The Director of Regeneration and the Chair of the Captain Cook Birthplace Trust will be in attendance to provide Members with an overview of the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum and the work of the Trust.
Recommendation: That the Panel consider and discuss the information provided.
Minutes:
The Chair of the Captain Cook Birthplace Trust and the Council’s Creative Programmes and Partnerships Manager were in attendance to provide information in relation to the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum.
The Chair of the Trust gave his presentation as follows:
The funding of culture and museums was a hot topic and a nationwide issue at the current time. The Captain Cook Birthplace Museum opened on 27 October 1978, to celebrate Middlesbrough’s most famous son and provide a place where people could be educated about Captain James Cook and his legacy. Education had become critical in recent years in respect of debates about colonialism and climate change, which the Trust had engaged in.
The Trust was established on 16 January 1978 in partnership with Middlesbrough Borough Council, with a specific remit to secure funding to provide the Museum. From the outset the partnership existed for the advancement of education about the life and work of Cook and the countries he discovered. After the Museum opened the Trust was dormant for some time.
In 2018, the Trust’s Constitution was revised and the Trust became more independent of Middlesbrough Council. The name was changed to the Captain Cook Birthplace Trust with the aim of being able to bid for funding or grants that the Council was unable to access. There were currently 11 Trustees and Membership was open to anyone who had an interest. There were 12 places on the Trust and 3 were nominated by Middlesbrough Council.
Over the last few years, the Trust had delivered talks, and other events including a tea dance, annual celebration of Cook’s birthday, facilitated talks and hosted the Cook Island Rugby team. The Trust had also developed new signage to promote the museum and liaised with tour operators and Tees valley Tourism regarding reviving the Cook Trail. Unfortunately during the covid pandemic some of that work had become a little stagnated.
Since the announcement of the potential budget cuts by the Council in December 2023, the Trust had issued a press release explaining why the Museum must continue to operate. A petition opened by the Trust had gathered over 8000 signatures in support of keeping the Museum open. There had been local, national and social media coverage and debate had opened up on the subject.
In January, Members of the Trust had met twice with Middlesbrough’s Mayor and Council Officers and had presented a proposal paper, detailing why the Museum should be maintained. There were some queries still be to be answered regarding financial matters. The Trust was happy to participate in the operation of the Museum and ready to engage in discussion. The Museum could continue to be in the Council’s ownership or it could be transferred to a new owner, either a commercial or voluntary body.
Currently the Trust’s Constitution did not permit it to own assets and therefore was not in a position to take over the Museum. However, it would not be impossible as the Constitution could be amended and many other Museums were operated by charitable trusts. Clarity on the staffing, running costs, legal responsibilities, building conditions and cafe would be needed if the Trust were to consider a take-over. Footfall to the Museum would need to increase and the Trust would need to know if the Council were prepared to engage with volunteers.
One idea was to offer a 12 month membership – similar to other local venues such as Preston Hall in Stockton. This would encourage people to make return visits. School visits were another source of income. The Museum also had the potential for earning income from room rental to community groups.
The new signage that the Trust had developed needed to be put in place and this should be straightforward as none of the sites identified had presented a problem when discussed previously.
With regard to volunteers, around 33 people had expressed an interest – some offering half a day a week and others a full day. Even if the Museum was opened with reduced hours, it might be possible to operate with volunteers.
The Café was operated on a rolling lease and was due to be offered a new contract – although this had not happened as yet due to the Council’s budget pressures. The Café currently paid rent and a service charge to a maximum of £20K per annum.
The Trust had also explored sponsorship and the Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) had expressed some interest in providing grant funding. There was also a potential donor from the private sector who was interested in retaining the Museum.
The 27 October 2028 would be the 300th anniversary of Cook’s birth and the Trust was already planning for this occasion. Groups in Australia, New Zealand and the USA were planning to be in Middlesbrough on that date, including descendants of the Cook family. The Maritime Museum in Australia housed a replica of The Endeavour and there was potential for that to return to the UK for the anniversary. There would be commercial potential for hotels, restaurants and other local facilities for events to mark the occasion.
The possibility of a new purpose-built museum at the entrance to Stewart’s Park was also mentioned.
The Creative Programmes and Partnerships Manager explained that the Council operated the Dorman and the Cook Museums and the challenge was to operate two museum sites and find a 100K saving. The service was reviewed last year and a number of posts were on hold. The team was doing a good job without a full staffing structure in place. The Council was exploring how to make the two sites operate and make the saving, or, generating income to cover the gap. More front of house staff would be required to run both Museums and the Council would be liaising with the Trust regarding volunteers and staff resource to manage a programme and embed into the structure across both museums. This might be an interim arrangement.
In the longer term, the Council had been working closely with TVCA to undertake a heritage study for the whole of the Tees Valley – looking at the assets and links in terms of heritage. The idea was to develop a plan and be in a position to advocate for the investment the Museum service needed.
The Museums Service had had a successful year in 2023 in terms of generating income through temporary and touring exhibitions such as the Lego and Titanic exhibitions, for which there had been a charge to visit.
In terms of visitor figures to the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum, the following information was presented:
5360 paying visitors from April 2023 until January 2024.
2431 school visits.
The current fee for museum entry was £4.50 which would increase from 1 April £4.70. There were also concessions. Tickets permitted access for one year but it was unclear how many visitors made repeat visits.
The Chair thanked everyone for their attendance and the information provided.
AGREED that the information provided was received and noted.