At the time Urbis first entered our consciousness, there were industry mutterings about what this word meant and what it was trying to communicate.
Five years on and some of those questions are still being asked. But the intellectual and commercial disaster that Urbis very nearly was has started to turn around. At the end of last year, the management trumpeted a rise in visitor figures of 60,000 people to reach 250,000 for 2006.
Vaughan Allen has been in the chief executive seat for 15 months and is coolly optimistic about the future. Perhaps the word should be realistic.
'I wouldn't say [Urbis] has ever completely turned around. I think my first full calendar year was better than I thought it could be in terms of visitor numbers.' He says the visitor figures for last year, the highest in the organisation's history, are 'immensely pleasing'.
Urbis has never been able to sustain itself, which was one of its original goals. In 2003 Manchester City Council had to bail the centre out with £500,000 after it failed to reach its paying-visitor target. Now the council has promised £1.8m a year and with the entry fee dropped (in 2005) and a clearer understanding of what Urbis is, its future on the edge of Manchester's shopping district seems brighter.
Allen still seems somewhat bemused about Urbis's opening gambit to have permanent galleries without any changing ones. Cities by their very nature are ever changing. Four floors of permanent exhibition space seemed to spectacularly go against this.
However, before Allen arrived and after Urbis's first director, Elizabeth Usher, stepped down, the move from permanent to temporary exhibitions had already begun. 'I wanted to accelerate this massively. I wanted to bring a lot more life and change to the place,' explains Allen.
Although Urbis's crisis was being addressed, that still left an unworkable management structure. A realignment of the configuration left it flatter - abandoning the directorial roles and bringing finance and personnel in-house.
The management team is now aged between 25 and 30, which is, Allen says, vital to deliver the kind of programmes that Urbis needs. Most were promoted after the fallout from the management restructure and had the necessary credentials of 'passion, a sense of what Urbis should be, and hadn't taken too many knocks [from the restructure]'.
Allen says one of his earliest challenges, because of the 'battering' Urbis had taken from the press, was to raise morale. 'There was almost a sense of being an abused organisation. That as soon as there was even the slightest bit of criticism, they would shrink into themselves. To run a place like this you have to do things that get bad or questioning press, and you can't do that when you're scared all the time.'
At 39, Allen says he is only just young enough for the job. Young enough to connect with his team and their 'off the wall' and 'cutting-edge' ideas. He says these senior managers have had a major effect on what Urbis stands for. And without a collection, being clear about this is even more pressing.
'We have tried to come up with a role [for Urbis] that we could fulfil, that gives us a reason for getting out of bed more than just because it seemed like a good idea in 2000 to have this new building that marked the rebuilding of Manchester.'
While embracing the blockbuster exhibitions - set pieces that have brought Urbis international fame (good reviews, Allen says, in New York and Berlin) - reaching out to the people of Manchester and its surrounding areas has become a priority. As 90 per cent of the audience comes from Manchester, you can see why.
The fourth floor showcases Manchester. Celebrating life in the city with oral testimonies from well-known and ordinary Mancunians on the theme of Manchester's migrant communities. Urbis gives visitors the opportunity to add their thoughts, memories and voices thereby creating an evolving exhibition. 'We've improved our image in Manchester an awful lot,' he says.
This year is the 25th anniversary of the Hacienda, the Manchester club, famous for championing 1980s dance music. Although there will be an exhibition on this, Allen's point is well made when he says music has moved on and his 20-something staff are better placed to interpret the lively drum-and-bass scene.
Between four and six exhibitions a year are curated in-house. A concept is decided on and then cheaply put into practice. Last year Allen was impressed by the Little Black Dress, which was almost created out of nothing, he says. The programme is enhanced by gigs, club nights and readings. There was a rock festival outside Urbis last year and a drum-and-bass night will happen later in the year.
Being able to talk about goths, moshers (rock music worshippers - it's ok, I had to ask too) and skateboarders is a definite plus, especially as it is these groups that are setting the trends. They use the space around Cathedral Gardens outside Urbis, and are being invited in.
And it's not just the youngsters that are courted. For Valentine's Day, with an idea coming from the local University of the Third Age, there will be a small exhibition about the love affairs of older folk. 'It's a cool and off-the-wall thing to do,' says Allen.
Allen is a fast, straight-talker. He never hesitates at any questions. He refrains from becoming defensive or the defender of an Urbis that was in the early days trying to find its way - a great idea, but badly executed.
He says taking the job was the obvious next step after leaving his last one at the Royal Armouries in Leeds. He started there in 1996, when it left the Tower of London for the north, armed with a masters degree in conflict studies and a background in journalism (iD, the Face, Paris Match), as a curator/researcher of contemporary issues. (Initially, he continued with journalism, working as the arts correspondent at Manchester's Big Issue.)
He says he was the 'token trendy lefty' at the Armouries. He later became the head of media, including publications, exhibition design and library research, eventually overseeing some of the curatorial team and working closely with the chief executive.
Making the organisation relevant to the local audience became a management mission and Allen got involved in creating links with the community and forging partnerships with key Leeds stakeholders.
'More important in the long run was the community work,' he says. He worked with local young people on gun crime, introducing them to a museum experience they otherwise wouldn't have had.
He oversaw the controversial move to build an Armouries' outstation in Kentucky - the Louisville project that is still in operation. Louisville, he says, was the natural way for the Armouries to expand. He says he understood the critics at the time, but envisages that many more museums will be doing the same thing in the future as a way to make money and build up their profiles.
After eight years at the Armouries and having completed an MBA, Allen says it was important for him to move on. He left in 2004 not quite knowing where he was heading, but looking towards consultancy work. Less than a year later, he landed the Urbis job.
Allen is waiting for the day that Urbis will just be seen as Urbis, rather than having to be labelled a museum or exhibition centre. He is strident about Urbis not being perceived as a museum.
'Urbis as a museum doesn't make sense to our audience.' He says it's a shame that the image of museums is still one of dusty objects in glass cases. Allen aligns Urbis more with the Pompidou Centre in Paris (see page 36). 'It's an aspirational thing,' he explains. 'During the first four or five years, the Pompidou was seen as a basket case.'
In the future, Urbis could have semi-permanent centres in other areas of Greater Manchester. Allen is most proud of the education work that has been done at Urbis with young people and wants to extend that to work with community groups around issues of choice and conflict. Perhaps when the world understands what Urbis is, then Allen's job will be done.
However, it is unlikely that he will stick around that long. He is in no doubt that the essential spark will still be there to continue in the job, but he believes he will soon be too old to continue. When he joined Urbis, he asked for a three-year contract, which will end in September 2008. He is advocating that one of his bright, young management team be considered as his successor.
Urbis still has a lot of barriers to break through. When working with market research groups used to museums, Allen says they see Urbis as a destination museum like the Imperial War Museum or the Manchester Art Gallery.
But, he argues, how many visitors still spend three hours in a museum or are enraptured by an art piece? 'I would question how many museum and gallery visitors actually do that any more.'
No, Urbis is a social space to be proud to be seen, a place where the coolest art and cultural trends are discussed. 'We are happy if people pop in for half an hour, as long as they come back,' Allen says. 'I want people to consume us as part of going to Harvey Nic's or a bar, then coming in to see the latest thing.'
Five years on and some of those questions are still being asked. But the intellectual and commercial disaster that Urbis very nearly was has started to turn around. At the end of last year, the management trumpeted a rise in visitor figures of 60,000 people to reach 250,000 for 2006.
Vaughan Allen has been in the chief executive seat for 15 months and is coolly optimistic about the future. Perhaps the word should be realistic.
'I wouldn't say [Urbis] has ever completely turned around. I think my first full calendar year was better than I thought it could be in terms of visitor numbers.' He says the visitor figures for last year, the highest in the organisation's history, are 'immensely pleasing'.
Urbis has never been able to sustain itself, which was one of its original goals. In 2003 Manchester City Council had to bail the centre out with £500,000 after it failed to reach its paying-visitor target. Now the council has promised £1.8m a year and with the entry fee dropped (in 2005) and a clearer understanding of what Urbis is, its future on the edge of Manchester's shopping district seems brighter.
Allen still seems somewhat bemused about Urbis's opening gambit to have permanent galleries without any changing ones. Cities by their very nature are ever changing. Four floors of permanent exhibition space seemed to spectacularly go against this.
However, before Allen arrived and after Urbis's first director, Elizabeth Usher, stepped down, the move from permanent to temporary exhibitions had already begun. 'I wanted to accelerate this massively. I wanted to bring a lot more life and change to the place,' explains Allen.
Although Urbis's crisis was being addressed, that still left an unworkable management structure. A realignment of the configuration left it flatter - abandoning the directorial roles and bringing finance and personnel in-house.
The management team is now aged between 25 and 30, which is, Allen says, vital to deliver the kind of programmes that Urbis needs. Most were promoted after the fallout from the management restructure and had the necessary credentials of 'passion, a sense of what Urbis should be, and hadn't taken too many knocks [from the restructure]'.
Allen says one of his earliest challenges, because of the 'battering' Urbis had taken from the press, was to raise morale. 'There was almost a sense of being an abused organisation. That as soon as there was even the slightest bit of criticism, they would shrink into themselves. To run a place like this you have to do things that get bad or questioning press, and you can't do that when you're scared all the time.'
At 39, Allen says he is only just young enough for the job. Young enough to connect with his team and their 'off the wall' and 'cutting-edge' ideas. He says these senior managers have had a major effect on what Urbis stands for. And without a collection, being clear about this is even more pressing.
'We have tried to come up with a role [for Urbis] that we could fulfil, that gives us a reason for getting out of bed more than just because it seemed like a good idea in 2000 to have this new building that marked the rebuilding of Manchester.'
While embracing the blockbuster exhibitions - set pieces that have brought Urbis international fame (good reviews, Allen says, in New York and Berlin) - reaching out to the people of Manchester and its surrounding areas has become a priority. As 90 per cent of the audience comes from Manchester, you can see why.
The fourth floor showcases Manchester. Celebrating life in the city with oral testimonies from well-known and ordinary Mancunians on the theme of Manchester's migrant communities. Urbis gives visitors the opportunity to add their thoughts, memories and voices thereby creating an evolving exhibition. 'We've improved our image in Manchester an awful lot,' he says.
This year is the 25th anniversary of the Hacienda, the Manchester club, famous for championing 1980s dance music. Although there will be an exhibition on this, Allen's point is well made when he says music has moved on and his 20-something staff are better placed to interpret the lively drum-and-bass scene.
Between four and six exhibitions a year are curated in-house. A concept is decided on and then cheaply put into practice. Last year Allen was impressed by the Little Black Dress, which was almost created out of nothing, he says. The programme is enhanced by gigs, club nights and readings. There was a rock festival outside Urbis last year and a drum-and-bass night will happen later in the year.
Being able to talk about goths, moshers (rock music worshippers - it's ok, I had to ask too) and skateboarders is a definite plus, especially as it is these groups that are setting the trends. They use the space around Cathedral Gardens outside Urbis, and are being invited in.
And it's not just the youngsters that are courted. For Valentine's Day, with an idea coming from the local University of the Third Age, there will be a small exhibition about the love affairs of older folk. 'It's a cool and off-the-wall thing to do,' says Allen.
Allen is a fast, straight-talker. He never hesitates at any questions. He refrains from becoming defensive or the defender of an Urbis that was in the early days trying to find its way - a great idea, but badly executed.
He says taking the job was the obvious next step after leaving his last one at the Royal Armouries in Leeds. He started there in 1996, when it left the Tower of London for the north, armed with a masters degree in conflict studies and a background in journalism (iD, the Face, Paris Match), as a curator/researcher of contemporary issues. (Initially, he continued with journalism, working as the arts correspondent at Manchester's Big Issue.)
He says he was the 'token trendy lefty' at the Armouries. He later became the head of media, including publications, exhibition design and library research, eventually overseeing some of the curatorial team and working closely with the chief executive.
Making the organisation relevant to the local audience became a management mission and Allen got involved in creating links with the community and forging partnerships with key Leeds stakeholders.
'More important in the long run was the community work,' he says. He worked with local young people on gun crime, introducing them to a museum experience they otherwise wouldn't have had.
He oversaw the controversial move to build an Armouries' outstation in Kentucky - the Louisville project that is still in operation. Louisville, he says, was the natural way for the Armouries to expand. He says he understood the critics at the time, but envisages that many more museums will be doing the same thing in the future as a way to make money and build up their profiles.
After eight years at the Armouries and having completed an MBA, Allen says it was important for him to move on. He left in 2004 not quite knowing where he was heading, but looking towards consultancy work. Less than a year later, he landed the Urbis job.
Allen is waiting for the day that Urbis will just be seen as Urbis, rather than having to be labelled a museum or exhibition centre. He is strident about Urbis not being perceived as a museum.
'Urbis as a museum doesn't make sense to our audience.' He says it's a shame that the image of museums is still one of dusty objects in glass cases. Allen aligns Urbis more with the Pompidou Centre in Paris (see page 36). 'It's an aspirational thing,' he explains. 'During the first four or five years, the Pompidou was seen as a basket case.'
In the future, Urbis could have semi-permanent centres in other areas of Greater Manchester. Allen is most proud of the education work that has been done at Urbis with young people and wants to extend that to work with community groups around issues of choice and conflict. Perhaps when the world understands what Urbis is, then Allen's job will be done.
However, it is unlikely that he will stick around that long. He is in no doubt that the essential spark will still be there to continue in the job, but he believes he will soon be too old to continue. When he joined Urbis, he asked for a three-year contract, which will end in September 2008. He is advocating that one of his bright, young management team be considered as his successor.
Urbis still has a lot of barriers to break through. When working with market research groups used to museums, Allen says they see Urbis as a destination museum like the Imperial War Museum or the Manchester Art Gallery.
But, he argues, how many visitors still spend three hours in a museum or are enraptured by an art piece? 'I would question how many museum and gallery visitors actually do that any more.'
No, Urbis is a social space to be proud to be seen, a place where the coolest art and cultural trends are discussed. 'We are happy if people pop in for half an hour, as long as they come back,' Allen says. 'I want people to consume us as part of going to Harvey Nic's or a bar, then coming in to see the latest thing.'
