The British Museum strategy to 2012
The British Museum has just completed one of
the most successful years in its history. This was a consequence
not only of the hugely successful The First
Emperor exhibition, but also the growing benefits of
work in recent years to focus activities, improve operations and
build international engagement. The Museum’s reputation is high,
and its plans ambitious, as it enters a challenging but highly
exciting new chapter in its development. The financial position is
sound and confidence high, which underpins an aspirational
strategic plan for the years to 2012.
In order to ensure that it continues to be
successful the Museum has re-evaluated its five-year plan to take
account of factors such as the development of ideas regarding the
Cultural Olympiad; a new funding agreement; and the decision to
develop the north-west area of the Museum. The Museum has
identified four key objectives that it will need to deliver in the
next five years to further develop its world-class status:
- To manage and research the collection
more effectively
The Museum will improve the documentation of the collections
through the Merlin Plan and Collections Online, building to 1m
images and 2m records online from 2011. It will enhance its storage
of the collections by seeking to ensure that 85% of collection
storage space is of a very high standard by 2012, building to 100%
within ten years.
- To enhance access to the
collection
The Museum will develop the capacity to accommodate 6m visits per
annum and deliver improvements to the visitor experience; the
Museum in Britain programme will develop five key partnerships; and
the international programme will provide opportunities for people
in Africa, East Asia, India, and the Middle East to share skills
and build capacity.
- To invest in our
people
The Museum will deliver an integrated human
resources approach that links career review to training and
development, to succession planning and talent management.
- To increase self-generated
income
The Museum will increase self-generated income from £13.8m to at
least £24m by 2012 through growth from exhibition, retail,
hospitality, international touring exhibitions, Membership, and
fundraising programmes.
These are ambitious objectives and the
Strategy to 2012 sets out how, in four key areas, the Museum will
meet them. Each Strategic Area has clearly defined measures of
success and programmes that will deliver the objectives.
In addition, the Strategy details two projects
that are essential in meeting the objectives:
North West Development
This project is of fundamental importance in
delivering the Museum’s four objectives. The project will address
inadequacies in space for special exhibitions, conservation and
science, logistics and collections storage.
A History of the World
The Museum is developing a programme of which
the central spine will be A History of the World in 100 Objects,
100 15-minute episodes, based on the British Museum’s collection,
to be broadcast on BBC Radio 4. In turn this will be the platform
for a nationwide distributed programme of activity working with
partner museums across the UK. Beyond the initial broadcast the
British Museum and a number of other museums will present in 2012
substantial ‘histories of the world’ as exhibitions from their own
collection.
Download
the Strategy to 2012