Latest statistics for Government-sponsored museums published last week reveal 49 million visits were made to the 16 museums and galleries directly funded by the DCMS last year, a four per cent increase on 2012/13 (47 million) and a record high since the first data was published in 2002/03. The ‘Sponsored Museums: Performance Indictators 2013/14’, an annual statistical release, also shows that nine million visits to the sponsored museums were made by children aged 15 and under in 2013/14, an increase of three per cent since from the previous year.
Culture Secretary Sajid Javid said: These new figures highlight once again the public’s appetite for UK’s incredible culture and heritage, and the continuing appeal of our world-class museums and galleries. The Government’s investment to guarantee free admission for the national collections, along with stunning exhibitions and permanent collections, means that our great cultural institutes can be enjoyed by all.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) sponsors 16 National Museums which provide free entry to their permanent collections. These museums are:
British Museum, Geffrye Museum, Horniman Museum, Imperial War Museum, National Gallery, National Maritime Museum, National Museums Liverpool, Science Museum Group, National Portrait Gallery, Natural History Museum, Royal Armouries, Sir John Soane’s Museum, Tate Galleries, Tyne and Wear Museums, Victoria and Albert Museum, Wallace Collection. The figure for total visits to Sponsored Museums is one of DCMS’ Performance Indicators. Visits and other information produced in this report at the individual museums level are also used as Performance Indicators by the museums themselves.
There were 49 million visits to the Department’s 16 sponsored museums in 2013/14. This was an increase of 4 per cent from 2012/13 (47 million). There were 9 million visits to the sponsored museums by children aged 15 and under in 2013/14, an increase of 3 per cent since 2012/13. 2 per cent of all visits were made by overseas visitors. There were 20 million visits from overseas visitors in 2013/14. This was a decrease of 2 per cent since 2012/13 (21 million overseas visits). There were 120 million unique visits to the websites of sponsored museums in 2013/14.
Charitable giving is defined as any money or gift received from an individual, charity or private company, which is from one of the following: bequests, legacies, donations and capital grants from individuals, charities, foundations, trusts and private companies, as well as income raised through sponsorship and income from membership schemes. It does not include any money received from a publicly funded organisation, central government grants, investment income or lottery grant funding.
In 2013/14 a total of £252.4 million was received by the sponsored museums and galleries. This was an increase of 60.0 per cent on the 2012/13 figure of £157.7 million. Charitable giving to The Imperial War Museums (comprising five branches) was almost 6 times greater in 2013/14 than it was in 2012/13.
Photo: © P C Robinson Artlyst 2015