Annual Report 2014 / 2015 Reflecting Birmingham to the World, & the World to Birmingham Contents Birmingham Museums Trust is an independent 06 Our achievements 26 Collections educational charity formed in 2012. 27 Acquisitions 08 Audiences 27 Loans It cares for Birmingham’s internationally 09 Children and young people 28 Collections Care important collection of over 800,000 objects 09 Families which are stored and displayed in nine unique 10 Community engagement 30 Making it happen – trading & resilience venues including six Listed Buildings and one 10 Volunteers 31 Trading Scheduled Ancient Monument. 11 Marketing 31 Performance fee Birmingham Museums Trust is a company 11 Digital audiences 31 Development limited by guarantee. 12 Supporters 32 Summary of financial results 34 Board 14 Venues 34 Senior Management Team 14 Aston Hall 35 Exhibitions and display changes 15 Blakesley Hall 16 Museum & Art Gallery 18 Museum of the Jewellery Quarter 20 Sarehole Mill 21 Soho House 22 Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum 24 Museum Collections Centre 25 Weoley Castle Registered Charity Number: 1147014 Chairman’s foreword The climate in which the Trust is operating could his was a year of two halves. We were successful in retaining hardly be more difficult. However, we end the year Arts Council England Major Partner Museum status. We 2014/15 was the third with a number of positive indicators giving cause for T attracted bigger and more diverse audiences than ever before, year of operation of guarded optimism about the future. Trustees take and grew our trading income. Major achievements included the new Birmingham Museums particular heart from some of the fundamentals of Staffordshire Hoard Gallery at the Museum and Art Gallery and Trust. As this Annual the business – our improved financial position, the Spitfire Gallery at Thinktank. We remodelled the Edwardian Report sets out, it marks stronger governance arrangements and increasing Tearooms to great acclaim, rebranded ourselves with a new identity visitor numbers. to match our new, outward-facing focus, and launched a new website. a period in which the Our exhibitions on the work of Rowland Emett and Grayson Perry As well as thanking my fellow trustees, I would also Trust made progress on were particularly popular. And we laid the foundations for future work like to express gratitude to all of our friends and many fronts, helped by a through discussions with local, national and international partners supporters – organisations and individuals – who and successful funding applications to the Heritage Lottery Fund range of enthusiastic and have provided assistance to the Trust. Birmingham and DCMS Wolfson, among others. committed supporters Museums has never relied more heavily on your and stakeholders to whom help and support which we hope will continue to We also addressed substantial reductions in funding from Arts Council great thanks are due. be available in the future. England and Birmingham City Council through a radical staff restructuring. This is not an exercise anyone ever undertakes lightly, Finally, on behalf of trustees, I especially want to and it is a tribute to the professionalism of all those involved that it was thank all of our staff and volunteers who work so completed so rapidly and efficiently. The senior management team is tirelessly and with such dedication to present the confident that the new structure will enable Birmingham Museums City’s remarkable venues and collection in such an Trust to survive and thrive in this changing world. inspiring and imaginative way, reminding us all of the importance and value of the Trust’s work. Steve Freer Dr Ellen McAdam Chairman Director, Birmingham Museums Trust Foreword A year of change 04 Birmingham Museums Trust / Annual Report 14/15 Foreword 05 18,948 people engaged with the Museum in a Box scheme 60% 25,005 of our turnover was self-generated hours from c.600 income 212,401 volunteers visitors participated in informal learning 1,208,805 299 loans seen by visits to our venues 2,275,173 people, including loans to 15,865 25% up on 2013/14 14 international pupils were venues 86,727 engaged through outreach pupils made on-site school visits 29% 121,750 visitors from socio-economic school children from groups C2DE c.1400 schools took part in 10% our schools learning visitors from BAME backgrounds visited programme us this year 103,368 social media Over 2 followers million Our achievements websites visits 06 Birmingham Museums Trust / Annual Report 14/15 Our achievements 07 Children and young people response to the building; and a collaboration Birmingham is home to around 400,000 children and with Arts Connect West Midlands and community young people. Birmingham Museums Trust is proud arts organisation Quench to explore creative to achieve the highest level of school engagement approaches to curriculum development which of any arts organisation in the city. 1,400 different led to a schools’ music and film-based response. schools visited our venues this year, most more than • 427 children and young people participated in once: a total of over 121,000 school children across Arts Award opportunities. nine sites and in outreach sessions. Highlights of our education activities in 2014/15: Families • Our venues hosted a packed programme Family learning increased in 2014/15, with higher- of educational workshops, focussing on a wide capacity events and activities achieved across our range of topics, including Glittering Gold about venues. Thinktank had the busiest Whitsun half-term the Anglo-Saxons and Letter to Loved Ones ever, and the Museum and Art Gallery saw a three- about the First World War at the Museum and fold increase in family participation thanks to new Art Gallery, plant biology at Thinktank, prehistory Staffordshire Hoard activities. During the summer and rivers at Sarehole Mill, and a Tudor school holiday we hosted a Circus Academy at five sites, day at Blakesley Hall. in partnership with the Children’s University, which provided learning experiences for 1,700 children • Structured learning events for pupils were outside school hours. booked to capacity throughout the year. Home Education Days at a number of our venues The Saturday Arts Club is a chance for children provided opportunities for home-schooled aged 5-11 and their parents to work with artists children aged 5-16 and their parents to meet and craftspeople using a variety of materials one another and engage with museum learning. and techniques. 145 children took part, using School sleepovers at Thinktank enabled 620 photography, printing and craft activities to children to spend a night at the museum. work towards Explore or Discover Arts Awards. • We supported several projects to encourage young people to respond artistically to our venues. Working with Birmingham Ormiston Academy we developed performing arts activities in the Science Garden at Thinktank. Aston Hall inspired two initiatives: the Birmingham Museums’ Street Art project which enabled local pupils to create street art canvasses in Audiences 08 Birmingham Museums Trust / Annual Report 14/15 Audiences 09 Community engagement Volunteers Marketing Digital audiences We engaged with over 200 community groups and Around 600 volunteers gave us over 25,000 hours Our visitor numbers grew to over 1.2 million this In January we launched the new Birmingham individuals, more than 230 STEM professionals from of their time across the nine venues. This year, we year, helped in part by the launch in the Autumn Museums Trust website to deliver a highly-visible, universities and industry, and around 300 artists. focussed on improving the support and training of a new visual identity for Birmingham Museums coherent digital presence for our multiple venues. Highlights of our community engagement activities our volunteers receive, widening our recruitment Trust and its ‘family’ of nine venues. The result The website features information for visitors, as well in 2014/15: and increasing awareness of the programme, as of a strategic brand development exercise, our as offering images, videos and blog posts about the well as supporting external partners in delivering new approach ensures that each venue has galleries, exhibitions and behind-the-scenes work • The Spitfire project saw 21 young people carry best practice. We now offer a wide range of roles a distinctive identity within an overarching of each of our venues, their staff and volunteers. out research and work with a local artist Matt to our volunteers including conservation cleaning, Birmingham Museums brand. The impact of the new website was significant, Reeves to create an exbibit. Ignite (our forum working with archaeological finds, supporting family PR activity throughout the year secured a total with figures up considerably on previous years: for young people aged 16-24) also ran a Teen activities, gardening and being welcome hosts and there were 239,473 sessions and 169,530 users Takeover Day, with around 130 teens taking part. of over £4,784,000 media value (AVE) across guides across our sites. New partnerships with local 1,433 items of press coverage. during the final quarter of the year, a rise of 40% • 800 young people participated in the National businesses provided volunteer opportunities for and 35% respectively. Mobile use increased to 54%, Citizen Service programme at the Museum and employees of Leonard Cheshire, Asda, Cadbury, up from 39% in the same quarter the previous year, Art Gallery and Thinktank. the University of Birmingham and Lloyds. Trust Identity reflecting the improved usability of the new website. • A team of University of Birmingham postgraduate The Sarehole Millers won the Midlands Our social media audiences grew by 25% and we students created Yummie Brummie, a project to Marsh Award for Museum Learning. achieved over 100,000 followers on Facebook and promote cross-site visits between the Museum Twitter. We continued to share images online and of the Jewellery Quarter and Soho House through there were nearly 50,000 interactions with our themed events.