National Museums Liverpool
Annual Review 2018/19

8 Venues 13 Exhibitions Over 3.9m Visitors

National Museums Liverpool
Annual Review 2018/19

8 Venues 13 Exhibitions Over 3.9m Visitors

A word from the Director

National Museums Liverpool had a truly memorable year in 2018-19, recording our highest visitor figures ever, for the second year running.

Across our eight museums and galleries, we welcomed 3,965,453 visitors. World Museum was the most visited museum outside of London, closely followed by the Museum of Liverpool and the Merseyside Maritime Museum (3rd and 4th respectively).

Our vibrant and exciting programme of exhibitions and events – as well as our permanent collections – were hugely popular with the China’s First Emperor and the Terracotta Warriors exhibition being the biggest draw.

Celebrating the 10-year legacy of European Capital of Culture 2008, National Museums Liverpool helped to make it an amazing year in Liverpool with China’s First Emperor and the Terracotta Warriors exhibition. It allowed us to confirm our reputation as major international museums and galleries and advanced our opportunities to engage with international, domestic and local visitors and businesses. The impact was phenomenal: an estimated £83 million contributed to the local economy; more than 210,000 staying visits; and it was seen 610,000 people, including more than 210,00 staying visitors and more than 20,000 children and young people on school trips.

Our dedicated staff, trustees and volunteers also worked with partners on other key projects and activities, including Double Fantasy: John & Yoko and the 60th anniversary of the John Moores Painting Prize, Charles Rennie Mackintosh: Making the Glasgow Style and Leonardo da Vinci: A life in drawing at the Walker Art Gallery.

It was a fantastic year for generating income, with our commercial team turning over £10 million, and our fundraising team achieving the highest level of donations, up 22% on the year before, and welcoming more than 5,000 new members.

Building on the success of 2018-19, we have lots of plans to take National Museums Liverpool forward with a fantastic range of charging and free exhibitions through 2019 into 2020 and beyond. We’re also set to launch a new mission statement and values and have undertaken a significant 10-year planning and strategy programme with all staff.

Before taking up the reins as Director in August, I’d long been an admirer of National Museums Liverpool and was delighted to come back to my home city for this challenging new role.

The museums and galleries of National Museums Liverpool are bursting with brilliant objects, incredible stories and memorable moments, and in 2018-19 we were able to take it to another level with a really vibrant programme. It’s been a pleasure to get to know the team at National Museums Liverpool better and celebrate our most successful year ever, and I’m proud to be able to lead the organisation into a promising and exciting year ahead.

Looking back at an incredible year

Visitors

In 2018-19, we welcomed almost four million visitors to our museums and galleries, which is a 20% increase on 2017-18. This was the second year running that National Museums Liverpool recorded its highest ever figures and 98% of people said they would recommend a visit.

Engagement with young people continued as under 16s made up 13% of all visitors in 2018-19, 8% said they had a disability and almost 5% are from a BAME background. We attracted an additional 44,783 international visitors, taking the percentage of those from overseas to 13%.

Visits to our website were more than 2.3 million in 2018-19, and our social media following reached more than 241,000 followers. Views on YouTube exceeded 4.4 million, with a 6% growth in subscribers.

World Museum was our most visited venue in 2018-19 with 1,258,460 visits – also making it the most popular museum in England outside of London.

The Museum of Liverpool welcomed 990,514 visits, while the Merseyside Maritime Museum welcomed 890,249.

The Walker Art Gallery once again increased its visitors to 393,073 in 2018-19, up 23% from 319,240 visits the previous year.

Visitors

In 2018-19, we welcomed almost four million visitors to our museums and galleries, which is a 20% increase on 2017-18. This was the second year running that National Museums Liverpool recorded its highest ever figures and 98% of people said they would recommend a visit.

Engagement with young people continued as under 16s made up 13% of all visitors in 2018-19, 8% said they had a disability and almost 5% are from a BAME background. We attracted an additional 44,783 international visitors, taking the percentage of those from overseas to 13%.

Visits to our website were more than 2.3 million in 2018-19, and our social media following reached more than 241,000 followers. Views on YouTube exceeded 4.4 million, with a 6% growth in subscribers.

World Museum was our most visited venue in 2018-19 with 1,258,460 visits – also making it the most popular museum in England outside of London.

The Museum of Liverpool welcomed 990,514 visits, while the Merseyside Maritime Museum welcomed 890,249.

The Walker Art Gallery once again increased its visitors to 393,073 in 2018-19, up 23% from 319,240 visits the previous year.

3,965,453

Visitors

507,577

Overseas visitors

98%

Would recommend a visit

Education

It has been a very busy and rewarding year in our education team. To help us achieve the goal of all children in the Liverpool City Region visiting at least one of our museums and galleries each year, we further developed our offer for schools in 2018-19. Launching a programme of enhanced school sessions from Early Years to Key Stage 4, we’ve been able to provide fun, engaging and curriculum-linked sessions through our objects, displays and special exhibitions.

During the year, 159,049 children came to our venues on school trips – an increase of 5.3% on the previous year – with a further 220,528 young people attending educational activities, a 35% increase on the previous year.

In addition to the schools programme, we hosted an action-packed free public programme, from LightNight, school holidays and Terracotta Warriors activities, to Chinese New Year celebrations, Leonardo da Vinci crafts and stargazing events.

In 2018-19, Storywalkers, a programme of free events and activities at the Walker Art Gallery, launched to increase language and literacy levels from babies to children up to age seven.

Education

It has been a very busy and rewarding year in our education team. To help us achieve the goal of all children in the Liverpool City Region visiting at least one of our museums and galleries each year, we further developed our offer for schools in 2018-19. Launching a programme of enhanced school sessions from Early Years to Key Stage 4, we’ve been able to provide fun, engaging and curriculum-linked sessions through our objects, displays and special exhibitions.

During the year, 159,049 children came to our venues on school trips – an increase of 5.3% on the previous year – with a further 220,528 young people attending educational activities, a 35% increase on the previous year.

In addition to the schools programme, we hosted an action-packed free public programme, from LightNight, school holidays and Terracotta Warriors activities, to Chinese New Year celebrations, Leonardo da Vinci crafts and stargazing events.

In 2018-19, Storywalkers, a programme of free events and activities at the Walker Art Gallery, launched to increase language and literacy levels from babies to children up to age seven.

527,405

Visits by under 16s

159,049

Children on school trips

Collections

The collections of National Museums Liverpool are vast and varied. In 2018-19, we loaned 9,043 to 153 UK venues and 169 objects to 28 overseas venues.

A reciprocal loan agreement with the Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, Mexico City was fulfilled, with 105 objects used to create the exhibition Beauty and Virtue: English collecting of Classical Art in the XVIII Century.

In addition, we made more of our collections available online including objects to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War and highlights from our Americas, ancient Greece and our Etruscan collection. The entire Walker Art Gallery painting collection on display was digitised and this will go live in 2019/20.

Significant acquisitions made in 2018-19 included paintings by Sean Scully and Philips Wouwerman.

Collections

The collections of National Museums Liverpool are vast and varied. In 2018-19, we loaned 9,043 to 153 UK venues and 169 objects to 28 overseas venues.

A reciprocal loan agreement with the Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, Mexico City was fulfilled, with 105 objects used to create the exhibition Beauty and Virtue: English collecting of Classical Art in the XVIII Century.

In addition, we made more of our collections available online including objects to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War and highlights from our Americas, ancient Greece and our Etruscan collection. The entire Walker Art Gallery painting collection on display was digitised and this will go live in 2019/20.

Significant acquisitions made in 2018-19 included paintings by Sean Scully and Philips Wouwerman.

153

Number of UK loan venues

169

Objects loaned to overseas venues

Exhibitions

We opened 13 new exhibitions across our museums and galleries, including China’s First Emperor and the Terracotta Warriors at World Museum, Double Fantasy: John & Yoko at the Museum of Liverpool and Leonardo da Vinci: A life in drawing, at the Walker Art Gallery at the end of the year.

Also at the Walker, a new permanent collection display opened, celebrating 60 years of the John Moores Painting Prize. This brings together prizewinning paintings acquired since 1957 onwards.

The Journey to Justice exhibition at the International Slavery Museum highlighted the US civil rights movement and how it helped in the fight for significant social and political change.

At the Lady Lever Art Gallery, a touring exhibition exploring Quentin Blake & John Yeoman: fifty years of children’s books was a great success.

Two of our exhibitions went out on tour during 2018-19: Eye for Colour, the interactive science exhibition which explores the world of colour, went to the Horniman Museum in London. It was seen by almost 1.2million people worldwide when it was retired in 2018. While Slaves of Fashion: new artwork by the Singh Twins toured to Wolverhampton Art Gallery from July-September 2018.

Exhibitions

We opened 13 new exhibitions across our museums and galleries, including China’s First Emperor and the Terracotta Warriors at World Museum, Double Fantasy: John & Yoko at the Museum of Liverpool and Leonardo da Vinci: A life in drawing, at the Walker Art Gallery at the end of the year.

Also at the Walker, a new permanent collection display opened, celebrating 60 years of the John Moores Painting Prize. This brings together prizewinning paintings acquired since 1957 onwards.

The Journey to Justice exhibition at the International Slavery Museum highlighted the US civil rights movement and how it helped in the fight for significant social and political change.

At the Lady Lever Art Gallery, a touring exhibition exploring Quentin Blake & John Yeoman: fifty years of children’s books was a great success.

Two of our exhibitions went out on tour during 2018-19: Eye for Colour, the interactive science exhibition which explores the world of colour, went to the Horniman Museum in London. It was seen by almost 1.2million people worldwide when it was retired in 2018. While Slaves of Fashion: new artwork by the Singh Twins toured to Wolverhampton Art Gallery from July-September 2018.

Our highlights from 2018/19

China’s First Emperor and the Terracotta Warriors

An award-winning year for National Museums Liverpool

Get involved

Impact

National Museums Liverpool makes a great impact on the local community and much further afield.

In 2018-19, we evaluated the economic impact of the Terracotta Warriors exhibition and discovered that it made an £83 million contribution to Liverpool. More than 2,800 free tickets to the exhibition were distributed to under-represented and disenfranchised communities across the Liverpool City Region.

Elsewhere, our inclusive events programme throughout the year included a talk on Coretta Scott King for International Women’s Day; the launch of a new film produced by Autism Together to celebrate the charity’s 50th anniversary; our celebrated annual Slavery Remembrance Day events; and a series of events to mark the Vote 100 centenary.

The Walker Art Gallery continued its relationship with LGBT+ youth groups through a series of creative workshops for Liverpool Pride 2018. A new Queer Art History tour was developed at the Lady Lever Art Gallery, the first of its kind for the Gallery.

In September 2018, the House of Memories programme was launched by the Minnesota Historical Society, including a US version of our award-winning My House of Memories app, dementia awareness training workshops, resources and activities. House of Memories has also been launched in the Scottish Highlands, including dementia awareness training and new app content.

The Museum of Liverpool hosted the Rethinking Disability: What needs to change in museums and galleries? symposium.

Impact

National Museums Liverpool makes a great impact on the local community and much further afield.

In 2018-19, we evaluated the economic impact of the Terracotta Warriors exhibition and discovered that it made an £83 million contribution to Liverpool. More than 2,800 free tickets to the exhibition were distributed to under-represented and disenfranchised communities across the Liverpool City Region.

Elsewhere, our inclusive events programme throughout the year included a talk on Coretta Scott King for International Women’s Day; the launch of a new film produced by Autism Together to celebrate the charity’s 50th anniversary; our celebrated annual Slavery Remembrance Day events; and a series of events to mark the Vote 100 centenary.

The Walker Art Gallery continued its relationship with LGBT+ youth groups through a series of creative workshops for Liverpool Pride 2018. A new Queer Art History tour was developed at the Lady Lever Art Gallery, the first of its kind for the Gallery.

In September 2018, the House of Memories programme was launched by the Minnesota Historical Society, including a US version of our award-winning My House of Memories app, dementia awareness training workshops, resources and activities. House of Memories has also been launched in the Scottish Highlands, including dementia awareness training and new app content.

The Museum of Liverpool hosted the Rethinking Disability: What needs to change in museums and galleries? symposium.

2,800

Terracotta Warriors tickets given to community groups

2,318,177

Online visits

241,000

Social media fans

Income

The year was very successful for income generation, achieving £14m, representing 41% self-generated income.

Our commercial team had its best ever year bringing in more than £10 million. The success of China’s First Emperor and the Terracotta Warriors contributed significantly to our growth, however, notwithstanding the blockbuster it was still our best commercial year in our history. Every museum and art gallery performed very well commercially and was enhanced by other elements, including pop up shops and special events.

Our evening events and venue hire business continued to grow, surpassing all previous income targets, and during the year, the team launched a new brand – Hosted by National Museums Liverpool. Continued diversification of the business has proved both efficient and popular with our visitors and customers.

With the creation of our box office we have enabled greater visitor engagement and improved our customer service, offering new events and innovative programmes to both corporate clients and the general public.

In 2018-19, visitors gave a record amount in donations and in March 2019 we introduced contactless donation boxes to make this easier than ever. Our membership grew to over 5,000, thanks to increased interest in our ticketed exhibitions.

This year’s success has been very positive, but we have to continue to develop in this way to further generate income to support the funding we receive from the Department for Culture, Media, Sport and Digital. We thank all of our supporters, sponsors, patrons, trustees, staff, volunteers and of course, visitors, for their continuing commitment to National Museums Liverpool.

Income

The year was a very successful for income generation, achieving £14m, representing 41% self-generated income.

Our commercial team had it’s best ever year bringing in more than £10 million. The success of China’s First Emperor and the Terracotta Warriors contributed significantly to our growth, however, notwithstanding the blockbuster it was still our best commercial year in our history. Every museum and art gallery performed very well commercially and was enhanced by other elements, including pop up shops and special events.

Our evening events and venue hire business continued to grow, surpassing all previous income targets, and during the year, the team launched a new brand – Hosted by National Museums Liverpool. Continued diversification of the business has proved both efficient and popular with our visitors and customers.

With the creation of our box office we have enabled greater visitor engagement and improved our customer service, offering new events and innovative programmes to both corporate clients and the general public.

In 2018-19, visitors gave a record amount in donations and in March 2019 we introduced contactless donation boxes to make this easier than ever. Our membership grew to over 5,000, thanks to increased interest in our ticketed exhibitions.

This year’s success has been very positive, but we have to continue to develop in this way to further generate income to support the funding we receive from the Department for Culture, Media, Sport and Digital. We thank all of our supporters, sponsors, patrons, trustees, staff, volunteers and of course, visitors, for their continuing commitment to National Museums Liverpool.

£10m

Commercial income

5,000

Members

£1,000,000

Charitable giving

£476k

Donations and legacies

Partnerships

National Museums Liverpool is held in strong regard both in the Liverpool City Region, the museums sector, across the UK and internationally, and our work with partners and key stakeholders continued in 2018-19.

The Walker Art Gallery hosted the national launch of the Big Draw competition and The Gay Times awards, in recognition of National Museums Liverpool’s ongoing commitment to its work on museum collections and LGBT+ issues. This was the first time the event had been held outside London.

Charlotte Keenan McDonald joined the Arts Council Collection Acquisitions Committee. Janet Dugdale, Director of Museums, delivered a keynote speech on contested contemporary collections at the annual conference of the Federation of International Human Rights Museums (FIHRM).

Together with the wider culture and creative sector in the Liverpool City Region, National Museums Liverpool is contributing to the development of the British Council Global Cities Plan, which recognises the global force of cities and the role that culture can play.

We’re creating a masterplan for our buildings and public realm on Liverpool’s waterfront, to identify interesting ways to open up the city’s quaysides, some of which are currently not accessible to the public.

Continuing our work to strengthen links with the Higher Education sector, we have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Liverpool, and are beginning to plan joint projects.

During the year we worked closely with city partners such as VisitLiverpool, Culture Liverpool, Liverpool ONE, Royal Albert Dock Liverpool and St George’s Quarter to promote our museums and galleries.

Partnerships

National Museums Liverpool is held in strong regard both in the Liverpool City Region, the museums sector, across the UK and internationally, and our work with partners and key stakeholders continued in 2018-19.

The Walker Art Gallery hosted the national launch of the Big Draw competition and The Gay Times awards, in recognition of National Museums Liverpool’s ongoing commitment to its work on museum collections and LGBT+ issues. This was the first time the event had been held outside London.

Charlotte Keenan McDonald joined the Arts Council Collection Acquisitions Committee. Janet Dugdale, Director of Museums, delivered a keynote speech on contested contemporary collections at the annual conference of the Federation of International Human Rights Museums (FIHRM).

Together with the wider culture and creative sector in the Liverpool City Region, National Museums Liverpool is contributing to the development of the British Council Global Cities Plan, which recognises the global force of cities and the role that culture can play.

We’re creating a masterplan for our buildings and public realm on Liverpool’s waterfront, to identify interesting ways to open up the city’s quaysides, some of which are currently not accessible to the public.

Continuing our work to strengthen links with the Higher Education sector, we have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Liverpool, and are beginning to plan joint projects.

During the year we worked closely with city partners such as VisitLiverpool, Culture Liverpool, Liverpool ONE, Royal Albert Dock Liverpool and St George’s Quarter to promote our museums and galleries.

The Future

National Museums Liverpool is at an exciting moment. We want to build on our successful visitor figures, increased profile and commercial business, year- on-year, while at the same time focusing on what makes us unique – our eight museums and galleries.

Find out more about our plans and strategic aims for the future, on our website.

Our 2030 vision

Director Laura Pye sets the scene for the development and growth of National Museums Liverpool for the next 10 years:

“Established more than 150 years ago, National Museums Liverpool is a group of very different and wide-ranging museums and galleries. Created to complement and counterbalance the museums in London, our eight museums and galleries were brought together in 1986 as a nationally-funded group because of the global importance of our collections and as a symbol of hope and regeneration. We are eight exceptional museums and galleries, sharing important stories from ancient times to today through more than four million objects, and this year we have shared those stories with more people than ever before.

“National Museums Liverpool is at an exciting moment. The success of 2018-19 has proven what we can achieve. We want to repeat and build on that success in terms of visitor figures and commercial business year on year, while at the same time focus on what makes our organisation unique. Our mission is clear – our eight different museums and galleries, which provide different experiences for different audiences, combining to create memorable experiences for everyone, challenging expectations.

The ‘for everyone’ part of that mission is very important to us and by 2030 we want to have achieved some very clear goals:

We will have the most representative audience and colleagues’ profiles within the museums sector in the UK.
We will engage over ten million people each year: more than four million visitors to our museums and galleries and a further six million through digital engagement, touring exhibitions and outreach.
We will be a place where people want to work, are happy to work and proud to work.
Together we will generate over £50,000 a day, more than half our turnover, through commercial business, grants and gifts.
We will ensure that we provide great facilities to look after our valuable collections and colleagues, with accommodation fit for the next 30 years.
All schools in the Liverpool City Region will visit at least one of our museums and galleries each year.
People will recognise us as a valued leader of cultural and economic growth for the city, city region and north of England, and as one of the world’s finest museum groups.

Strategic Aims for 2019-20

To achieve our vision we will focus on five strategic aims:

Be more representative

National Museums Liverpool prides itself on being for everyone, but for this to be true our colleagues, audiences and displays need to be representative of the communities that we are here to serve.

Be more self-sufficient

We will transform our business model and embrace the digital revolution, to ensure we generate more income and offer the greatest value for money of any national museum. We will focus on our commercial business, grants and gifts to ethically generate more income which can be invested in our public offer.

Provide memorable experiences

Across our museums and galleries, and digitally, we have hugely diverse collections, each of which offers different things to different audiences. By allowing our individual museums and galleries to shine we improve the whole organisation and National Museums Liverpool becomes unbeatable. We will ensure each of our museums and galleries has the highest standard of offer; that as well as wonderful exhibitions and displays, our cafes, shops, community programmes and public spaces are also exceptional and that our collections and colleagues have all the facilities they need.

Partner and influence

We will work with a wide range of partners to maximise the impact of National Museums Liverpool in our region, nation and across the world. We will contribute to our city region through growing the visitor economy, placemaking and enhancing education, health and social care. We will be the partner of choice for businesses and will continue to use our collections to create positive social impact. We will represent and promote the best of the UK museum sector to the world.

Engage and empower

We will build an organisational culture which embeds trust, respect and inclusion. People will remain at the heart of our organisation. Supported by our THRIVE programme, colleagues will be engaged and empowered to drive and enable National Museums Liverpool to continually change and evolve.