York Museums Trust

Future Plans

The future direction of York Museums Trust is described in our Strategic Plan for 2006-13. At present we are planning the refurbishment of the Yorkshire Museum which will close in November 2009 and reopen on Yorkshire Day in August 2010. We have to find the remaining funds for the project.

York Art Gallery has just been awarded a grant from the DCMS/Wolfson Fund for the refurbishment of the Burton Gallery which will take place in 2010. We are also planning with other partners how best we can open up the back of York Art Gallery to increase connectivity with the Museum Gardens, Kings Manor and Exhibition Square, creating new public spaces for the city.

Financial sustainability is crucial to our business so we are also concentrating on how we can improve the retail and catering of the Castle Museum to make the visitor experience even better. The Museum Gardens will be improved through planting and interpretation and we are beginning a plan for long term storage of all the collections.

Behind all this activity are the staff who have increasing expertise and confidence. We are working with York Theatre Royal, Pilot Theatre and the City Libraries and Archives to develop leadership at all levels across all four organisations. The Four York group have been selected as part of the national Cultural Leadership Programme and have received funding to work together to raise the ambition for the cultural profile of the city.