About Thackray Medical Museum

Thackray Medical Museum has achieved much since its establishment in 1997, and has won a place in people’s hearts and in their memories of museum experiences. Our vision now is to continue providing a unique service in the north of England, to challenge expectations of what it means to be a medical museum, and to remain a leading museum of medicine and healthcare with an international profile.

During the past 18 months, we secured multiple, new arrangements with major funders. This includes capital funding towards a £4.8m works programme through the renewal and extension of relationships with the Heritage Lottery Fund and Thackray Medical Research Trust, and the establishment of a significant new relationship with the Wellcome Trust. The museum has also secured revenue funding from Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation at Band 1, for 2018-22, by successfully aligning the delivery of its strategic aims with the national goals for the sector. Together with other funders, these relationships will enable the museum to re-establish its sustainability as a significant medical museum in the north of England, and achieve its strategic aims from 2018 onwards.

Capital investment in the museum building and facilities will address key requirements to make the building fit for purpose, including repairs to the roof, significant improvements to the visitor welcome and access, and the installation of environmentally sustainable technologies. The capital programme is due for completion in Spring 2020.

Arts Council England NPO revenue funding will directly support: a project to increase access to collections by migrating to a new collections management system (CMS), also supported by the Thackray Medical Research Trust; new audience development activity in support of the capital project; and a new fundraising income stream. Arts Council England has also supported a Museums Resilience Fund digital project to be completed in 2018, enabling the museum to migrate to a new customer relations management system and develop a new website to support improved audience development.

These new and renewed relationships and activities will support the development of the museum’s sustainable business model during this period. The museum currently relies on seven established income streams: leisure admissions, learning admissions, retail, café, conference and car parking, as well as a revenue grant from the Thackray Medical Research Trust. The addition of revenue funding from the Arts Council England NPO stream, from April 2018, represents a key change for the museum’s business model being in receipt of core government funding for the first time. NPO funding will, in turn, support new fundraising capacity to ensure that charitable giving becomes an additional income stream, supporting both the museum’s capital campaign and revenue activity.

We will use the transformational process of delivering the projects planned, the drivers of our stakeholder relationships, and the investment secured, to become more closely connected to our purpose, our audiences and our environment. Internal changes will also make an important contribution to the museum becoming fit for the 21st century: increasingly resilient and sustainable, and able to review and flex our activity around the constant factors of our purpose and our collections. Improving the strength and clarity of our intention and action in meeting Arts Council England’s Creative Case for Diversity will be a key element in this. During NPO Year 1, the museum will focus on fully embedding understanding of the Creative Case with the staff and trustees, and ensuring that effective processes are in place so that a real focus on diversity is permeated through all our activity. This means that thinking on diversity will reach throughout the organisation, including but not limited to, our collections development and use, collaboration with creative practitioners, audience co-creation and development, and staff and trustee development and planning.

With the vision mapped out, and new funding secured, we have positioned Thackray Medical Museum to work effectively in collaboration with new funders and stakeholders, in order to secure our organisational sustainability and satisfy public expectations in the 21st century.