Further information
Partnerships
Developing partnership working continues to be at the heart of our development work. Our volunteer scheme now has around 200 active volunteers at any one time, many of whom are students but we also have very experienced local residents who help make visits much more enjoyable and meaningful. Certainly we now depend on them to help us deliver the fun part of our programme in the Studios as well as helping out at the Observatory in Museum Gardens, Raindale Mill at York Castle Museum, and also helping catalogue the collections. We are grateful for all the help we receive.
The Yorkshire Philosophical Society and Friends of York Art Gallery are two of our very important supporters and increasingly we work more closely with them on a variety of projects including acquisitions, cataloguing, talks etc.
A new major partnership began this year, with York Theatre Royal and Riding Lights Theatre Company joining together to bring the York Mystery Plays back to the Museum Gardens for a production in 2012. This is an ambitious project involving 800 volunteers in all aspects of the production including backstage and front of house as well as performing on stage.
Other partnerships include Art in Yorkshire – supported by Tate, working closely with the Tate and 18 regional galleries to deliver an exciting year long programme throughout 2011 of exhibitions and events. We have also worked closely with the National Trust and the Art Fund to help keep Brueghel's The Procession to Calvary in Yorkshire. The painting was displayed in York Art Gallery and attracted a lot of interest and financial support which meant that it was successfully acquired for the nation.
We also further strengthened our relationship with the British Museum during the year, following on from our joint purchase of the Vale of York Viking Hoard last year. The first part of the year saw the display of some of our most important medieval objects in the British Museum whilst the Yorkshire Museum was closed. Treasures from Medieval York was the first time ever that another museum's collection had been specifically featured at the British Museum and it attracted a huge amount of publicity, interest by visitors and British Museum staff alike. After the reopening of the Yorkshire Museum, the BM lent the Yorkshire Museum the Roman bust of Emperor Severus as a centrepiece of this year's Celebrating Severus events.