5 minute read
Introduction
Since its foundation in 1970, the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art has had five directors, and this financial year saw the departure of Mark Hallett, after almost eleven years leading the organisation. Mark’s tenure as director was one of innovation and expansion, seeing the organisation grow from a team of twelve to thirty-eight members who support the Centre’s work to enhance and expand the field of British art studies. I have great pleasure in submitting the fifty-third Annual Report of the Paul Mellon Centre and take this opportunity to thank Mark for his incredible service, hard work and vision that has shaped new directions for our work and that of the field more broadly. Mark takes up the role of Märit Rausing Director of the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, and all who are connected with the PMC, the Yale Center for British Art and Yale University wish him well in his new post. In the period following his departure, I moved from the position of Deputy Director to that of Acting Director, and now have the tremendous honour of serving as the Centre’s sixth Director.
This year can be characterised as one of change for the PMC, not only at leadership level but across the team. We have welcomed a large number of new employees and created several new roles. Indicative of the Centre’s ambitions to provide world-class research services and facilities, and as a result of a strategic review of the Centre in the previous year, which highlighted several staffing gaps, we have been extremely fortunate to be able to introduce new jobs and revise some more established ones. This ensures that the Centre is operationally robust and invigorated by new ideas, experiences and energies. We bid farewell to Nermin Abdulla after twelve years at the Centre. From arriving to work on reception, Nermin developed the Centre’s Learning Programme. At the core of this was her work on the Yale in London programme, which over time grew to encompass a broad remit including the Write on Art Prize; the Plan, Prepare, Provide scheme; and the establishment of the Public Lecture (now Public Event) Series. Rachel Prosser joined us from the UK government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport as our new Learning Programme Manager. She is supported by Esme Boggis in the new role of Learning Programme Coordinator. The Archives & Library team has been joined by a new Assistant Librarian, Gaetano Ardito, who was previously Assistant Librarian at the British Museum. Pawel Jaskulski, Digital Preservation & Records Manager, is currently creating a digital assets register and advising the Centre on its Digital Preservation policy and strategy. As an institution that champions the preservation of records for research purposes, understanding how we do this in a digital age and for an image-rich discipline is a complex and exciting project for the Centre to engage with. Other new roles created at the Centre in this financial year include an Audio Visual Technician, Executive Assistant to the Director, Finance Manager, Human Resources Officer, Networks Administrator, Networks Manager and Receptionist. The Operations and Events Manager roles were reassessed in line with the work they perform across the organisation and redesignated as ‘Leads’ for their teams.
Two new graduate trainee roles – an Archives & Library Assistant and a Digital & Marketing Assistant – have been designed to provide career pathways with a rigorous schedule of training and skills acquisitions. We have been so impressed by the contribution that the first incumbents of these roles, Hannah Jones and Shai Mitchell, have made to the work of the Centre. It is a privilege to lead such a talented team of people who are committed to developing British art studies for the future and ensuring that the Centre provides sectorleading facilities and services for its users.
The Centre is well equipped, both financially and structurally, to carry out the vision set out by Paul Mellon to improve knowledge about, and access to, British art. We look to the future with confidence and optimism about the wider cultural and societal value of our work and the support we can offer to individuals and institutions in these challenging times. The field of British art has changed considerably since the PMC’s foundation, both in terms of the range of subjects and those who interact with our work as researchers and audiences. A glance down the list of grants and fellowships awarded in this financial year gives a sense of this. A key area of ongoing work at the Centre is implementing the objectives set out in our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion action plan, including assessing and improving access to our resources, spaces and activities. This financial year we embarked on a major research project, supported by The Audience Agency, to collect data about our audiences and workforce. The results will be reported on in future work as we analyse the data to understand the demographics the PMC reaches through its activities.
There has been much to celebrate this year. The return of the Yale in London undergraduate students to classes in the Centre’s premises – after a hiatus during the pandemic – has brought a different energy (and noise!) level to our stairwells. The British Art Network marked ten years of activities, and has seen impressive growth of its membership in recent years. No fewer than nine of our recently published titles were awarded major prizes, including Apollo magazine’s ‘Book of the Year’. This is testament to the quality of the scholarship and the editorial experience and production values that result in publications that will have an impact on the field for years to come.
