Investment Plans
Obviously all of our work is dependent on what resources we can secure. With stable funding from the City of York Council we have been able to raise substantial funds from a variety of sources. However, we acknowledge that we are living in an increasingly competitive and demanding market and it will require further investment funding and capital funding to survive.
The Yorkshire Hub have successfully bid for a second round of funding from the Renaissance in the Regions scheme which will amount to £208,000 in 2006-7 and £434,000 in 2007-8 for York. This builds on the £308,000 already received which has resourced the Schools Programme and built capacity in the curatorial team.
A wedding reception at the Hospitium
The Trust has also been successful in sourcing funds from Charitable Trusts and Foundations and has begun to develop partnerships with business sponsors. Currently the Trust is working with Shepherd Building Group on the Constantine exhibition. We hope to develop more contacts with businesses in the coming years as we develop new projects.
The Trustees agreed in 2004 that the first major capital project for the Trust should be directed towards the St Mary’s Abbey Precinct. This will involve the refurbishment of the Yorkshire Museum, Museum Gardens and the Hospitium, increased collection storage and interpretation of the gardens and its listed buildings. This is a complex project and it will be necessary to phase it. The first and second stage will be the Hospitium and Yorkshire Museum and we are working on an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for major capital funding.
In later phases, we will extend the gardens towards York Art Gallery, (creating a new green route through the gardens to connect with Exhibition Square), the refurbishment of the gallery will include a new mezzanine floor over the main gallery and possibly an extension to create more gallery and public facilities. The St Mary’s Abbey Precinct project forms the heart of the city’s plan to create a Cultural Quarter which will ultimately connect with the National Railway Museum, the river, the Minster, the City Library and York Theatre Royal.
The Hospitium in the Museum Gardens, York Museums Trust’s main conferencing and banqueting venue.