Page 8 - Barnsley Museums Annual Review 2018-2019

Looking to the Future
Through an astute approach to commerciality and income generation, workforce development, sharing our achievements,
and the strengthening ambition and role of Barnsley Museums and Heritage Trust, we look forward with confidence to the role we can play long into the future.
We have continued with our resilience
and sustainability strategy of focusing on supporting Barnsley Museums through our Charity, Barnsley Museums and Heritage Trust, by refreshing our earned income strategy and by continuing to invest in our venues and programmes by securing external investment. This year has seen Barnsley Museums and Heritage Trust go from strength to strength. It has attracted new funders, enabled the delivery of a wide variety of projects, welcomed a new Chair of Trustees, agreed a new three year business plan and attracted record levels of public donations at the museums.
Funding previously received from the
Foyle Foundation resulted in the support
of ‘Museums on Tour’ this year, with the creation of innovative new handling boxes for families and school children throughout Barnsley. In addition, we were delighted to receive significant new funding from the Garfield Weston Foundation that has been used to support learning activities across the museum venues. Grants from Co-op Local
Fund, Awards for All, the Youth Social Action Fund, Shawlands Trust, Woodmansterne Art Conservation Fund, the Idlewild Trust and many more have contributed to a range of fantastic programmes.
Cannon Hall was the focus for our first Crowdfunder, which, together with support from Barnsley Boost, provided funding for the installation of a tree sculpture to mark the beginnings of a new discovery trail.
Our earned income strategy has focused on improving our retail offer and our wedding business, as we also launched a nationwide search with the BBC’s Countryfile for a new Miller for Worsbrough to further develop our organic stoneground flour business. We also opened our new Pet Crematorium at Cannon Hall in partnership with Barnsley Council’s Bereavement Services team.
We have continued to invest heavily in our greatest asset this year – our team. From curatorial training for front of house assistants to resilience and leadership programmes,
our team have developed their skills and as a result continue to contribute greatly to our success and organisational resilience. Advocacy and having the support of strong ambassadors is also key to our approach.
I am looking forward to
the exciting challenge of leading the Trust as it builds upon its success to date and really starts to have
an impact in supporting Barnsley Museums and
their wonderful and important work.’’
Paul Jagger OBE,
Chair of Barnsley Museums and Heritage Trust