners to bring work of national and international quality to Dundee with the delivery of three major partnership exhibitions. The year began on a high note as the successful partnership with the National Galleries of Scotland drew to an end. The McManus hosted the first in their three part Scottish Colourist Series - FCB Cadell. This show brought together all of the Cadell paintings in Dundee's public collections for the first time in many decades. There can be few people in the City who were not aware of the major exhibition Ten Drawings by Leonardo – A Diamond Jubilee exhibition from the Royal Collection. This ran at The McManus from August until November as part of a nationwide tour that attracted record numbers to every venue, surpassing all expectations. Exhibition curator Martin Clayton gave several lectures in the City and commented “For me it's the most rewarding kind of exhibition. We are putting on show some of the finest art in the world to a venue that has never seen a Leonardo drawing before… Dundee is transforming itself into a culture centre…. If Leonardo plays one small part in that then that's something extra.” The second in our series of partnership exhibitions staged as part of the V&A at Dundee's pre-opening programme was Selling Dreams: One Hundred Years of Fashion Photography. This exhibition was organised by the V&A. Key events delivered during these exhibitions were Friends & Family Day (Leonardo da Vinci), McManus Vintage Weekend and Hayley Scanlon Collection Launch (Selling Dreams). As a result of this approach, much of our Schools and Community Programme was booked in well in advance of the exhibitions opening. In order to manage the high number of visitors to the museum during Leonardo da Vinci and Selling Dreams exhibitions, Early Bird Tours were introduced. And groups were given the opportunity to visit before normal opening hours. Tours were offered free of charge and participants. We noted a significant increase in the number of self-directed group visits during the exhibition from student and community groups.

www.leisureandculturedundee.com/culture Three display projects also focussed on the City's permanent fine art collection, designated as being of national significance. Mindful of the opportunity offered by the partnership with the Royal Collection, Art Section staff initiated a research project with Professor Brendan Cassidy of the University of St Andrews. He was able to undertake new research into the City's collection of Old Master Drawings which was presented in a display which ran from August until September. Professor Cassidy's research was able to confirm that at least two of the drawings were working studies for Italian churches in Rome and in Pescia. Perhaps most excitingly, further research is required on a double-sided drawing that may reinstate its original attribution to Ludovico Carracci. The popular annual winter works on paper display in the Victoria Gallery showcased the City's collection of historic Japanese prints. The display highlighted the results of new research and on-going collections care with each print being individually remounted. Reflections from the Tay, focussed on the City's fine collection of twentieth century with the spotlight firmly on Dundee. Little known works by the artists of the Artists Circle and works by artists included in the seminal exhibition Seven Painters from Dundee were displayed alongside long-time favourites including McIntosh Patrick.

Retail Through a combination of new social media strategies and a consistent approach to customer service the McManus shop 'brand' has grown from strength to strength over the year. This visibility has allowed us to engage in exciting and exclusive new partnerships with specialist suppliers around the UK. The Retail operation has benefited significantly from the strong exhibition programme. The offerings to accompany exhibitions, particularly the Leonardo exhibition, have proved popular with visitors. This has resulted in strong growth in sales and visitor spend for the year.

Leonardo exhibition

www.leisureandculturedundee.com/culture Museum Services Projects Museum Services has a wide range of responsibilities relating to collecting, recording, and caring for archaeology, natural , social history, and world cultures collections and the buildings they are housed in. The collections and the work of the Section is shared with and communicated to our visitors in a variety of ways. Significant projects have been completed this year, many of which were generously funded by Museums Galleries Scotland. One such project was titled “Driving Dundee Forward: The Dundee Transport Collection”. It researched and better documented transport related objects in the museum collection in order to better facilitate public access to and engagement with the collection. We were successful in achieving further funding from MGS towards the publication of a photographic book showing whaling industry related images selected from the museum collection. This is due to be published towards the end of 2013. 2012 saw the completion of the project undertaken by MGS Intern, one of 20 such internships throughout Scotland. The project focussed on Dundee's Numismatics (coins and medals) collection. This proved to be a very successful project, enabling resources to be focussed on a part of the collection that had not been studied for some years. Museum Services has also been heavily involved in the development of “The Great War Dundee”, which has brought together many organisations throughout Dundee in order to coordinate the commemoration of the centenary of the First World War.

www.leisureandculturedundee.com/culture Museum Projects A Portrait of Michael Marra by Calum Colvin was created this year. The piece was unusual in that it was created by Colvin as the result of a sitting with Michael Marra in workshops held at The McManus. Marra knew The McManus and its collections well, having worked with staff on a show in 2000, selected from the City's collections, that he entitled Dissecting the Elephant. The portrait was given added poignancy as a result of Marra's premature death just months after the print was completed. The National Fund for Acquisitions, administered by National Museums Scotland assisted with the purchase of a watercolour by W.G. Burn Murdoch, which depicts a Dundee Whaling Expedition. This has become part of Dundee's Nationally Significant Whaling Collection. A further acquisition was a horse harness pendant dating to the medieval period, engraved with a butterfly design, which was discovered in Dawson Park by a metal detectorist. There have also been a number of donations relating to the Dundee gaming industry, including a Sinclair ZX81 computer, and a Lemmings 2 game for Super Nintendo. Natural Sciences acquired pieces of Augite Porphyry (a volcanic rock) by field collection. A large intrusion of this rock was found during the excavations for the foundations of the new Life Services building in Whitfield.

Loans A busy year for loans saw our collections be requested for loan to exhibitions across the country. Laura Knight's Ascot Finery tours in 'Laura Knight – In the Open Air' which opened Penlee House Gallery & Museum, Cornwall, and will travel to three venues. Leslie Hunter's magnificent Still Life was lend to the major retrospective curated by Bill Smith at the , Edinburgh and its tour to the Fleming Collection, London. Hunter's fellow Scottish Colourist SJ Peploe was shown in the second in the National Galleries of Scotland's Scottish Colourist series, to which we lent his Roses and Fan. James Morrison was the subject of a major retrospective at the Fleming Collection, to which we lent his early work Rottenrow. Closer to home, we were happy to support the loan of prints by the McKenzie sisters to St Andrews Preservation Trust. Finally, some 19 prints from The Orchar Collection were shown at the University of St Andrews and coincided with the launch of a website dedicated to the Orchar Collection prints.

www.leisureandculturedundee.com/culture Conservation and Collections Care Numerous projects have taken place in the past year to care for and conserve individual items in the collection, and ensure that Cultural Services' buildings meet appropriate environmental standards. The Museum Conservator monitors environments across buildings using a computerised system to analyse data relating to temperature and relative humidity. Systems have been upgraded at some sites, including . This has added to the data available to us, so has enabled us to control building and case environments, which has ultimately helped to preserve museum objects. The Conservator also undertook remedial conservation on a number of items, including coins and items from the transport collection. Investigations are ongoing as to how best a unique piece of Roman scale armour can be preserved for future generations, as it is currently in an extremely fragile state. It was discovered at Carpow Legionary Fortress in Perthshire during excavations

which were undertaken a number of years ago, and is in the museum collection alongside other finds from the site. We are grateful to the Trustees of the WS Phillips Trust for their ongoing support of the conservation of our collection. Last year they supported the full conservation of Alec Grieve's painting Moonlight Sonata which had been covered in a disfiguring bloom for many years. The painting was unveiled for the first time in the display Reflections from the Tay. This year the WS Phillips Trust supported the conservation of three oil paintings: Perthshire artist David Ramsay's elegant portrait of his wife Betty; Andrew Neilson is well known as an artist of Dundee street scenes, his portrait of a Heiland Laddie has been restored to quiet splendour; finally Tom Graham's Hunting Party at Stobhall has been cleaned. The latter is a fascinating work, a rare glimpse of three of Dundee's titans of industry at play. The sitters appear to have been historically misidentified. Further research is required but it may show John Mitchell Keiller, William Keiller and James Boyd resting on the Tay after a day shooting. All three paintings will go on permanent display within The McManus. Dundee-born artist David Batchelor's Waldella installation is a favourite with visitors to The McManus. The piece underwent a major programme of maintenance and is back looking at its best.

www.leisureandculturedundee.com/culture Volunteers, Research and Enquiries Volunteers are a valuable part of the team, and bring different skills, experiences and knowledge to a broad range of projects. Members of the Dundee Embroiderers' Guild created a replica Jacobite Flag to hang in The McManus in place of the real Jacobite Flag when it is covered to protect it from the harmful effects of the sun during the summer months. Ongoing projects include repacking of the shoe collection, and restoring of molluscs in the natural sciences collection. Further research was undertaken on ancient Egyptian objects, which resulted in one volunteer giving a paper at a conference in The Vatican. We have also hosted work experience students from Braeview Academy and St Paul's RC Academy in Dundee, and student placements from the Museum Studies courses at the University of St Andrews, and the . The Abertay Historical Society publication Dundee's Two Intrepid Ladies: A Tour Round the World, written by Art Curator Susan Keracher, continued to sell well. She was in much demand with local groups for her popular illustrated lecture on the lady journalists Marie Imandt and Bessie Maxwell. The Public Catalogue Foundation's full colour illustrated Catalogue of the Public Art Collections of Dundee was published. It has proved immensely popular and can be purchased from The McManus Shop for £35 with all profits going towards the further conservation of the fine art collection. The Dundee Visual Artists Awards Scheme is one of a network supported by Creative Scotland. The Scheme is supported by two panels of expert advisors. We entered into a partnership with generatorprojects to support the wider promotion of the scheme to artists. This resulted in 54 applications leading to 18 grants to artists and craft practitioners.

www.leisureandculturedundee.com/culture Storage The fit out of Art stores dedicated to easel paintings, works on paper and applied art continued over the year. Fine Art section oversaw the final relocation of into our bespoke stores with The McManus. The Museum Services Section was involved in the transfer of collection items from out stores to other stores including The Collections Unit. The entire process was documented in detail, and the items were carefully packed and moved by an expert team. In addition to this, the entomology (insect) collection was moved into higher quality storage cabinets. This has ensured that the collection, which provides vital information about the natural environment and how it has changed over the years, is preserved for future generations.

www.leisureandculturedundee.com/culture Learning & Engagement Our core areas of work are with children and families, young people, schools and communities. To ensure that our service continues to offer an inclusive approach to learning and engagement we apply a creative, tailored approach to much of our work, actively involving participants and partners in the development and delivery of our programmes. Providing access to and engagement with the city's collections of objects, artworks and historical buildings is central to our approach and we work closely with colleagues across Leisure & Culture Dundee, and with Dundee City Council and other local and national partners to develop initiatives in order to extend opportunities to our visitors and participants. In addition to our core programmes, other key learning partnerships projects and events were also delivered throughout the year. These included The Great British Story at McManus with BBC Scotland, Dundee Arts Café events with University of Dundee, Dundee Dance Walk Event with Dundee Dance Partnership, Blue Skies Festival Event at with DCA, The McIntosh Patrick Awards and Christmas Light Night Events with Dundee City Council. Development and lead-in workshops also commenced for The Big Print Project which will be delivered as part the Impact8 Print Festival 2013. Visitors to McManus also enjoyed several live music performances including a Little Bit of Tosca from Scottish Opera, Loadsoweeminsingin and French saxophonists Ensemble Oct'opus. Numerous events have taken place to encourage groups and individuals to engage with the museum collections. These have included regular “behind the scenes” tours at The Collections Unit”, and more focussed workshops such as one about the Dundee to Newtyle Railway. A costume themed event took place at The Collections Unit during the “Selling Dreams” exhibition at The McManus. We have also taken part in local and national initiative such as Dundee Science Festival and Scottish Archaeology Month. The theme for the Festival of Museums in May was Chinese calligraphy. Chinese artist Chi Zhang came to Dundee to talk on the changing style of calligraphy and held a workshop teaching the public basic ink and brush techniques. We celebrated the National Big Draw Campaign in October with drawing and printmaking activities inspired by the Leonardo da Vinci exhibition with daily activities. Visitors were invited to Drop-in and Draw! Throughout Big Draw month, we provided artist led

www.leisureandculturedundee.com/culture workshops for children, young people and adults, worked with Smallpetitklein Dance Company in a project exploring and capturing movement and transformed the Learning Studio into a giant sketch book where under 5's could draw, paint and play together.

McManus Schools Our schools menus were extended to offer new learning opportunities linked to local events and temporary exhibitions. New teacher's packs, guided tours and creative, hands on workshops for Early Years, Primary and Secondary School pupils were delivered for our three temporary exhibitions, the Dundee Weavers: Anniversary of 500 Years of the Dundee Weaver Incorporation and The Big Print Project. Tailored projects were also delivered throughout the year for Alternative Curriculum Groups, including XPLORE, ASDAN and Grey Lodge Settlement. Young people from St John's High School took part in an alternative curriculum project which linked Mills Observatory to University of Dundee's Saturday Evening Lecture series involving leading international communicators on and space, Heather Cooper and Nigel Henbest. Using the theme of the Lecture, 'Cosmic Quest: A History of Astronomy, young people explored the way that astronomy has shaped our religion, philosophy and beliefs. As part of the project young people visited Mills Observatory to find out more about the night sky, created cosmic artwork and attended the lecture at the University's Dalhousie Building. Prior to the event they were invited to meet with Heather and Nigel to discuss their project and share ideas about one of the biggest questions man has ever asked - is there life out there? CPD Sessions for Teachers and Community Group Leaders were also delivered, each session teaching staff and group leaders giving a unique opportunity to view the exhibitions after hours and to try out a selection of Learning Activities before visiting with their classes and groups.

Further Education Building on our existing learning partnership with The University of Dundee, 3rd Year Students from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art were invited to explore the links between Art and Science through Leonardo da Vinci's work and thinking. During the exhibition, the University's Art, Science & Visual Thinking module was based in the Creative Learning Studio, giving students direct access to the exhibition and to the museum's collections of objects and artworks. Students met with Martin Clayton, Curator from the Royal Collection, Susan Keracher, Curator of Art at McManus, and Professor Kate Storey from the University's Life Sciences Department and her sister, award winning British artist and designer Helen Storey. As part of their assessment, students were given an opportunity to present outcomes of their work at McManus to tutors and museum staff.

www.leisureandculturedundee.com/culture Youth Action McManus Youth Action is our core group who help shape and improve the service for all young people at The McManus. The group gives 14 - 24 year-olds from across the City opportunities to feed back their comments, ideas and suggestions and helps ensure that The McManus provides a welcoming, inspiring and enjoyable place for all young people to visit. The group was invited to take part in Scotland Creates: A Sense of Place, a national learning project led by National Museums Scotland. Work on the project started in July 2012, with young people currently investigating the history of film and photography in both Dundee and Scotland. The group have taken part in a range of activities such as digital art and animation workshops, field trips and have developed a blog to develop awareness of their project. In January 2013, the membership of the project was extended to include young people from local secondary schools and other youth groups within the city. The project will culminate with an exhibition curated by the young people.

Communities Opportunities for Groups included 'Remember When?' oral history based sessions with guided tours of the 'The Making of Modern Dundee' gallery followed by a chance to chat, share memories and listen to extracts from The McManus Life Stories oral history recordings. Partnership work with Home Scotland development workers at Mill o' Mains included recording reminiscence sessions with tenants and has been extended to support for reminiscence at the Home Scotland sheltered housing at Sinderins in Dundee's West End. Working with local Community Development partners, we established a new community outreach approach through 'Home & Away', to support engagement with non-traditional museum & gallery audiences. This engagement takes will place in a variety of LACD cultural facilities and at community venues across the City. The Learning Team also supported the Community Festival West Fest providing family art activities at the Big Sunday at Magdalen Green and through a Walking Tour of the City. A new learning theme for the communities programme was developed, Rebels with a Cause: the 1745 Jacobite Uprising in four museum objects and includes gallery talks and tours that introduces visitors to the story of the Jacobite Flag. The Learning Team also worked with Museum Services colleagues to deliver A 'Save the Colours!' to introduce visitors to new conservation measures being taken to protect the flag from sunlight exposure.

www.leisureandculturedundee.com/culture In March, McManus hosted The Knight & the Crescent Hare, an exciting week long residency with Ankur Arts Theatre Company. The Project offered new creative learning experiences for families and community groups, delivering workshops and performances that encouraged participants and audiences to explore shared cultural heritage. Four promenade gallery performances took place throughout the week and work generated during workshops was developed as an audio visual resource, inspired by objects from the museums' collections. Participants included Dundee International Women's Centre, Community Family Support Project and Adult ESOL Groups from Mitchell Street Centre. Demand for guided tours of The McManus and the Collections Unit continues to be strong. Tours are tailored to the particular needs of a group, ranging from a general tour of The McManus, taking in all galleries, to tours of specific galleries and displays. Guided tours of Broughty Castle Museum or Mills Observatory were also arranged.

McManus Family Space In response to an increase of younger visitors to the museum, the McManus Family Space was created in the existing Learning Study area. Housing a unique range of interactive learning resources plus IT and internet access, the space now operates daily as a drop-in area providing children and adults with an opportunity to play, explore and learn together. This initiative has proved hugely successful and is regularly used by visiting families, Nursery and Under-5's groups.

Mills Observatory & Science Engagement Development of Mills Observatory continued with the recruitment of a Mills Officer to generate and promote new public engagement opportunities. In addition to the ever popular Planetarium Shows, Family Fun Nights for Dundee Science Festival and BBC Star Gazing Live with other Astronomical events were delivered throughout the year. Two new public displays – The Strathmore Meteorite and Views of Near & Far were also installed. Partnerships with Mills Advisory Group, Dundee Astronomical Society and continue to support development potential for future Science Engagement opportunities. The new telescope purchased for Mills Observatory has now been installed and working well. The Victorian telescope will now only be used occasionally.

McManus Venue Hire & Evening Events Requests for Venue Hire Evening Events at McManus grew, particularly during Leonardo da Vinci and Selling Dream periods. Key events hosted throughout the year were Digital Sparks Conference Reception, Abertay Conference Dinner, V&A at Dundee dinner and Baillie Gifford conference dinner. In May 2012, the museum hosted its first wedding ceremony, followed by a second later in the year.

www.leisureandculturedundee.com/culture Summary It has been another exciting and busy year for staff in Cultural Services. Once again, partnership working has been central to our success with long established relationships continuing and new partnerships being established in an effort to deliver quality services as effectively as possible. Our highlights of the year have come from across all service delivery areas. From the visit to the Caird Hall of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to hosting Ten Drawings by Leonardo – A Diamond Jubilee exhibition from the Royal Collection in The McManus and from hosting Blue Skies events at the Mills Observatory to replicating a Jacobite Flag. The variety of events and activity across Dundee's Cultural Services has been memorable throughout the year. Perhaps our key challenge is found in ensuring investment in our historic buildings match up to the needs of the service delivery of the four service areas. For Cultural Services to be able to continue to reach these high standards, the buildings and facilities need to be of a similar high standard to allow this to happen. As it enters its 90th year, focus needs to be given to the continued development of the Caird Hall as Dundee's premier conference and events venue.

www.leisureandculturedundee.com/culture