Annual Report 2016 / 17
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Annual Report 2016 / 17 BMT_Annual Report 16/17.indd 1 03/11/2017 10:39 Reflecting Birmingham to the World, & the World to Birmingham Registered Charity Number: 1147014 Cover image © 2016 Christie’s Images Limited. Image p.24 © Vanley Burke. BMT_Annual Report 16/17.indd 2 03/11/2017 10:39 02 – 03 Birmingham Museums Trust is an independent CONTENTS educational charity formed in 2012. 04 CHAIR’S FOREWORD It cares for Birmingham’s internationally important collection of over 800,000 objects 05 DIRECTOR’S INTRODUCTION which are stored and displayed in nine unique venues including six Listed Buildings and one 06 OUR ACHIEVEMENTS Scheduled Ancient Monument. 08 AUDIENCES Birmingham Museums Trust is a company limited by guarantee. 12 SUPPORTERS 14 VENUES 15 Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery 16 Aston Hall 17 Blakesley Hall 18 Museum of the Jewellery Quarter 19 Sarehole Mill 20 Soho House 21 Thinktank Science Museum 22 Museum Collection Centre 23 Weoley Castle 24 COLLECTIONS 26 CURATORIAL 28 MAKING IT HAPPEN 30 TRADING 31 DEVELOPMENT 32 FINANCES 35 BOARD OF TRUSTEES 36 TALKS AND LECTURES BMT_Annual Report 16/17.indd 3 03/11/2017 10:39 Chair’s foreword Visitor numbers exceeded one million for the It is with pleasure that third year running, and younger and more diverse audiences visited our nine museums. Birmingham I present the 2016/17 Museum & Art Gallery was the 88th most visited art museum in the world. We won seven awards annual report for and attracted more school children to our venues Birmingham Museums than we have for five years. A Wellcome Trust funded outreach project enabled Trust. It has been a us to reach over 16,000 people in areas of high levels of deprivation. We launched our first Arts challenging year, but a Council Collection National Partner exhibition curated by Ryan Gander, Night in the Museum, year in which we have which attracted 16,113 visitors – exceeding its target. We also launched a joint MA with achieved a great deal. Birmingham City University on Innovation and Leadership in Museum Practice. New and long-standing partners have contributed much to our success. We supported 60 community organisations to develop exhibitions, grow the wellbeing programme and deliver public activities. Over 900 volunteers dedicated time to behind- the-scenes and public facing activities – the Faith in Birmingham Working Group winning an award for their work on a new gallery. Sincere thanks go to the Trustees, the Director and management teams, to all our staff, volunteers, Friends, funders and partner organisations for these achievements. Their commitment will stand us in good stead for the challenging times ahead. Professor Ian Grosvenor Chair, Birmingham Museums Trust BMT_Annual Report 16/17.indd 4 03/11/2017 10:48 Director’s introduction 04 – 05 Sunny summers are bad news for cinemas and One of the highlights museums, and this year the effect of the sunshine of my year was the was compounded by the continuing demolition of neighbouring Paradise Forum. Staff at BMAG opening night of have been shaken and stirred by the building work. However, the team fought back to produce Inspire 16, our first some excellent visitor figures in the second half of the year and the overall trends are going in art competition for the right direction across all our venues. young people. One of the highlights of my year was the opening night of Inspire 16, our first art competition for young people. It provided a vision of what I hope the future of museums will be by being the youngest, most diverse and liveliest private view I have ever attended. I sampled the varied programme we offer visitors across our sites, including pizza making at Sarehole Mill with our own flour. At Thinktank my “back to the floor” day was enlivened by being allowed to work with sequins and glue. And no one who attended our first Director’s dinner will forget the auction conducted with such élan by Alex Nicholson-Evans, our Commercial Director. All these things happen because of the hard work and enthusiasm of our friends and supporters, including our staff and volunteers, whom we thank for their commitment to the work of Birmingham Museums. Dr Ellen McAdam Director, Birmingham Museums Trust BMT_Annual Report 16/17.indd 5 03/11/2017 10:52 Our achievements VISITOR ATTENDANCE DIVERSITY DIGITAL 19% 1,022,140 of visitors from BAME visits to our website backgrounds 155,592 5% social media followers 1,071,185 visitors consider themselves disabled INFORMAL LEARNING visits to our venues. 26% 219,951 visitors from socio- visitors participated in 50% first-time visitors. economic groups C2DE informal learning BMT_Annual Report 16/17.indd 6 03/11/2017 10:49 06 – 07 SCHOOL ENGAGEMENT ARTS AWARDS LOANS 119,378 280 276 school children from 1,231 children and young loans seen by schools took part in our people participated 1,364,501 people education programmes in the accredited Arts Award programmes VISITOR 93,251 SATISFACTION pupils made on-site VOLUNTEERS school visits VAQAS 928 standard achieved for volunteers gave 26,854 seven museum venues 26,318 hours of support pupils were engaged through outreach and ‘Museum in a Box’ kits Awards Working Together Award for the Faith in Birmingham Working Group, West Midlands Volunteer Awards Best Birmingham Gallery and Exhibition Space for Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, Birmingham What’s On Readers’ Award Best Visitor Attraction in Birmingham for Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, Birmingham What’s On Readers’ Award Best Midlands Exhibition for the Staffordshire Hoard gallery, Birmingham What’s On Readers’ Award Quality Food and Drink Accolade for the Edwardian Tearooms, VAQAS Best Told Story Accolade for Aston Hall, VAQAS Best Told Story Accolade for Museum of the Jewellery Quarter, VAQAS BMT_Annual Report 16/17.indd 7 03/11/2017 10:52 Audiences BMT_Annual Report 16/17.indd 8 03/11/2017 10:40 08 – 09 CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE • We launched a pilot to provide unique access “The learning officer put the pupils at ease and for schools close to our museum venues. Six in an accessible way explained terminology and made residencies offered teachers the opportunity art come alive in pupils’ minds.” to deliver History, English or Science classes at eight of our sites, as well as facilitating teacher We retained our status as the most visited cultural development. Both Birmingham Museums Trust organisation in the city, continuing to reach and staff and participating schools learnt how to use engage children and young people throughout our museums to support curriculum delivery, and Birmingham. In 2016/17, 93,251 children and the outcomes will inform the development of the young people from 1,231 schools enjoyed learning Heritage Sites and Thinktank. experiences at our sites, and we made contact with • We hosted 220 instances of participation in 26,318 children through our outreach programme. the Arts Award through the Birmingham Big Art Post-16 and higher education audiences were a Project and a further 25 Bronze and Silver Awards key target and we developed new partnerships were achieved through our Visualise: South Asian with institutions such as Birmingham City Arts project. Bronze and Silver Arts Awards have University, Newman University and the University also been undertaken by Ignite and through of Birmingham. Development of a new early years engagement activity accompanying national learning programme delivering Science, Technology, partner projects. Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) engagement alongside play, and researching the longer-term Our strong, thematic and seasonal programmes of impact of museum engagement on children and activity grew family visits to our sites this year and young people’s learning were priorities at Thinktank. increased the proportion of visitors in family groups from 42% in 2014 to 51% in 2016. Highlights of 2016/2017 education activities: • Inspire 16, our first dedicated children and young Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery’s Mini Museum people’s art competition created new capacity enjoyed continued success, and we increased our in online engagement, demonstrating our programme capacity, expanding our core weekend commitment to showcasing Birmingham’s talent arts sessions and our digital learning and interactive and our involvement in city-wide opportunities. story-telling through our Arts Council Collection A panel of staff, volunteers and representatives programme. of our youth forum, Ignite, selected 70 exhibitors Large-scale events included Halloween Monsters at from over 300 final submissions. Their work made the Museum at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, a major contribution to our 2016 summer Gas Hall Bollywood Cinema at Soho House and Murder exhibition, displaying the best of young people’s Mystery evenings at Aston Hall, driving footfall art to an audience of over 13,500. and reaching new young adult audiences. Morning • Through our partnership with the Arts Council Explorers – early opening sessions at Thinktank for Collection we recruited a Learning Officer families with children with autism and Asperger’s dedicated to reaching the city’s most marginalised Syndrome, and Alphabet 12 – monthly workshops young people through ambitious digital at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery self-led by engagement and innovative programming. young adults with Asperger’s Syndrome and Over 4,000 learners engaged with programmes Autism – broadened our access. accompanying the exhibition Night in the Museum. Our work with groups facing homelessness, nonverbal communication workshops and contacts with child refugees and their families demonstrated the power of contemporary art to reach vulnerable and excluded young people. • 340 children from 35 Special Educational Needs (SEN) schools engaged with learning at Thinktank. Through our volunteer programme we hosted World of Work Days for SEN schools to provide an introduction to volunteering and offer practical talks about careers and jobs for young people with special educational needs.