A vital piece of equipment used by Adrian Jenkins when he became the director of the Bowes Museum in County Durham in 2001 was a bucket.
In fact, 36 buckets were needed to catch the rainwater streaming through the building’s leaky roof in what was symptomatic of an organisation that had its fair share of financial holes.
The Bowes Museum at Barnard Castle is housed in a French château created in the late-19th century by John and Joséphine Bowes. Its collection reflects the tastes of its founders and features European fine and decorative arts spanning five centuries, including works by Canaletto, El Greco, Courbet and Turner.
Despite this internationally renowned collection, in 1998 the museum was threatened with closure due to lack of funds.
After the Bowes was rescued by its Friends, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) commissioned a report that recommended that it should leave Durham County Council and become an independent charitable trust.
This happened in 2000 and Jenkins joined the following year. A priority was obviously a capital redevelopment programme that would include repairing the leaky roof.
“With 36 buckets collecting rainwater, it affected the psyche of the organisation as it was literally a building under siege from the weather,” Jenkins says. “So the redevelopment was crucial.”
Improvement programme
Jenkins embarked on a £12m refurbishment that was completed in 2011. The programme included improved visitor facilities; revamped permanent exhibitions; a new temporary exhibitions space; a new paintings store; an education suite; and a library, archive and reading room.
But Jenkins says there is still more he would like to achieve at the Bowes. The organisation has just secured £247,000 from the DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund to revamp its ceramics galleries, which have not been refurbished since the 1980s.
Jenkins is also looking to redevelop the parkland that surrounds the museum in an attempt to widen the appeal of the Bowes and make it more attractive when the weather is good.
As well as the park, the other two major areas that Jenkins is focusing on are research and international work.
“We can use the quality of the collections to engage in serious research programmes,” Jenkins says. “The majority of regional museums will have an informal research programme at various levels but I’m looking to try and behave more like, say, the Wallace, the Courtauld and the Ashmolean and have a formal research programme.”
To further the museum’s research programme, Jenkins has formed a partnership with Durham University, which recently made him an honorary fellow at its Institute of Advanced Study.
“What I’m hoping is that we will build capacity staff-wise here by having collaborative PhD students working on the collections in various subjects,” Jenkins says.
“But they can also develop true career skills for themselves outside the research by learning curatorial, education, conservation skills.”
Jenkins says the research is linked to the international programme, which is made possible by the quality of the museum’s collections, particularly its Spanish artworks.
The Bowes is organising a three-day symposium on Spanish painting that will be held in County Durham later in the year. This is a partnership between the Bowes, Durham University and Auckland Castle (which holds works by Spanish master Francisco de Zurbarán) and is being developed in association with Madrid’s Prado Museum.
Commercially minded
Jenkins is also investigating the possibility of developing touring exhibitions following the example of Bury Museum, which has successfully generated revenue from international touring shows featuring items from its collection.
Developing the commercial viability of the Bowes is an important part of the work that Jenkins does and was one of the aims when it moved to trust status. The DCMS report argued that, as an independent charity, it would have greater freedom to access funding and would be able to respond better to business opportunities.
“Like every museum, we are under the cosh to a certain degree with external factors and reduced funding, but we are in a position where we can increase our self-sufficiency over the coming years,” Jenkins says.
“We are looking at and dealing with them [budget cuts] through increased commercial activity, increased visitor numbers and diversifying the business.”
Jenkins is among that breed of regional museum and gallery directors that are commercially minded and are looking to make their organisations financially resilient by broadening their sources of income. In 2012-13 the museum had an income of £3.85m and it generates 60% of its income through ticket admissions and other commercial activities.
It also receives money from Durham County Council. Although this is likely to decrease, Jenkins says the museum has a very good relationship with the council, which sees the Bowes as an important part of the area’s tourism offer.
“Loads to do”
Another key partnership is the Bowes’s relationship with Beamish Museum. The two museums joined forces to become one of Arts Council England’s 16 Major Partner Museums in January 2012. They are very different organisations – Beamish is a large open-air museum – but Jenkins says they have a good relationship.
“We are not in competition, we are attracting differing audiences in the main, but at the same time there is cross-over and there are opportunities for cross-fertilisation of ideas and markets,” Jenkins says. “It is working very well.”
Temporary exhibitions are a key driver of visitors to the Bowes Museum and Jenkins and his staff work hard to create a varied and attractive programme that combines fashion and art, including contemporary shows as well as a more traditional offer.
The Bowes Museum currently has neon works (until 21 April) by Gavin Turk, who came to prominence in the early 1990s as part of the group known as Young British Artists.
Later in the year there will be an exhibitions on the Pitmen Painters, a show about handbags and a Julian Opie exhibition from the Holburne Museum in Bath, one of the regional art galleries that the Bowes has a strong relationship with.
All this is a far cry from the days when Jenkins and his staff were running about the museum with buckets to catch rainwater. He says that when he was interviewed for the job he was asked how long he thought he would be there.
“I remember there being a long pause as I thought what to say. I was about to say five years but before I had a chance the chairman said: ‘You’d give us a least seven years, wouldn’t you?” I said, ‘Er, yeah’, and I have been here nearly 13 now. I have had a family since I came here and that changes things, but I didn’t expect to be here that long – there is just loads to do.”
Adrian Jenkins took his BA in ancient history at the University of Leicester, an MPhil in art history at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham, and an MBA at the Bolton Business School.
He was a curatorial assistant with English Heritage (1990-92), and an assistant keeper of art at the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne (1992-96). He was the senior keeper of fine and applied art at Bolton Museum and Art Gallery from 1996 to 2001.
He joined the Bowes Museum in 2001.
The Bowes Museum was purpose built as a museum in the style of a French château to reflect the tastes of its founders, John Bowes and his French wife Joséphine.
It contains their collections of fine and decorative arts alongside later acquisitions. Highlights include one of the finest collections of Spanish paintings in the UK.
The museum became an independent charitable trust in August 2000, with a new director, Adrian Jenkins, and a senior management team appointed the following year.
A £12m refurbishment programme was completed in 2011 that included improvements to visitor facilities; the creation of new galleries for permanent and temporary exhibitions; a new paintings store; an education suite; plus a library, archive and reading room. The museum’s suite of picture galleries also underwent a major transformation.
In 2012-13 the museum had an income of £3.85m. It employs 71 staff, including seasonal cafe staff.
In partnership with Beamish Museum, the Bowes Museum is one of Arts Council England’s 16 Major Partner Museums.
In fact, 36 buckets were needed to catch the rainwater streaming through the building’s leaky roof in what was symptomatic of an organisation that had its fair share of financial holes.
The Bowes Museum at Barnard Castle is housed in a French château created in the late-19th century by John and Joséphine Bowes. Its collection reflects the tastes of its founders and features European fine and decorative arts spanning five centuries, including works by Canaletto, El Greco, Courbet and Turner.
Despite this internationally renowned collection, in 1998 the museum was threatened with closure due to lack of funds.
After the Bowes was rescued by its Friends, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) commissioned a report that recommended that it should leave Durham County Council and become an independent charitable trust.
This happened in 2000 and Jenkins joined the following year. A priority was obviously a capital redevelopment programme that would include repairing the leaky roof.
“With 36 buckets collecting rainwater, it affected the psyche of the organisation as it was literally a building under siege from the weather,” Jenkins says. “So the redevelopment was crucial.”
Improvement programme
Jenkins embarked on a £12m refurbishment that was completed in 2011. The programme included improved visitor facilities; revamped permanent exhibitions; a new temporary exhibitions space; a new paintings store; an education suite; and a library, archive and reading room.
But Jenkins says there is still more he would like to achieve at the Bowes. The organisation has just secured £247,000 from the DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund to revamp its ceramics galleries, which have not been refurbished since the 1980s.
Jenkins is also looking to redevelop the parkland that surrounds the museum in an attempt to widen the appeal of the Bowes and make it more attractive when the weather is good.
As well as the park, the other two major areas that Jenkins is focusing on are research and international work.
“We can use the quality of the collections to engage in serious research programmes,” Jenkins says. “The majority of regional museums will have an informal research programme at various levels but I’m looking to try and behave more like, say, the Wallace, the Courtauld and the Ashmolean and have a formal research programme.”
To further the museum’s research programme, Jenkins has formed a partnership with Durham University, which recently made him an honorary fellow at its Institute of Advanced Study.
“What I’m hoping is that we will build capacity staff-wise here by having collaborative PhD students working on the collections in various subjects,” Jenkins says.
“But they can also develop true career skills for themselves outside the research by learning curatorial, education, conservation skills.”
Jenkins says the research is linked to the international programme, which is made possible by the quality of the museum’s collections, particularly its Spanish artworks.
The Bowes is organising a three-day symposium on Spanish painting that will be held in County Durham later in the year. This is a partnership between the Bowes, Durham University and Auckland Castle (which holds works by Spanish master Francisco de Zurbarán) and is being developed in association with Madrid’s Prado Museum.
Commercially minded
Jenkins is also investigating the possibility of developing touring exhibitions following the example of Bury Museum, which has successfully generated revenue from international touring shows featuring items from its collection.
Developing the commercial viability of the Bowes is an important part of the work that Jenkins does and was one of the aims when it moved to trust status. The DCMS report argued that, as an independent charity, it would have greater freedom to access funding and would be able to respond better to business opportunities.
“Like every museum, we are under the cosh to a certain degree with external factors and reduced funding, but we are in a position where we can increase our self-sufficiency over the coming years,” Jenkins says.
“We are looking at and dealing with them [budget cuts] through increased commercial activity, increased visitor numbers and diversifying the business.”
Jenkins is among that breed of regional museum and gallery directors that are commercially minded and are looking to make their organisations financially resilient by broadening their sources of income. In 2012-13 the museum had an income of £3.85m and it generates 60% of its income through ticket admissions and other commercial activities.
It also receives money from Durham County Council. Although this is likely to decrease, Jenkins says the museum has a very good relationship with the council, which sees the Bowes as an important part of the area’s tourism offer.
“Loads to do”
Another key partnership is the Bowes’s relationship with Beamish Museum. The two museums joined forces to become one of Arts Council England’s 16 Major Partner Museums in January 2012. They are very different organisations – Beamish is a large open-air museum – but Jenkins says they have a good relationship.
“We are not in competition, we are attracting differing audiences in the main, but at the same time there is cross-over and there are opportunities for cross-fertilisation of ideas and markets,” Jenkins says. “It is working very well.”
Temporary exhibitions are a key driver of visitors to the Bowes Museum and Jenkins and his staff work hard to create a varied and attractive programme that combines fashion and art, including contemporary shows as well as a more traditional offer.
The Bowes Museum currently has neon works (until 21 April) by Gavin Turk, who came to prominence in the early 1990s as part of the group known as Young British Artists.
Later in the year there will be an exhibitions on the Pitmen Painters, a show about handbags and a Julian Opie exhibition from the Holburne Museum in Bath, one of the regional art galleries that the Bowes has a strong relationship with.
All this is a far cry from the days when Jenkins and his staff were running about the museum with buckets to catch rainwater. He says that when he was interviewed for the job he was asked how long he thought he would be there.
“I remember there being a long pause as I thought what to say. I was about to say five years but before I had a chance the chairman said: ‘You’d give us a least seven years, wouldn’t you?” I said, ‘Er, yeah’, and I have been here nearly 13 now. I have had a family since I came here and that changes things, but I didn’t expect to be here that long – there is just loads to do.”
Adrian Jenkins at a glance
Adrian Jenkins took his BA in ancient history at the University of Leicester, an MPhil in art history at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham, and an MBA at the Bolton Business School.
He was a curatorial assistant with English Heritage (1990-92), and an assistant keeper of art at the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne (1992-96). He was the senior keeper of fine and applied art at Bolton Museum and Art Gallery from 1996 to 2001.
He joined the Bowes Museum in 2001.
Bowes Museum at a glance
The Bowes Museum was purpose built as a museum in the style of a French château to reflect the tastes of its founders, John Bowes and his French wife Joséphine.
It contains their collections of fine and decorative arts alongside later acquisitions. Highlights include one of the finest collections of Spanish paintings in the UK.
The museum became an independent charitable trust in August 2000, with a new director, Adrian Jenkins, and a senior management team appointed the following year.
A £12m refurbishment programme was completed in 2011 that included improvements to visitor facilities; the creation of new galleries for permanent and temporary exhibitions; a new paintings store; an education suite; plus a library, archive and reading room. The museum’s suite of picture galleries also underwent a major transformation.
In 2012-13 the museum had an income of £3.85m. It employs 71 staff, including seasonal cafe staff.
In partnership with Beamish Museum, the Bowes Museum is one of Arts Council England’s 16 Major Partner Museums.
