York Museums Trust (YMT) is the charity responsible for operating some key museums and galleries in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

, England. The trust was founded in 2002 to run York's museums on behalf of the

City of York Council City of York Council is the municipal governing body of the City of York, a unitary authority in Yorkshire, England. It is composed of 47 councillors, one, two, or three for each of the 21 electoral wards of York. It is responsible for all loc ...

. It has seen an increase in annual footfall of 254,000 to the venues since its foundation. In both 2016 and 2017, it saw its annual visitors numbers reach 500,000 people.

History and operations

Middleham Jewel, obverse - hi-res YORYM 1991 43

*The trust was founded on 1 August 2002. On 3 October 2002 it took control of the sites. Many of the staff who had been working in the museums and galleries under the City of York council transferred across to the new organisation. *In 2009 jointly acquired with the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It documen ...

the

Vale of York Hoard The Vale of York Hoard, also known as the Harrogate Hoard and the Vale of York Viking Hoard, is a 10th-century Viking hoard of 617 silver coins and 65 other items. It was found undisturbed in 2007 near the town of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, ...

, a Viking treasure hoard valued at over £1,000,000. *An exhibition in 2011 of

David Hockney David Hockney (born 9 July 1937) is an English painter, draftsman, printmaker, stage designer, and photographer. As an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considered one of the most influential British artists o ...

’s largest landscape painting '' Bigger Trees Near Warter'' was the most well attended since the Trust had taken over the York Art gallery in 2002. *In 2012 the Trust successfully raised enough money to retain one of a pair of Iron Age gold

torc A torc, also spelled torq or torque, is a large rigid or stiff neck ring in metal, made either as a single piece or from strands twisted together. The great majority are open at the front, although some had hook and ring closures and a few had ...

s that had been found in

Towton Towton is a small village and civil parish in the Selby District of North Yorkshire, England. It was historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire until 1974. History In 2010 and 2011 a pair of gold torcs dating to the Iron Age were disco ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by national parks, including most of the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors. It is one of four cou ...

. *A number of objects with a Yorkshire connection and held by the Trust were included in the BBC History of the World project, including the Middleham Jewel, the York helmet, and a tin of

Rowntree's Rowntree's is a British confectionery brand and former business based in York, England. Rowntree developed the Kit Kat (introduced in 1935), Aero (introduced in 1935), Fruit Pastilles (introduced in 1881), Smarties (introduced in 1937) brands, ...

cocoa from

Ernest Shackleton Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of A ...

’s unsuccessful

Nimrod expedition The ''Nimrod'' Expedition of 1907–1909, otherwise known as the British Antarctic Expedition, was the first of three successful expeditions to the Antarctic led by Ernest Shackleton and his second expedition to the Antarctic. Its main target, ...

to the

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole, Terrestrial South Pole or 90th Parallel South, is one of the two points where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on Earth and lies antipod ...

. *In 2013 the Trust in conjunction with the BBC organised a ''

Stargazing Live ''Stargazing Live'' is a British live television programme on astronomy that was broadcast yearly on BBC Two over three nights every winter from 2011 to 2017. The series was primarily presented by scientist Brian Cox and comedian and amateur a ...

'' event at the York Observatory in the York museum gardens. *In 2014 an exhibition at York Castle Museum focussed on the changes brought about by the First World War, in the centenary year of the start of the conflict. *In 2015 Janet Barnes, the founding Chief Executive of YMT retired. Reyahn King was appointed as her successor. *King stepped down in summer 2022 to move to

National Trust for Scotland The National Trust for Scotland for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, commonly known as the National Trust for Scotland ( gd, Urras Nàiseanta na h-Alba), is a Scottish conservation organisation. It is the largest membership organ ...

. YMT announced her replacement, Kathryn Blacker, on 30 August 2022.

Funding

The Trust is primarily funded through the City of York Council and the Arts Council. The Trust also derives substantial revenue from admission charges and other income sources. Total funding and income for 2013/14 is expected to be £5.85 million. On 4 November 2022 the Arts Council announced its continued support of York Museums Trust as a National Portfolio Organisation as part of the 2023-2026 investment programme.

Governance

York Museums Trust is led by a CEO, supported by directors and other senior staff. They are responsible to the Trustees.

COVID-19 pandemic

*On 18 March 2020 the Trust announced that it was closing all of its sites due to the COVID-19 pandemic. *On 28 July it announced that it had a £1.5 million shortfall in its finances due to the pandemic and, despite emergency funding from Arts Council England, it warned of possible job losses resulting from the prolonged closure of its venues. An August report sent to the

requesting additional funds to ensure the continued operation of the Trust warned that the failure to do so would result in the closure of all York Museum Trust sites and the reversion of ownership to the council. *On 13 October 2020 the Trust announced that it has been awarded £850,000 as part of the

Culture Recovery Fund The Culture Recovery Fund is a grants programme issued by the UK Government as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The fund aims to financially support cultural organisations in England (such as theatres, museums, and music venues) which had bec ...

from the UK government. *On 2 November 2020 the Trust announced that it was due to close the York Art Gallery and York Castle Museum from 5 November as part of new national restrictions in England. *On 10 November 2020 the Trust announced that it has finalised the restructure of the organisation in an effort to close a £570,000 shortfall in its finances as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. 26 members of staff were made redundant and 17 members of staff took voluntary redundancy. As of 1 November 2020 the Trust employs 101 people. *The Castle Museum and Art Gallery reopened on 2 December 2020. The Yorkshire Museum remained closed. *York was moved into Tier 3 Restrictions on 31 December 2020, forcing the Art Gallery and Castle Museum to close. *On 28 March 2021 the Yorkshire Museum announced that it has received an additional £18,000 'Lifeline grant' from the Culture Recovery Fund for repairs to the building façade and roof. *In March 2021 it was announced that the Art Gallery would reopen on 28 May to coincide with the launch of a new exhibition 'Grayson Perry: The Pre-Therapy Years' and that the Castle Museum would also reopen in May. *On 2 April 2021 the Trust announced that it had received £423,000 from the second round of funding of the Culture Recovery Fund. *On 7 May 2021 it announced the reopening of the Yorkshire Museum on the 9 July 2021 with an exhibition featuring a portrait of

Richard III of England Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Batt ...

from the National Portrait Gallery.

Sites

The trust runs four cultural venues and a garden. File:The Yorkshire Museum, York - geograph.org.uk - 885952.jpg, The Yorkshire Museum File:York Museum Gardens.jpg, York Museum Gardens File:Castle Museum York.JPG, The Castle Museum File:York City Art Gallery.JPG, York City Art Gallery File:Spire of St Mary, York.JPG, St Mary's (contemporary art space)

The Yorkshire Museum

This is the historic county museum displaying collections inherited from the

Yorkshire Philosophical Society The Yorkshire Philosophical Society (YPS) is a charitable learned society (charity reg. 529709) which aims to promote the public understanding of the natural sciences, the social sciences, and the archaeology and history of York and Yorkshire. ...

and acting as a regional collecting museum.

York Museum Gardens

The Museum Gardens are a botanical garden containing the

Yorkshire Museum The Yorkshire Museum is a museum in York, England. It was opened in 1830, and has five permanent collections, covering biology, geology, archaeology, numismatics and astronomy. History The museum was founded by the Yorkshire Philosophical Soci ...

and St Mary's Abbey.

York Castle Museum

The Castle Museum is a social history museum housed in two former prison buildings.

York Art Gallery

York's Art Gallery has a large collection of paintings and an internationally important collection of studio ceramics. In 2012 the trust obtained £7 million of funding for major refurbishment of the gallery. Over 1000 nationally important paintings held by the Trust have been made available online as part of a cooperative project with the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

and the Public Catalogue Foundation.

York St Mary's

York St Mary's is a contemporary art space in the deconsecrated church of St Mary's, Castlegate. The first use of the space was a joint exhibition by a number of artists, but since 2005 St Mary's has hosted installations by individuals, which are changed on a regular basis. The first of these commissions, inspired by the medieval building itself, was a textile work by Caroline Broadhead called ''Breathing Spaces''. This was followed by ''Echo'', a work by Susie MacMurray. In 2012, Laura Belem created ''The Temple of a Thousand Bells'', which used individually-made clear glass bells in a composition combining bell chimes with a narrative describing how a temple sinks into the sea, silencing the music of a thousand bells.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Organisations based in York Museum organizations Musical instrument museums in England