You’ll be surprised when you see what we’ve been up to
fascinating Year in review 2014 – 2015
YEAR IN REVIEW 2014 – 2015
Welcome It is a pleasure to reflect on another fantastic year for the service with record visitor numbers once again meaning that we now attract over one million more visitors than we did only a decade ago. A major highlight has been the award of a further three years of funding through the Art Council’s Major Partner Museum Programme. Such external support not only supports the service’s collections, buildings and public programmes, but it is also an independent recognition of the quality of the service. Other highlights include the hugely popular Grayson Perry: The Vanity of Small Differences at Temple Newsam and a British Museum exhibition – Roman Empire: Power & People at Leeds City Museum.
John Roles.
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welcome
Our ongoing facilities improvement programme has included the new Voices of Asia Gallery at Leeds City Museum produced in partnership with local Asian community groups and the new Tailoring Gallery at Leeds Industrial Museum.
We continue to welcome visitors to world class visitor attractions whilst offering opportunities for learning and creativity to all the people of Leeds. We balance our efforts to be more business-like and entrepreneurial whilst not losing sight of our role as publicly funded custodians of Leeds’ cultural heritage. We continue to develop, research and This success has been achieved in the face broaden access to the city’s wonderful of significant reductions in public funding collections. An active academic research and has only been possible due to the hard programme includes collaborative PHDs work and commitment of our staff, volunteers, whilst grants support longer term work on our partners, supporters and sponsors to whom geology collections and Cotman watercolours. we are very grateful. Their efforts help to One of the larger additions to the collections deliver one of the best regional museum and this year has been the donation of over 200 gallery services in the UK. ceramic items from the John and Griselda Lewis collection of English Prattware. Locally John Roles our revamped original art lending scheme Head of Leeds Museums and Galleries at Leeds Art Gallery, The Picture Library, continues to grow with a 42% increase in membership last year. We are proud that 97% of Leeds schools have used our service in the last three years and we continue to work with teachers to create new resources whether on site or virtually through MyLearning. A wide range of different community groups have engaged with our sites and collections including the QueerEye group at Leeds Art Gallery.
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YEAR IN REVIEW  2014 – 2015
Contents 02 Welcome 05 Our structure 06 Our sites 08 Our key achievements 10 Our collections 15 Our attractions and audiences 25 Our resources and resilience 31 Our partnerships and training programmes 37 Our learning opportunities 46 Our top ten acquisitions 50 Our exhibitions 55 Our sponsors, partners and supporters
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Our structure
Our structure We are part of Leeds City Council and sit within Culture and Sport. Our wider Directorate is City Development. Within our department we have four core teams which are: 1. Site development, ensuring the high quality visitor experience 2. Collections, caring for and developing the historic collections 3. Learning, enhancing life-long learning 4. Commercial, managing and maximising income generation. Thanks to our Arts Council England funding we are able to complement these core departments with other more outward facing teams including Audience Development, Partnerships, Community Engagement, Volunteering, Digital Media and Fundraising.
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YEAR IN REVIEW 2014 – 2015
Our sites
1) Step back in time and wander the beautifully created authentic Victorian streets for a glimpse of life in 19th century Leeds. There’s plenty to see and do at this lively, interactive and family friendly museum.
2) One of the best preserved Cistercian monasteries in the country. Feel a true sense of the past as you stroll through its tranquil grounds, surrounded by stunning parkland on the banks of the River Aire. Find out more about this famous Leeds landmark in the Visitor Centre at the abbey.
5) From elephant skulls to a Medieval log boat, this purpose-built store and conservation facility houses objects from Leeds Museums and Galleries’ collections which are not on display. Visitors can discover many more treasures with regular behind the scenes tours and family activities.
6) Once the world’s largest woollen mill, Leeds Industrial Museum presents a fascinating insight into the city’s industrial heritage. Witness the 1920s cinema, steam engines and the spinning mule. 1
9) A fully restored working watermill in a riverside setting. See the power of water as two huge waterwheels drive the mill. Visit the blacksmith’s workshop, manager’s house and discover all about life on this attractive island which is rich in wildlife.
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Our sites
3) Home to one of the best collections of British art outside London. It showcases a wealth of art by well-known artists and presents a dynamic temporary exhibitions programme.
4) Four floors of interactive and exciting galleries. Come face to face with the Leeds tiger, step into Ancient Worlds to meet Nesyamun, the Leeds mummy, and dig for fossils in the Life on Earth Gallery. Hosting changing special exhibitions, as well as weekly family friendly clubs and activities and our service’s youth group.
Lotherton Hall
Temple Newsam
7) A beautiful Edwardian country house with a bird garden, deer park and formal gardens. Lotherton Hall is a treasure trove of arts and crafts with fine collections of paintings, silver, ceramics and the newly restored Fashion Galleries with changing annual exhibitions.
8) One of the country’s great historic houses and estates, Temple Newsam is a stunning TudorJacobean mansion set within 1,500 acres of beautiful parkland which includes a working farm. The house offers an ever-changing programme of exhibitions, guided tours and activities for all ages.
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YEAR IN REVIEW 2014 – 2015
Our key achievements
96% Overall visitor satisfaction
87,008 Objects documented
2,071
1,416,811
Visitor surveys completed
Visitors
4,618
Objects benefiting from conservation
1,641,149
929,307
16,000+ 90,000
21%
MyLearning unique visits
Website page visits
737
Items acquired
3,016
Facebook likes
Objects loaned to Leeds Museums and Galleries
Increase in MyLearning users
Twitter followers
GERMANY FRANCE USA
ITALY
JAPAN INDIA
756
Objects lent out
Our objects were lent to six countries outside theUK 08
2.2m
Visitors saw works on loan from our collections
Our key achievements
13 Exhibitions
15,693 Adult learning participants
97%
of Leeds schools have visited or used our services in the last 4 years
38,000 Visitors to Roman Empire: Power & People
37,596
178
Volunteers
9,974
Volunteer hours
School visits
21,826
Visitors to Grayson Perry: The Vanity of Small Differences
646
Visits by pupils from SEND schools
631
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Formal internships
Secondary school science visits
1,331
42
%
Increase in The Picture Library members
21 Community displays
400
In-reach and outreach sessions to community groups and organisations
Research enquiries
10
Publications/ citations
9,000
Instances of community engagement 09
4 PhD projects
YEAR IN REVIEW 2014 – 2015
Our collections We manage our collections, sites and information to the highest possible standards and maximise their impact
Central to our service are the collections; an estimated 1.3 million objects, including our historic buildings, across a vast range of disciplines. Spanning almost 200 years of active acquisitions our collections are recognised nationally for their quality and significance. Four of our disciplines have ‘Designated’ status – Fine and Decorative Arts, Natural Sciences and Industrial History. Archaeology, Numismatics, World Cultures, Leeds history and Fashion and Textiles are close rivals in their quality, breadth and importance.
Our primary goal is to provide imaginative and meaningful access to our collections for all ages, abilities and backgrounds and to reflect our city and the people within it. The amazing range of objects across our sites are the source of inspiration for our exhibitions and events programmes, community projects and academic research.
Over one million objects collected since 1819 give us insights into the evolving natural world, human history and culture. These are collections which reflect Leeds as a vibrant and changing city, as well as place it in a global context.
Conservator at work.
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Our collections
New art handling equipment Following research nationally and internationally Leeds Art Gallery has purchased new handling equipment to ensure fine art handling is carried out to industry best practice standards. The Designated fine art collections at Leeds are under considerable demand from borrowers around the world and this new equipment means large, and fragile works can also be carefully moved and redisplayed on site. This work has been accompanied by a new art crate system designed by Gallery staff; this new system will considerably reduce manual handling of artworks being packed for transport, as well as being more sustainable as it reduces the need for constructing many different crate sizes. What’s it worth? Perceptions of value inside Over 12 weeks, a collaborative PhD project between University of Leeds and Leeds Museums and Galleries challenged longterm prisoners at HMP Wakefield to explore perceptions of ‘value’ and to see whether access to museum objects increased their sense of well-being. Objects chosen and taken into the prison included artefacts from Ancient Egypt, a religious painting and a clock. The prisoners then explored areas and objects of value from their own lives and created artwork and sculptures in response to this. The work was exhibited at the prison and Leeds Discovery Centre. Comments from participants confirmed that the project had a positive impact; “New enthusiasm for experiencing the arts and history… This adds to a sense of identity and belonging in a way that simple routines of institution cannot.”
Geoblitz project.
Shining light on our geology collections In 2014 we received £112,000 from the John Ellerman Foundation for a three year curatorial project. The Geoblitz project involves inviting geological experts to look at our collections with our new Assistant Curator of Geology, Neil Owen. So far we have put our iguanodon back together, sorted our ammonites and identified some rare and previously unknown minerals. The plan is to use what we find out to put on exhibitions, run workshops and raise the profile of our wonderful geology collection. In the final year, Neil will visit ten UK partner museums to share knowledge and help them with their underused geology collections.
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YEAR IN REVIEW 2014 – 2015
Duty Calls: An award winning combination As part of the Yorkshire Country House Partnership (YCHP), a consortium of Yorkshire’s major historic houses, Lotherton Hall was awarded a prestigious Hudson’s Heritage Award for their dual exhibition Family Duty & Honour and Dressed for Battle. The partnership won the award for the ‘Best World War 1 Event’ for Duty Calls: The Country House in Time of War, a series of exhibitions and events at nine historic houses across Yorkshire throughout 2013 and 2014, marking the centenary of the start of the First World War. At Lotherton Hall, Duty Calls was divided into two parts; a series of displays in the period rooms of the House and a second series in the Costume Galleries. The period room displays were arranged on the theme of family duty and honour and told the story of members of the Gascoigne family of Lotherton Hall and the various wars which touched their lives. The Costume Galleries displayed Dressed for Battle and explored how war affected fashion from the clothes worn by those on the home front of both world wars to designers’ love of the military look. Roman Empire: Power & People Between September 2014 and January 2015 Leeds City Museum hosted the British Museum’s touring exhibition Roman Empire: Power & People. The exhibition, which also toured to five other UK venues extended our existing partnership with the British Museum, and enabled our visitors to see collections that they would otherwise have to travel to London to experience. The exhibition enhanced by Leeds Museums and Galleries’ collections was accompanied by a wide range of events, including a lecture series aimed at adults. The
Life in Roman Britain lectures featured five speakers from across the region and beyond, and attracted over 300 adult learners. Tales of Temple Newsam In the summer of 2014, historical characters from the past of Temple Newsam were given a new lease of life on Twitter. As part of this innovative project users of the social network site were able to take part and follow the stories of life at the country mansion, whilst interweaving themes of royal connections, landscaping and more from across the centuries. Fans had the chance to follow the Ghost of Phoebe Gray on Twitter as she berates William Collingson, Footman at Temple Newsam House for her Murder in 1704, while Lady Anne Howard defends her actions running off with the family heirlooms after she lost her husband. Tales of Temple Newsam was a fun but factual, experimental and engaging project bringing key historical characters to life. Having been run as a digestible ‘lunchtime’ series online, this is now being installed more permanently on site.
Tales of Temple Neswsam.
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Our collections
Christmas advent calendar Each day in December we presented our audiences with a look into a ‘window’ (in the style of a traditional advent calendar) on Twitter and Facebook, celebrating the festive season, our venues, retail offering, events and collections. On the 8th day of Christmas and using a Portrait of HRH The Prince of Wales in his Christmas jumper from our collection, we asked staff and the public to tweet in their portraits. This started the #xmasjumperselfie competition!
Top left, top right and above: Christmas calendar.
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YEAR IN REVIEW 2014 – 2015
Pleased to meet you... Yvonne Hardman
Head of Collections and Programmes
I’m one of the most recent appointments to the team at Leeds Museums and Galleries having started in March 2015. Prior to joining I spent 10 years as the art curator at Touchstones Rochdale and previously worked at the Atkinson in Southport and the Grundy
Art Gallery in Blackpool. Having headed across the Pennines, one of the most exciting things about this post is working with our fantastic range of collections and the specialist staff who look after them. Many of our sites are significant buildings in their own right and are part of the rich history of Leeds. The stories our objects, exhibitions and sites enable us to share with our audiences are limitless.
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Our attractions and audiences
Our attractions and audiences We deliver high impact and inclusive visitor experiences for an increasingly diverse audience
We welcome visitors from across the UK and beyond. In the last year we welcomed our highest ever number of visitors, reaching over 1.4m across our nine sites. This is an increase of over one million visitors since 2004/5 and the sixth consecutive year we have topped one million. We have also delivered a programme of over 400 in-reach and outreach sessions to groups and organisations, building on existing good relationships and developing new opportunities, with nearly 9,000 instances of engagement with individuals.
Local community group, The GetwayGirls, take part in a portrait shoot for the How do I Look exhibition at Abbey House Museum.
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YEAR IN REVIEW 2014 – 2015
Grayson Perry In August 2014 we welcomed the Arts Council Collection’s touring show Grayson Perry: The Vanity of Small Differences to our country house, Temple Newsam. We knew it would be popular so it was important to us that visitors felt welcomed and comfortable. A large, diverse team of volunteers were recruited to assist our staff in achieving this whilst also giving the volunteers valuable experience and an opportunity to be part of the team at Temple Newsam. The volunteers helped provide interpretation, engaging visitors in conversation about the exhibition and the house. A total of 21 volunteers gave their time contributing a total of 1,620 hours. The exhibition was a great success attracting over 21,000 visitors in 14 weeks with many visitors visiting the house for the first time.
Grayson Perry exhibition at Temple Newsam House.
New adults events programme introduced In 2015 we introduced a new events programme especially for adults at Leeds City Museum which included a mix of curator-led talks and study days exploring themes linked to our exhibitions and collections such as the suffragettes and bird taxidermy. It also combined a series of practical art workshops led by Yorkshire artists including jewellery and ceramics. The popular programme will continue until the end of 2015 and will also see us host a Volunteer Day celebrating National Volunteer Week and our first Local History Fayre on Yorkshire Day. The feedback so far has been very positive with one participant commenting “A very worthwhile experience” and another commenting “I’ve never done this before. The whole experience was amazing!” Understanding our audiences Our research programme continued this year with our annual visitor survey which involved 1,040 face to face exit interviews across our sites over the summer holidays, profiling visitors helps us to understand in more detail their behaviour, satisfaction levels, motivations for visiting and their communication preferences. The findings were presented for each site in addition to an overarching service report that compared all of the Leeds Museums and Galleries sites. Following this we worked with The Audience Agency to map the postcodes of our visitors which had been collected over the last three years to analyse and segment visitor profiles and behaviour according to the newly updated Arts Council England Audience Spectrum.
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Our attractions and audiences
Spreading the word This year work has gone into bringing our e-news system in-house enabling us to send more regular targeted electronic communications to our mailing list for a minimal cost. We have also continued to grow and segment our mailing list into different audience groups to help tailor messages and content depending on their interests. We hope that over the next year more and more people will join our mailing list to find about the range of different exhibitions, events and projects we run. Play Now And Then Our Play Now and Then display opened in the Community Gallery space at Abbey House Museum in summer 2014 and featured six films celebrating play and childhood gathered from interviews with local people. Memories ranged from playing in the grounds of Temple Newsam to fishing and tree climbing in the Caribbean. The exhibition also included toys and board games with old favourites like skipping ropes and hula hoops shown alongside Monopoly and computer games. The project also supported communities to visit our sites and enjoy handling sessions with our toys and games collections. Marissa (age 13), one of the project interviewees said “…I think play is interacting with others, learning and having fun”.
Magical Leeds Christmas time saw us joining forces with the city-wide Magical Leeds campaign which enabled us to benefit from increased exposure. Our museums and galleries’ Christmas campaign included a mix of print, online, social media, PR and e-communications activity to raise the profile for special Christmas events. Over the festive period Temple Newsam attracted over 950 visitors to the 500 years of Christmas event, there were over 1,000 visits to Santa’s Grotto at Abbey House Museum and over 32,000 visits to Leeds City Museum.
Marissa (age 13), Play Now and Then display.
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YEAR IN REVIEW 2014 – 2015
Common Threads In August 2014 we opened the Common Threads exhibition at Leeds Industrial Museum to showcase the range of projects undertaken by our team of community curators with different communities in Leeds over the year. The exhibition was themed around the many ways we engage people with our sites and collections and inspire new communities and individuals to visit our sites in the future. Examples included our outreach programme with museum objects themed around topics such as health and well-being which spark reminiscences and shared memories; the opportunity to try new things and discover new experiences through volunteering or research and oral histories/films where our historic homes are brought to life with personal stories from people that lived and worked on the estate. 40th Anniversary of Hip Hop Culture As part of our drive to focus working on new cultural areas with young people Leeds City Museum hosted an event curated by ‘The Universal Zulu Nation’ (Leeds, UK) to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of positive hip hop culture. The event had a live Q&A session, performances and family friendly workshops for all ages to give people the chance to experience elements of the culture and attracted almost 3,000 people. We also carried out some contemporary collecting of the day and plans have begun to host a similar event in 2015.
New cinema space at Leeds City Museum.
New cinema space Continuing the refreshing programme of the Leeds Story Gallery at Leeds City Museum the public can now view our community films in an intimate space which pays homage to a 1930s cinema. Previously dressed as a back-to-back house living room, we created a more versatile film space that was better suited to showcasing our wide range of community films. Beginning in 1888, the story of cinema is an important part of Leeds history. The brief footage shot by Louis Le Prince on Leeds Bridge is thought to be the world’s first example of moving images being captured on camera. The opening film takes a brief look at the history of cinema in Leeds.
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Our attractions and audiences
My Leeds, My Culture Commissioned by Leeds Museums and Galleries and curated by local community group Angel of Youths, the My Leeds My Culture display at Leeds City Museum celebrates the positive contribution people of African descent have made to the city of Leeds. Over 1,700 people attended the opening event Black & Proud in October. The display highlights the African Diaspora contribution to Leeds culture through; music, sport, arts, history, faith and fashion and features a mixture of objects loaned from the local community and from the Leeds Museums and Galleries collection. Angel of Youths, which aims to inspire and encourage young people aged 16 – 30, worked with several volunteers on the project who have all gone on to gain employment.
My Leeds, My Culture at Leeds City Museum.
Customers and staff at Ahura Hair Studio, Kirkgate, take part in a portrait shoot for the How do I Look exhibition at Abbey House Museum.
How Do I look? November 2014 saw Leeds people given a chance to have their faces featured alongside historical portraits of people in our new exhibition at Abbey House Museum. How Do I Look? explores how people have presented themselves through time and why. Local residents of all ages and from a wide variety of backgrounds participated in the photographic project, alongside local hair salons, barbers, nail and tattoo parlours. Our Community Curator also talked to members of Bramley Elderly Action and Bramley History Society about how styling has changed through the years. Staff from a local hair and beauty spa, a gentleman’s hair salon, a tattoo and piercing parlour and a young couple with tattoos were also interviewed and loaned objects for the display. Meanwhile the young members of the Black Health Initiative’s Hues Beautiful programme contributed their own words and images, exploring the idea of ‘beauty’. The results can be seen in the exhibition which runs until December 2015 at Abbey House Museum. 19
YEAR IN REVIEW 2014 – 2015
The Tour de Musée team outside Leeds Art Gallery.
Tour de Musée As the city prepared for the arrival of the Tour de France Grand Départ our sites joined in with the celebrations with a number of events including a Petit Peddlers toddler cycle ride and a French-themed market at Kirkstall Abbey a French music and song event in the glorious surroundings of Temple Newsam House, the Bicyclism exhibition at Leeds City Museum, Snapshot of Yorkshire exhibition at Abbey House Museum, and a display of French art from our collection as part of the Cross Currents display at Leeds Art Gallery. We rounded off our celebrations with Tour de Musée, a team cycle ride around our nine venues, which started at Lotherton Hall and involved members of Leeds Museums and Galleries and Cluny Macpherson, Chief Officer, Culture and Sport for Leeds City Council.
Widening access For the first time in 500 years Temple Newsam House, our Grade I listed Tudor Jacobean mansion, has been able to provide access to visitors in wheelchairs or with mobility difficulties to the South Wing of the house; a passenger lift has given access to the rest of the house for the last 15 years. The electronic stair climber means that anyone who can transfer from their chair can head up and down the staircase. This has delighted our visitors. One visitor said “Before coming I thought access was minimal and was really surprised to find the stair climber. It was genius, making access available to wheelchair users on every level.” Memoria volunteers This project developed from an exhibition being created by artist David Bridges. To inspire his work he wanted real stories from real people who remembered Leeds Industrial Museum when it was a working textile mill. Several volunteers were recruited and worked together using social media, word of mouth, flyers and the community network to locate people who remembered the working mill and were willing to share their stories of Armley Mills. The response to this project showed a great deal of local and community pride and excitement, with people actively engaging in their local heritage and creating a living history archive for future generations.
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Our attractions and audiences
My Case, My Journey Working in partnership with the Together Women Project and the University of Leeds, My Case My Journey supported volunteers and women who have immigrated to Leeds to create an exhibition for International Women’s Day based upon the themes of journey, identity and community. The student volunteers designed and ran activity sessions at centres around Leeds and met women and families from migrant communities. The women loaned possessions, told stories, created artworks and shared knowledge of their language and culture. The exhibition interpreted and explored the stories and objects the women shared, based upon their journeys and experiences. This project aimed to engage with individuals who do not traditionally access the museums and promote cross-cultural interactions between people who live locally.
New Tailoring Gallery Leeds Industrial Museum opened a new gallery in October 2014 telling the story of the tailoring industry in Leeds. Tailoring was an extremely important industry in the city employing a third of all women of working age at its peak in the 1950s. When researching and planning the gallery the museum’s staff met with people who used to work in the industry, collecting their memories and experiences of life in the factories, or working at home.
My Case, My Journey volunteers.
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YEAR IN REVIEW 2014 – 2015
Voices of Asia Voices of Asia, our new display in the World View Gallery at Leeds City Museum, launched in April 2014 celebrating both the Asian collections in Leeds and the Asian communities who now make such a vibrant contribution to the city’s culture. With over 200 objects on show visitors are taken on a journey through seven themes: Faiths and Festivals; Trade and War; Fashion and Style; Music, Dance, Theatre and Film; Faith in Focus; Eating Out and Eating In. Set to last five years the gallery will change each year to explore a different world faith in the faith in focus section and allowing different Asian artists the opportunity to present a selection of their work in the art section. Many different Asian community contacts helped bring this gallery to fruition and we will continue to develop the space with their help.
PoMoGaze festival During the summer of 2014, alongside the Marlow Moss and Claude Cahun exhibitions at Leeds Art Gallery we hosted PoMoGaze, a new festival linking cultural activities delivered and promoted by queer artists, organisations, academics and activists. The festival included the AGender conference, artist talks, Queer Eye Project workshops, dance performances, films, Trans* family event, Queer tours, a reading event and training for professionals. One conference participant said after the festival: “Excellent presentation, interesting topics and discussions. Loved that it was in Leeds Art Gallery. Lovely environment and the queer tours were really amazing!”
Voices of Asia Gallery at Leeds City Museum.
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Our attractions and audiences
Black History Month The Queer Eye Project, in partnership with Cast Off Drama, workshops exploring visual arts, drama, gallery performance and the collection with a queer eye. Inspired by Black History Month the group focused on artists, writers and thinkers of colour as well as themes including resistance, art and language. In December the event named after Lubaina Himid’s painting ‘Five’ was a well-attended gallery discussion exploring artworks from a post-colonial perspective. Lubaina Himid spoke about her painting and was joined by local artists Sandra Whyles and Carol Sorhaindo for a lively and thought provoking panel discussion. Participants feedback confirmed the interest in these ongoing debates: “I thought it was fantastic. Really thought provoking. Leeds needs more like this within its public spaces – bringing in a diversity that is a majority.”
New reception area The reception area at Leeds Discovery Centre was recently given a fresh new look providing a great opportunity for us to communicate the role of the building and the importance of the collections to visitors. The new feature wall and window graphics provide a welcoming and attractive space to reflect the objects housed on site, the reception desk and corridor were updated with a new colour scheme and signage which now provides a visual aid to our visitors.
Reception area refresh at Leeds Discovery Centre.
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YEAR IN REVIEW 2014 – 2015
Pleased to meet you... Ruth Leach Exhibitions Curator
I started working for Leeds Museums and Galleries in 2013, having previously worked in other exhibition roles in the region. My work ranges from long-term planning to the day to day installation of exhibitions. I work alongside site staff, collections curators, the community history team, other organisations and individuals to create a varied programme
for Leeds City Museum’s diverse audiences. The best part of my job is seeing people enjoying something that I’ve had a hand in creating. Shaping the temporary exhibition programme is an exciting opportunity to experiment with different ways of interpreting our collections and the stories they can tell for and with audiences and visitors. In the coming years I will be working with a Savile Row tailor, our youth group, the Preservative Party, who are developing a First World War exhibition and other heritage organisations who are running exhibition tours. 24
Our resources and resilience
Our resources and resilience We make efficient use of all our resources, maximising their potential and minimising waste
A challenging funding environment is a fact of life for local authority museums. It has always been our aim to provide great museums and galleries on a financially sustainable basis. We are leading the way in income raising innovation and providing value for money, encouraging private giving, providing great product ranges in our shops and maximising opportunities for revenue generation from our collections and expertise. Indeed, we provide the lowest operating cost per visit and cost per head of population of any English core city.
The Leeds Cityscape bespoke product range.
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YEAR IN REVIEW 2014 – 2015
Developments in fundraising this year Conservation income generation This year Leeds Museums and Galleries has As well as working on our own collections, put into effect some of the findings from Leeds Museums and Galleries conservation the first year of our fundraising project. The staff work on objects from other institutions. highest profile funding partnership has been This year work included conserving 24 items between Stewarts Law and Temple Newsam brought in for conservation cleaning to enable for the Grayson Perry exhibition. Following them to be put on display by their owning the success of donations boxes at Leeds institution. An assemblage of archaeological City Museum where funds generated have Cypriot ceramics, glass and metal items dating increased by 400%, boxes are now in place at from 3,000 years ago were photographed, Leeds Art Gallery and Kirkstall Abbey. We were cleaned and a report produced documenting thrilled with the news that we will maintain our the treatment. The cleaning of a copper alloy Arts Council England Major Partner Museum mirror revealed some intricate designs that status from 2015 – 2018, which has to date could possibly be used as a dating aid. enabled us to develop our fundraising and resilience strategy and will continue to do Income generation from our freezer so. We also saw grants from other local and The specialist conservation freezer at national organisations for our work including Leeds Discovery Centre is large enough to improvements to our facilities and the accommodate a yak and is regularly used in development of our collections. the eradication of pest infestation and as a preventative measure for our collections. It is Leeds Art Fund Patrons available to hire as a full or part-load and is The Leeds Art Fund has been supporting Leeds frequently used by clients. Art Gallery since 1912 and we have been working together to grow the organisation’s membership. A new Leeds Art Fund Patron scheme has been launched offering an enhanced membership at a level of £1,000 which provides access to exclusive private visits and previews of forthcoming exhibitions and the knowledge that they are helping preserve, purchase and restore art in Leeds for the benefit of all its citizens.
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Our resources and resilience
The Picture Library: profit and participation The Picture Library is rare amongst British museums. It allows Yorkshire residents the chance to borrow original works of art to enjoy at home. The library was established during the 1960s and was an instant hit that quickly became an integral part of Leeds Art Gallery. After more than half a century of continued use the much-loved service had become ragged; the works of art were in need of conservation and the membership had significantly dwindled. Change was increasingly necessary so in autumn 2009 we took the decision to halt The Picture Library whilst we began fundraising to enable the scheme’s renewal. We have been able to radically reshape The Picture Library, initially through the support of the Museums, Libraries and Archive Council and later through investment from Arts Council England. Our first steps were to begin the vital process of conserving the works of art whilst taking the time to remount and reframe the entire collection. This redevelopment has not
been limited to the works of art alone, but has seen almost every facet of The Picture Library transformed. From its brand to its administration, the last four years have seen the scheme evolve from an at risk service to a vital, vibrant and relevant enterprise. This investment has been transformative – enabling us to increase our audiences whilst creating a new and sustainable source of income. From the moment we re-launched in the autumn of 2010 audience feedback and feeling around the scheme has been overwhelmingly positive. There has been a great level of interest from both the public and the press including live BBC coverage of one of our recent selection events. Our audiences have grown rapidly. The last twelve months saw a net increase to our membership of 42%. This growth has brought about a significant increase to number of transactions and the income generated through the Picture Library. This has increased by more than a 1,000%, from less than £1,700 a year prior to the redevelopment of the scheme to more than £18,700 most recently.
The Picture Library members at home with their borrowed work of art.
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YEAR IN REVIEW 2014 – 2015
Retail Insight Bespoke ranges Following our investment in, and expansion of, The creation of collections-inspired ranges are the retail offer we decided to gather first hand designed to offer visitors the opportunity to customer feedback from our visitors regarding purchase an authentic and unique souvenir shopping experiences with us and our product of their visit. These ranges have proved very ranges. The aim of this was to give us greater successful and help to reinforce the unique insight into the type of purchases they are selling point for each museum shop. looking for and to gain more understanding We have forged excellent collaborations of visitor demographics and behaviour. The with new aspiring artists and British artisan findings have now been completed and will suppliers to help us bring quality, reliability and be used to improve our overall retail offer and a uniqueness to the product offer not found on inform our future buying and marketing plans, the high street. with the specific aims of encouraging people to Bespoke products range from £1.45 up to spend more in our shops as well as enhancing £95 for a beautiful 100% silk scarf and are the overall visitor experience. art-inspired or collections-inspired. The Leeds Cityscape created by the talented young British artist Lizzie Prestt continues to be one Retail and exhibitions of the biggest income generators as well as an The hugely successful Grayson Perry: The Vanity of Small Differences exhibition at Temple effective marketing tool for other Leeds City Council departments. Newsam, presented our commercial team All our bespoke product development is with a unique challenge and opportunity to develop an exciting range that would excite the aimed at creating unique purchases visitors, link with the exhibition and generate that enhance the enhanced income. The commercial team developed an eclectic visitor experience, increases visitor spend mix of artist-inspired quirky gifts, stationery, and strengthens books, CDs as well as the product developed visitor loyalty. for the exhibition which included a beautiful Grayson Perry silk handkerchief, postcards and a wonderful supporting book which sold in the thousands. Visitors came in their droves to Temple Newsam, they loved the exhibition and the retail offer and as a consequence, retail sales exceeded the previous year’s total sales during the short period of the exhibition.
Top: Armley weave range at Leeds Industrial Museum. Bottom: Bespoke silk range at Leeds Art Gallery.
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Our resources and resilience
Canal boat moorings at Thwaite Mills Watermill.
Moorings at Thwaite Mills Watermill The Thwaite Mills Watermill moorings were opened to the public in autumn 2012. The museum and grounds sit on a small island surrounded by the River Aire and the Aire and Calder Navigation. The site now has moorings available for visitors to the museum, holiday makers who wish to stay for a few nights or a couple of weeks and some longer term ones, including winter moorings. They have all proved very popular and the museum has had a waiting list for the longer-term lets. The moorings help us to generate an income for the site and enables people to stay in this beautiful setting.
Leeds Visitor Centre at Leeds Art Gallery In July 2014 Leeds City Council’s Executive Board took the decision to integrate the Leeds Visitor Centre facility into the Leeds Art Gallery shop as the lease on its current premises at Leeds City Station was coming to an end. The service moved into the gallery shop in February 2015 following a sympathetic refit which enables the new service to coexist happily with both the shop and the café. The new service allows visitors to use new technology to support their search for visitor information as well as providing face to face support from information centre staff.
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Pleased to meet you... Councillor Judith Blake Leader of Leeds City Council
Leeds is a fabulous city to live in, work in or simply to visit. This is in no small part down to the city’s wonderful cultural offer. As the Leader of Leeds City Council I want to champion the importance of access to culture as a way to not only give enjoyment, but also as a way to support wider social benefits such as skills development, employability, educational attainment, community cohesion and wellbeing. It’s no secret that these are very
challenging financial times, but I’m proud that as a Council we continue to ensure our museums and galleries offer a diverse and engaging programme of activities enjoyed by almost 1.4 million people last year. This record breaking attendance is reward for the dedicated efforts of staff, the support of our cultural and community partners, and most importantly the commitment of the people of Leeds to support a museum service which they and I are rightly proud of. I will continue to champion and showcase our offer as we strive to make it even more enjoyable and available to even more people in the years ahead. 30
Our partnerships and training programmes
Our partnerships and training programmes We provide strong regional leadership by collaborating with partners and ensuring diverse, skilled and motivated workforce We strive to be a leader in our sector. This can be through our constant pursuit of excellence and best practice, through the impact of our collections, sites and expertise in delivering a programme of exhibitions, as well as through informal and formal learning opportunities. By creating and participating in effective partnerships and networks locally, regionally and nationally we aim to benefit the wider museums community including supporting future museum professionals through our exciting and innovative training programmes. We work closely with local communities of all ages and backgrounds to encourage participation and to reach large audiences with high impact programmes reflecting the glorious diversity of our city.
The Yorkshire Sculpture Triangle bring Thomas Houseago sculptures to Yorkshire.
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YEAR IN REVIEW 2014 – 2015
Family CSI Discovery workshop.
CSI Discovery workshops Building on the success of our adult evening courses on human remains, the team at Leeds Discovery Centre ran two Saturday family workshops based around the same theme. Adults and children alike loved getting their hands dirty, learning how to excavate objects and how to tell the difference between the bones of different animals. Real human skeletons from the archaeology collection were used to demonstrate the amazing things that bones can tell us about the past, and visitors had the opportunity to become archaeologists in the field by recording and interpreting the evidence.
Yorkshire Sculpture Triangle bring Thomas Houseago sculptures to Yorkshire Yorkshire Sculpture Triangle, the partnership of Yorkshire’s four leading sculpture organisations, as part of Yorkshire Festival 2014, was successful in its bid to bring work by world renowned Yorkshire born sculptor Thomas Houseago to the region. Houseago, who was born in Leeds and is now based in Los Angeles, exhibited two of his monumental sculptures across Yorkshire during the Tour de France Grand Depart 2014, one of which was outside Leeds Art Gallery. This was the very first time a new work by Houseago had been exhibited in Yorkshire. 32
Our partnerships and training programmes
Working with museums in West Yorkshire As an Arts Council England-funded Major Partner Museum, Leeds Museums and Galleries has the responsibility and privilege to work with other local authority museums in West Yorkshire to promote resilience and develop partnerships to secure funding. Since appointing our new Partnerships Co-ordinator in October 2014, we been active in the region, organising sessions on improving the visitor experience and the way we evaluate our audiences, as well, of course, as seeking ways of responding to the difficult public funding environment. We have also run successful sessions on collection management issues.
Stop the Rot – drop in session During July 2014, Leeds Museums and Galleries ran a special public session to illustrate the different risks to our collections, such as insects and light, as well as the conservation threats to different materials such as plastics. We ran the informal drop-in session outside the temporary exhibition gallery at Leeds City Museum. The range of people who came to view the specially selected conservation box included children, students and family groups. All were surprised at the small size of the insects that damage our collections and the problems that we have conserving items made from plastic.
Providing continuous professional development sessions for local teachers Conservation trainee In September 2014, we launched our new programme of twilight teacher CPD workshops. Building on our successful partnership This involves hosting 90 minute sessions at one with Royal Armouries we commenced a conservation traineeship this year. of our sites each half term, based on a key topic Both organisations have extremely busy or theme. We have run sessions on the First conservation departments and our World War, in partnership with Artforms (one of three planned for each academic year over the conservators have been working very next three years), prehistory and chronology. closely over a number of years therefore the development of a shared traineeship was a Places are charged at £45, so this generates income for the service. natural progression. We have also run some bespoke in-service Working across the diverse collections of Leeds Museums and Galleries and Royal training for 70 primary school teachers from Armouries has given our conservation trainee across North Yorkshire and a tailored day Holly Marston a huge range of practical, workfor 45 Initial Teacher Training students on based experience building on her qualifications placement through a local teaching school. helping in the transition between classroom based conservation ideals and a move towards real world conservation.
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University of Leeds partnership review Leeds Museums and Galleries has worked formally and informally with the University of Leeds for many years. This year, we renewed our formal partnership and look forward to many more years of fruitful collaboration. Since 1995, we have supported the delivery of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in Art Gallery and Museum Studies. Graduates from the programme now play a significant role in museums and galleries nationally and internationally. We have been partners in mutually beneficial research, including Collaborative Doctoral Awards, exploring our collections and audiences and developing new approaches to interpretation.
Art Gallery lecture series Leeds Art Gallery has been co-curating a series of eight public lectures on art, culture and the First World War in partnership with Legacies of War and the University of Leeds. Each talk explored how the conflict and the art that emerged in response to it forged new understandings that were to have national and international impact. The series included renowned art historians, showcased new research on Henry Moore and also offered a contemporary artist’s perspective. Leeds Art Gallery’s lecture theatre has been full throughout the series. Each lecture will soon be available online to allow a global audience to access the research.
Leadership: Leeds museums research consortium Research lies at the heart of a full understanding of our collections and those of our partner museums in Leeds. The new Leeds Museums Research Consortium brings together the Royal Armouries Museum, Thackray Medical Museum, the Henry Moore Institute and ourselves, to share learning, develop strategy and maximise opportunities for collaboration. Leeds is unusual in having such a diverse range of institutions in such close physical and intellectual proximity, and the Research Consortium systematises the opportunities for research excellence that this creates.
Natural science traineeship In June 2014, Glenn Roadley began our fourth and final Heritage Lottery Fund-funded Natural History Curatorial Traineeship. In his time with Leeds Museums and Galleries, he has been involved in collections care, documentation, public programmes and educational workshops. He has completed a number of external placements at other natural history collections around the UK, and has also attended conferences and training events that have contributed to his professional development. Over the year, he has learnt a great deal about the wide variety of natural science objects we care for and how to enable different users to access and enjoy them. Glenn has been a valuable member of the team at Leeds Discovery Centre and has been a huge help to the natural science staff and other colleagues.
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Our partnerships and training programmes
Handling and packaging training During 2014, our conservators and registrars developed an exciting new staff training programme to improve the way we handle and package objects. We put together two flight cases to highlight our collections and our sites, and trained outreach, education and community staff in how to use them. Trainees were shown the box, which was unpacked by a conservator and then had to repack the boxes using the instructions provided. The hands-on work was supplemented by a presentation which illustrated the basic principles and the legalities of moving items from site to site and to other locations.
Registrars: Training for the future programme 2014 saw the fourth successful year of the Registrars: Training for the Future project. Our training programme, which is a collaboration with Royal Armouries and the University of Leeds saw Ruth Quinn our third trainee receiving her Postgraduate Certificate in Art Gallery and Museum Studies from the University of Leeds in December 2014. She has now secured a post as assistant curator at the new Mental Health Museum, Wakefield. The project continues going from strength to strength, as our newest trainee has started and we are continuing to share our best practice through a successful regional, national and international professional development programme. Real World Science partnership with the Natural History Museum As part of the Natural History Museum’s Real World Science programme, we have developed a close working partnership with the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent and Nottingham Museums. The focus has been around research and development of new secondary school workshops that can be run in all three places using individual museum collections. In Leeds, this is at Leeds Discovery Centre and Thwaite Mills Watermill. This has been developed using some starter funding from the Natural History Museum.
Handling and packaging training.
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YEAR IN REVIEW 2014 – 2015
Pleased to meet you... Glenn Roadley
Natural Science Curatorial Trainee
My Curatorial Traineeship at Leeds Museums and Galleries has been a brilliant opportunity to develop my knowledge and skills surrounding collections care, conservation, usage and advocacy. As part of the traineeship I have undertaken several projects including the documentation and storage of the birds egg collection, maintenance of the collection
of animals preserved in alcohol, and the design, organisation and installation of a temporary exhibition at St James’s Hospital. I ran activities at the Great Yorkshire Show and Leeds Breeze Festival and engaged with a wide range of people at outreach sessions to local hospices and community centres. My experience and knowledge have been further enhanced by placements at a range of museums across the country, including the Natural History Museum, Liverpool World Museum and the Hunterian in Glasgow. 36
Our learning opportunities
Our learning opportunities We provide outstanding learning experiences and opportunities for children and young people
It is every child’s birth right to have access to arts and culture. We aim to create childcentred, high quality cultural engagements that foster curiosity, creativity and conversation and develop a life long love of learning. Leeds has undertaken a commitment to being the Best City for Children and Young People which is founded on the global movement of Child Friendly Cities initiated by UNICEF, and driven by the voices of children and young people here in Leeds. We see Leeds Museums and Galleries as having a key role to play in this ambition and are committed to giving children and young people a voice in shaping our service and our programmes.
Exploring the store at Leeds Discovery Centre.
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A new learning policy and programme development work during 2014 and launched our new schools Learning is at the heart of Leeds Museums workshop programme in September. and Galleries. In January 2015, the Learning We have seen a growth in requests for team developed a new Learning Policy that underpins the work they do across the service. workshops that focus on local history and Making connections between sites, collections, topics over time that give children a sense of exhibitions and audiences, we believe in being: chronology. To reflect this, our programmes include Communications Through Time at • Creative and purposeful Leeds Discovery Centre, Comparing Queens • Accessible and welcoming at Abbey House Museum and a science based • Curious and experimental Tiger Tea Party for Early Years and KS1 at Leeds • Enjoyable and sociable City Museum. During Introducing Florence • Robust and meaningful Nightingale at Lotherton Hall, the teachers • Listeners and leaders said their students were “excited and wholly Our Learning Policy sets out our values and engaged” and they “experienced a unique visit direction, and is supported by a Learning Plan that allowed the children to be part of their that connects with the Leeds Museums and Galleries and wider Leeds City Council strategic own storytelling”. We have aimed to balance our arts and plans and agendas. humanities subjects with increased science programming across the key stages, and have been experimental at Leeds Art Gallery, where all the sessions can be taught to any year group by being differentiated by the facilitator. Remembering the Leeds Pals We worked with the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty to bring together 120 children from four primary schools in Nidderdale and Leeds to remember the Leeds Pals. The schools worked in pairs, had outreach and visited Masham and Leeds. They worked alongside a creative writer, to find out how the Leeds Pals were recruited and trained, what Creating art as part of the Look Into My World exhibition. happened to them after the First World War and how they are remembered now. Curriculum change 2014: The children handled letters, photographs new schools programmes and objects to bring the stories to life. They In September 2014, a new primary and lower said it was “magical seeing all the WW1 objects”, secondary curriculum (KS1 – 3) was introduced and, “I felt very, very privileged to have had in schools. As a service, and as a Learning team, such a great experience”. The teachers said the we conducted in depth teacher consultation students had “developed their independence 38
Our learning opportunities
as learners” and they were more able to “put themselves in other’s shoes”. The schools used the experience as a springboard for further cross-curricular work. They held child-led and interpreted exhibitions, created stories and drama, drew comics, made design technology projects and used the history as inspiration for numeracy, geography and languages. Science in the Workplace: developing careers in museums Over the autumn term 570 secondary students engaged with our new Science in the Workplace outreach session which we developed and delivered specifically to engage with disenfranchised young people through careers activities showing them the practical applications of science within a museum setting. This had previously been identified as one way in which schools wanted to engage with our science collections, meeting both parties’ needs, and has given us an in-road into a few of the science departments of secondary schools across Leeds for further work.
Electrifying the Country House in partnership with the University of Leeds.
Displaying young people’s work as part of the Look into My World exhibition.
Look into My World: schools art show at Leeds Art Gallery 280 students from 10 schools across Leeds (six primary and four secondary) participated in the Look into My World project and exhibition at Leeds Art Gallery (April – June 2014). The exhibition explored a wide variety of themes, led by the young people’s questions and ideas, from searching for the souls of dead animals to exploring identity and challenging stereotypes. We also explored commercial product design with secondary students. Artwork was selected for show at the gallery and for satellite exhibitions close to each school, including at a doctor’s surgery and a professional gallery in a local mill. Young people have increased their confidence and creativity through their artistic participation. The teachers involved have also had the opportunity to develop new approaches in their classrooms. 39
YEAR IN REVIEW 2014 – 2015
Family learning Our family programmes are one of the main ways in which we reach children and young people. Across the service, we run activities at weekends and in school holidays. This year we focused on developing self-led resources and on larger scale events. Lotherton Hall wanted to be more open to families with young children. They have developed a series of curiosity cabinets around the house full of different ways to explore the collections, a digital animated storybook based on the stories of the family, and a dressing room with things to try on. Leeds Industrial Museum ran a dance fusion event based on traditional clog dancing, and Temple Newsam House held a dance weaving event linked to the Grayson Perry exhibition.
Breeze on Tour summer festivals In summer 2014, we continued our involvement with Breeze on Tour which is six days of young people’s activities, across three locations in the city during the summer holidays. The festivals are free and often reach communities that would not usually access Leeds Museums and Galleries. In 2014, we saw around 2,000 young people and their carers. This was the second year where the festival opened early to allow a quieter time for children with special educational needs and disabilities to enjoy the offer.
Intergenerational work at Leeds Industrial Museum.
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Our learning opportunities
Great Yorkshire Show In 2014, we had three stations at the Great Yorkshire Show. We were part of the First World War commemorations in partnership with BBC Yorkshire, and launched the MyLearning digital medals interactive. Over 26,000 people entered the BBC area in three days and we directly engaged with over 2,030 people and received extensive media exposure. In the Discovery Zone, we used natural science skeletons and a craft activity to explain how our bone structures work. We saw over 1,060 people, and one child was heard to exclaim “Wow! A real scientist!” The team also joined forces with the Welcome to Yorkshire stand on the last day of the show with over 36,000 people visiting the stand over the three days. The day was deemed a great success with approx. 12,000 people passing through the stand on the day that the team attended, almost 1,000 What’s On guides and summer campaign leaflets were handed out and 140 names were collected for our mailing list. Artsmark, Arts Award and Children’s University Artsmark, Arts Award and Children’s University are key ways to engage with schools and young people. Artsmark enables schools to benchmark their arts and cultural provision. This year, we have developed Artsmark offers for schools at Lotherton Hall, Leeds Art Gallery and Leeds Discovery Centre. Arts Award gives young people accreditation for their engagement with arts and culture and logs their progression. We have developed a Discover Arts Award log book designed for young people with special educational needs and disabilities at Leeds Art Gallery. All the sites are recognised Art Award Supporters. Through
Children’s University, children collect stamps for learning outside the classroom. All nine sites are accredited Learning Destinations. Opening doors Our youth engagement programme aims to include and engage young people from a variety of backgrounds aged 13 – 24 years. This year we developed our offer by inviting and welcoming young people including care leavers and those who access youth groups within the community, who are currently in care, or who are not engaging in education to visit our museums in order to fully participate in our sessions. Recent developments include setting up a gardening project and a sewing workshop for care leavers. Outreach has proved popular for young people who are hard to engage into our sites and as a result of our outreach work this year, we have developed a partnership with the Children’s Services social care team to visit young people on a regular basis in their residential homes and foster homes as and when requested by their social worker and care workers.
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Relaxed Santa In December 2014 Abbey House Museum ran a Relaxed Santa event for children with additional needs. To make it relaxed, Santa was not in his grotto and instead he sat at the top of the victorian street in the museum and children chose whether or not to approach him. We limited the number of people taking part to ensure it wasn’t overcrowded and noisy and we provided a quiet area. There was a range of crafts, books and sensory toys suitable for the ages and additional needs of the children attending. The session was incredibly successful. All of the children interacted with Santa in some way; it took one child 80 minutes of doing circular laps of the museum getting progressively closer to Santa to interact with him, but after watching the other children doing so he eventually went to say hello, something that simply would not have been possible in a public session. This quote sums up the morning: “Thank you so much for the Relaxed Santa event on Saturday. My daughter really enjoyed it and talked about it all day! This was the first time she has been able to see Santa due to her struggling with queues and crowds and he was lovely with the children. All the activities were appropriate and she enjoyed all of them. She loved the sensory snow and making the decorations most! Thank you again. A great event!”
They came, they saw, they conquered Roman Empire: Power and People opened its doors at Leeds City Museum during the autumn term. This coincided with primary schools getting to grips with the changes to the national curriculum, including the newly named section ‘Roman Empire and its impact on Britain’. The museum’s tiger mascot became an emperor and was named ‘Rorius Maximus’ by a social media vote, and the museum’s school workshop was revamped as ‘Romans at the Museum’. There was a notable increase in pre-booked workshops during the period of the exhibition. In September – December 2013 we had 7 class bookings for Romans workshops, and for the same period in 2014 we had 51 bookings. Many groups booked teacher-led visits and this saw an increase of 22% in formal educational group visitors compared to the previous autumn. Feedback was positive from primary school groups and a Specialist Inclusive Learning Centre group. One class teacher said: “The children took part in a range of activities that made learning hands on and contextual. Children’s expectations [were] exceeded!”
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Our learning opportunities
The Preservative Party Our group of young curators, ‘The Preservative Party’ now has 16 members aged between 14 and 22. Most projects this year have focused on the First World War, as the group begin to prepare for the exhibition they will curate in 2016. They have finished a Facebook timeline (www.facebook.com/ww1leeds) which uses Leeds Museums and Galleries’ objects to map out the chronology of the First World War, and have run events inviting members of the public to contribute their own stories to it. The timeline has 800 ‘likes’. Members of the group were invited to a conference about the First World War, and used the knowledge they gained here to inform a film about the origins of the war, which they have written, directed and acted in. It is hoped that the film can be used to help get funding and publicity for the exhibition by showcasing the work that the Preservative Party has done.
Researching the WW1 collections.
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YEAR IN REVIEW 2014 – 2015
MyLearning MyLearning is an online resource for teachers and learners inspired by museum, library and archive collections from across the UK. It is managed by Leeds Museums and Galleries and funded by Arts Council England. Yet again, MyLearning has grown over the past year with a further 21% increase in visits bringing it to over 1.1 million sessions a year. Recent highlights include launching ‘Our First World War Guardians’ where you can find out about veteran heroes from Leeds, the medals they were awarded and then design your own 3D medals. An ‘Aviation in Leeds’ interactive helps you discover which planes were used for what during the war before taking on missions to design your own. All of this starting from a few key museum objects and 62 World War 1 resources from 37 organisations across the UK have now been published as part of current centenary celebrations and this is growing continually.
Design your own 3D medals on MyLearning.
Following this we have had some great feedback: “MyLearning is brilliant, because it is quality-controlled by teachers. It offers that all-important peer recommendation” and “www.mylearning.org is a huge online learning resource created specifically for the cultural sector… The team who run it have a teacher panel that reviews resources before they’re published, collect detailed usage stats and can create resources for museums that don’t have the capacity or skills to do it themselves.”
An Aviation in Leeds on MyLearning.
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Our learning opportunities
Pleased to meet you... Natalie Burns Learning and Access Officer
I joined Leeds Museums and Galleries in 2013, pinching myself as I drove down the treelined lane towards Temple Newsam House (multi-tasking from the outset). Each day is different, working with colleagues and partners to explore new and diverse ways of engaging people with the collections. Highlights so
far include feeling the magic and spirit of Christmas at Temple Newsam House, and meeting a child’s grandparents and younger brother as she proudly led them on a museum treasure hunt which she had recently solved on a school trip. I enjoy the variety, creativity and element of surprise and magic that the collections, spaces, visitors and colleagues throw into the mix. Being greeted at work by a polar bear and a time-travelling clock… what’s not to love?
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YEAR IN REVIEW 2014 – 2015
Our top ten acquisitions Our collections derive from across the world, cultures and time – spanning some 4.6 billion years of Earth history. It is an ever-growing
collection and this is only made possible through gifts, bequests, purchases and the generosity of a range of supporters and funders.
1) Portrait of Louis de Jean This portrait of Louis de Jean is signed and dated by Philip Mercier 1737. The work was recorded at Temple Newsam in the 1862 and 1902 inventories, it was sold from the house before it became owned by Leeds Museums and Galleries but now is hanging back at Temple Newsam.
2) 1950s wedding dress This dress was worn as a wedding dress in 1953. The owner purchased this dress rather than a white one so she could continue to wear the dress for dancing after the wedding. It was bought from ‘Leaders of Fashion’ boutique on Commercial Street, Leeds.
3) Hair dressing chair This home hairdressing chair was used by the donor’s stepmother in her own home to supplement the family’s income throughout the 1950s. The upholstery is a classic 1950s style.
4) A collection of Prattware The John and Griselda Lewis collection was bequeathed through the Art Fund to Leeds Museums and Galleries. This important collection of ceramics popularly known as Prattware, also includes other manufacturers of creamware and pearlware.
5) Girtin watercolour Leeds Museums and Galleries has been allocated through the Acceptance in Lieu scheme this beautiful watercolour of ‘Woman washing clothes under Wetherby Bridge, Yorkshire, Looking through the Bridge to the Mills’ dated, c. 1800.
6) Toy wooden tank This wooden tank was made by the donor’s uncle for his birthday when he was a small boy in the 1930s.
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OUR Top ten acquisitions
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YEAR IN REVIEW 2014 – 2015
7) Earl Grey’s centre table inventory of furniture of the This important item will join Yellow Drawing Room at Earl Grey’s Writing Table that is 10 Downing Street taken over on display at Temple Newsam by Earl Grey from Earl Bathurst House. It was recorded in the in 1830.
8) First World War biscuit This First World War biscuit was sent home from the front, with a Christmas message written on both sides, still in its original wrapper dated 1914. The message reads, “Christmas dinner in the Army. Give us this day our daily bread and please put a bit of butter on. From Max.”
Purchased with the assistance of the Art Fund, the Arts Council England / Victoria and Albert Museum Purchase Grant Fund and Leeds Art Fund.
9) Mongolian wedding outfit 10) Skin of a pied wagtail The skin of a juvenile A traditional Mongolian Pied Wagtail that was groom’s robes made of found dead on the road in synthetic silk damask. This outfit and the bride’s was Littondale, Yorkshire. given to the couple by the Mayor of Hohot for their wedding.
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OUR Top ten acquisitions
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Š Thomas Coulborns
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YEAR IN REVIEW 2014 – 2015
Our exhibitions At a glance Dressed for Battle Jan 2014 – Sept 2014
But Not Forgotten Aug 2014 – Aug 2014
Duty Calls Jan 2014 – Dec 2014
Roman Empire: Power & People Sept 2014 – Jan 2015
A Snapshot of Yorkshire Jan 2014 – Dec 2014 Bruce McLean: Another Condition of Sculpture Feb 2014 – May 2014 Natural Beauty 2 Feb 2014 – Aug 2014 Rembrandt and the Bible Apr 2014 – Aug 2014
Shezad Dawood; Toward the Possible Film Oct 2014 – Jan 2015
© Marlow Moss, Spatial Construction in Steel, 195-58, Courtesy Leeds Art Gallery
JUNE 2014
Elin Jakobsdottir; Eyes Cast Oct 2014 – Jan 2015
Parallel Lives: Marlow Moss + Claude Cahun Leeds Art Gallery June 2014 – Sept 2014
My Leeds, My Culture Oct 2014 – Oct 2015 Fowler 150 Nov 2014 – Sep 2015
Look into My World Apr 2014 – Jun 2014
How Do I Look Jan 2015 – Dec 2015
Potts of Leeds – Clocks of Character Oct 2014 – Sep 2014
The Labours of Herakles Jan 2015 – Mar 2015
Concurrent exhibitions at Leeds Art Gallery linked two artists who were born and died within years of each other and © Claude Cahun, 1928, Courtesy of shared many the Jersey Heritage Collections. similarities but created remarkably different work. Their art had been little known but their impact on subsequent generations and contemporary artists was considerable.
Parallel Lives: Marlow One Day, Something Moss & Claude Cahun Happens: Paintings Jun 2014 – Sept 2014 of People Mar 2015 – May 2015 Bicyclism Jun 2014 – Jul 2014
Grayson Perry: The Vanity of Small Differences Aug 2014 – Dec 2014
The Healing Home Feb 2015 – Nov 2015
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our exhibitions
Grayson Perry The Vanity of Small Differences Temple Newsam House Aug 2014 – Dec 2014 The Vanity of Small Differences by Grayson Perry is a series of six contemporary tapestries exploring British taste and class. The exhibition was displayed in the historic interiors of Temple Newsam House in 2014 and proved to be extremely popular with our audiences. AUG 2014
SEPT 2014 Roman Empire: Power & People Leeds City Museum Sept 2014 – Jan 2015
Grayson Perry, The Annunciation of the Virgin Deal, 2012 Photo: © Stephen White
This touring exhibition brought together over 160 stunning pieces from the British Museum exploring the story of one of the most powerful empires the world has ever seen. Highlights included sculpture from the villas of the Emperors Tiberius and Hadrian, coins from the famous Hoxne treasure, beautiful jewellery and even near-perfectly preserved children’s clothing from Roman Egypt. A British Museum tour. Supported by Dorset Foundation. Cocurated by Bristol Museums, Galleries & Archives and the British Museum.
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YEAR IN REVIEW 2014 – 2015
Shezad Dawood, Toward the Possible Film + Elin Jakobsdōttir, Eyes Cast Leeds Art Gallery Oct 2014 – Jan 2015 Shezad Dawood presented a new film installation, textile paintings and neon work alongside a selection from the Leeds fine art collection that presented his new work and current concerns. While, Elín Jakobsdóttir’s work combined drawings, films and sculptural objects which considered the everyday world through the lens of the subconscious. OCT 2014
NOV 2014 Fowler 150 Leeds Industrial Museum Nov 2014 – Sept 2015 This exhibition celebrated the life and achievements of the agricultural engineer John Fowler in the year marking 150 years since his untimely death. John Fowler was a pioneer in the development of steam engines for ploughing and his inventions significantly changed the course of agricultural practice.
© Shezad Dawood, Towards the Possible Film (production still), 2014
© Elín Jakobsdóttir, Eyes Cast, 2013
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our exhibitions
The Labours of Herakles Leeds City Museum Jan 2015 – Mar 2015 This exhibition explored one of the classical world’s most famous heroes through the lithographs and etchings of New Zealand artist Marian Maguire. Taking Herakles out of his ancient context, and portraying him as an early pioneer in nineteenth-century New Zealand, these works questioned what it means to be a hero.
JAN 2015
FEB 2015 The Healing Home Temple Newsam Feb 2015 – Nov 2015
How Do I Look? Abbey House Museum Jan 2015 – Dec 2015
An intimate exploration of the role of Temple Newsam House as a convalescent hospital and a home during the First World War. The exhibition brought together new research, family histories and an audio soundscape to give a flavour of what it was like to recuperate in one of England’s finest country houses.
A focus on how people throughout history have enhanced their looks and presented themselves to others. Displaying everything from wigs and war paint, moustaches and mascara, nail polish and nose rings, earrings and eyeliner, combs and curlers.
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YEAR IN REVIEW 2014 – 2015
One Day, Something Happens: Paintings of People Leeds Art Gallery Mar 2015 – May 2015 This exhibition explored the everyday theatricality of the body through paintings of the human figure. Curated by Jennifer Higgie (writer and co-editor of Frieze magazine) who has selected works from the Arts Council Collection this group show featured both historical and contemporary paintings of people. MAR 2015
Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Condor and The Mole (detail), 2011 © the artist 2014
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SPonsors, partners and supporters
Our sponsors, partners and supporters
Ark Display Graphics
Henry Moore Foundation
The Princes Trust
Artemis
Henry Moore Institute
Royal Armouries Museum
Artforms
The Hepworth
Sara Porter Photography
The Art Fund
Heritage Lottery Fund
Arts Council Collection Partnership supported by Christie’s
Hyde Park Source
Sierra Leone National Railway Museum
Ilkley Literature Festival
Sound Leisure Ltd
Investec Wealth & Investment, Leeds
St James’s University Hospital, Bexley Wing
John Ellerman Foundation
Stewarts Law
Kathryn Sargent Bespoke Tailoring
Temple Newsam Learning Partnership
Arts Council England AS Frames Bradford Metropolitan District Council
Brown Shipley Private Banking Kirklees Council BTCV Leeds & Partners Calderdale Council
Canal and Rivers Trust Canal Connections CC Imaging Contemporary Art Society
Leeds Art Fund Leeds Civic Trust Leeds College Art and Design Leeds Fashion Works
Dale Photographic
Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society
Dine
Morris & Co
Dugdale Bros & Co
Museum Development Yorkshire
The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation
Museums Association
The Tetley Thackray Medical Museum The Thoresby Society Tomasso Brothers Fine Art University of Huddersfield University of Leeds The V & A Purchase Grant Scheme Wakefield Council Welcome to Yorkshire Wolfson Foundation
Friends of Leeds Museums
National Museum Directors Council
Yorkshire Festival 2014
The Grammar School at Leeds
Park Plaza Leeds
Yorkshire Wildlife Trust
Hainsworth
Pictures Plus
Fresh Hospitality
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Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Find out more www.leeds.gov.uk/museumsandgalleries www.leeds.gov.uk/museumsmailinglist www.leeds.gov.uk/secretlivesofobjects www.mylearning.org LeedsMuseumsandGalleries leedsmuseums leedsartgallery