Tree felling work was going on today in the Museum Gardens.
There is a project in the area which will see flood resilience improved.
Not everyone will be pleased to see the loss of mature tree canopies.
Still the work does provide at least a short term opportunity to view the Yorkshire Museum and The Hospitium from normally obstructed angles.
Council taxpayers are to be asked to provide guarantees of up to £1.95 million in financial support as the York Museums Trust (YMT) project a budget deficit.
According to figures being considered by the Council next week the Trust, – which manages the Yorkshire & Castle Museums as well as the Art Gallery, – faces a £1.54 million deficit this year.
It has already made provision for £200,000 in redundancy costs. A 20% reduction in staffing is planned. The Arts Council have provided an emergency grant of £412,000.
£3.5 million of the Trust’s annual income comes from admission charges. These have largely dried up as a result of the COVID health scare.
The report says;
Covid-19 therefore creates an immediate financial threat to YMT’s
continued existence and the trustees have now logged a serious
incident report with the Charities Commission reflecting the fact that
they will require financial support in order to remain a going concern.
Without this they will run out of cash in January 2021.
Furthermore, the ongoing financial position will remain difficult into 21/22 since surveys of visitors undertaken nationally by the Association of Large
Visitor Attractions suggest that only 20% of the previous audience
numbers will be received on reopening.
If the Trust folds, then the museums – and most liabilities – would revert to the Council. It is estimated that, in such a scenario, the Council would face additional annual expenditure of around £2 million a year.
YMT has requested revenue funding support of £1.35m this year and up to £600k next year in order to keep York’s attractions open and to continue looking after the collections. This request reflects the fact that, as a charity, YMT are required to hold a level of financial reserves.
The York Museums Trust was founded in 2002 by the then Labour controlled Council. It currently receives an annual subsidy of £300,000 from York taxpayers.
The Yorkshire Museum is expected to remain closed until next March. The Art Gallery and Castle Museum (bookings only) have reopened.
NB. The YMT management were criticised during the lock-down period for failing to promptly reopen the Museum Gardens for use by residents. The gardens were one of the few open spaces available for socially distant exercise in the City centre.
The York Museums Trust says that it has had a very good six months. The figures are contained in a report being presented to the York Council.
Like other major visitor attractions in the City, the autumn and early winter saw large number of customers.
Attendances at the two major Museums and the Art Gallery saw increases compared to the same period in the previous year.
The Trust says, that the ‘YMT Card’ scheme, introduced in summer 2015, remains “very popular” “Over 50,000 ‘YMT Cards’ have been sold to date, there are currently 24,500 active card holders and 55% of members are York resident, (meaning 14% of adults within the CoYC boundary have purchased a YMT Card)”.
The Trust has general reserves of over £2 million. It expects to sustain these over then next 5 years. The Trust does not mention any restricted funds in its report.
The YMT receives a grant of £300,000 a year from the York Council.
Yorkshire Museum :
Fri 19 May – Sun 5 Nov :
10.00am – 5.00pm :
£7.50 & concessions
Two of the most significant and internationally recognised collections of Viking Age treasure in Britain will be brought together for the first time in a major new exhibition at the Yorkshire Museum in 2017.
Featuring some of the most exciting Anglo-Saxon and Viking discoveries ever made, the exhibition will explore how the Vikings transformed life in Britain.
Star objects from the British Museum will feature alongside the Yorkshire Museum’s world class collections and will be interpreted in new ways to give a fresh perspective on how Vikings shaped every aspect of life in Britain.
It will also feature ground-breaking research by archaeologists and new discoveries by metal-detectorists which will challenge our perceptions of what it means to be Viking.
The exhibition will open at the Yorkshire Museum and then tour to the University of Nottingham Museum, The Atkinson, Southport, Aberdeen Art Gallery and Norwich Castle Museum.
Tickets :
Adult: £7:50
Child under 16 – Free with a paying adult
Access Ticket – £4
With a York Card – 20% off a day ticket
For more infomation please visit our website.
Castle Museum
342,936 people visited the Castle, Yorkshire and St Mary’s Museums compared to 417,857 in 2014.
In total 60,788 people visited the new Art Gallery between its reopening in August 2015 and April 2016. This was well down on the Museums Trusts own (annual) target of 190,000 and compares with a total of 226,404 who visited between April 2011 and April 2012 (before the Gallery was modernised and charges introduced).
The business plan for the Museums and Art Gallery, published in 2013, talked of “raising total visitor numbers to 900,000 by 2018”.
In a report to a Council committee, the Museums Trust blames the floods and lower tourist numbers in the City for the disappointing performance.
It says it has issued 1022 YMT (discount) cards to benefit claimants who therefore enjoy free admission to the attractions, as can those aged under 24.
In total 8,140 York residents have taken up the option to get a YMT card.
The Trust points to excellent customer satisfaction results at all its sites. 99% of visitors were either “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their visit.
No financial figures are provided in the report.
The Trust is receiving a subsidy of £607,000 from the York Council this year.
Date: Tue 3 Nov
Time: 2.00pm – 3.00pm
Cost: £10
Coin hoards from Roman York : more
Date: Sat 14 Nov
Time: 10.30am – 3.30pm
Cost: £30
Yorkshire’s Beginnings: how it was formed, why it looks like it does : more
Date: Sat 14 Nov
Time: 3.30pm – 4.30pm
Cost: Free
Join the Museum’s book club to discuss a novel linked to the collections : more
Date: Sat 28 Nov
Time: 10.30am – 3.30pm
Cost: £30
Explore the Museum’s collections of Roman coinage : more
Art Gallery remodeling
The £8m scheme is expected to be completed in 2015 with 60% more exhibition space, improved visitor facilities and a new Centre of Ceramic Arts.
The Museum Gardens were awarded a gold medal by Yorkshire in Bloom. The gardens to the rear of York Art Gallery are to be expanded with three new gardens established.
Richard III head
The Trust is also refurbishing the Debtors Prison at the Castle Museum following a successful £1.1m bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund. The first exhibition to be held in these new spaces will be 1914: When the World Changed Forever, a major changing exhibition on the social impact of World War One. This work will begin in November and will be open to the public in June 2014
Overall visitor numbers to York’s museums showed an increase of 2% this summer although much of that is put down to an exhibition of Richard III ‘s reconstructed head.
