Museums making history count with major economic boost for Leeds

The stats show the service welcomed just under a million visitors in the last financial year, with more than 47,000 school pupils and 109,312 children taking part in activities and viewing some of the incredible 1.3 million objects which make up the city’s unique collection.

Innovative work to engage visitors online has also seen the service’s website amass an impressive 3.9 million page views this past year, and grant funding applications have attracted £2,365,364 in external funding to Leeds.

Brought together by Leeds Museums and Galleries to assess the positive impact of their sites on the city and the region, the figures include factors such as overall spend on and off sites, employment impacts and spend on local goods and services.

Among the country’s largest services of its kind, Leeds Museums and Galleries operates eight sites: Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds City Museum, Temple Newsam House, Lotherton Hall, Abbey House Museum, Kirkstall Abbey, Leeds Industrial Museum and the Leeds Discovery Centre .

With an annual budget of around £5m, the new figures demonstrate that the service also generates around £8 for every £1 invested in it, and costs just £4.88 each year for every person in Leeds.

Councillor Salma Arif, Leeds City Council’s executive member for adult social care, active lifestyles and culture, said: “It’s well known that our museums and galleries give hundreds of thousands of visitors and families each year an unforgettable visitor experience and help raise the positive profile of our city as a cultural destination both regionally and internationally.

“But it’s also important to recognise the huge contribution museums, arts and culture make to the local economy, attracting not only visitors to the city, but inward investment, job creation and education and training opportunities.

“Add to that the positive impact these sites have on residents’ wellbeing in Leeds, through volunteering opportunities and a programme of free, community-based activities, and the wider benefits of having such a thriving and innovative museums and galleries service simply cannot be overstated.”

Popular exhibitions which have been part of the Leeds programme over the past year have included Leeds City Museum’s current Living With Death exhibition, which features a fascinating array of objects exploring how different cultures experience death, dying, and bereavement.

Leeds Industrial Museum has also hosted Engineery, highlighting the story of civil engineering and the huge impact it has had on the world, and featuring objects looking at the life of Leeds’s own John Smeaton.

The service has also scooped a number of prestigious awards in the last 12 months, with Leeds City Museum’s A Hip Hop Journey: 50 Years Of Kulture, and The Preservative Party, a group of young curators, both winning Museums + Heritage Awards.

For more information on Leeds Museums and Galleries, please visit: Leeds Museums and Galleries | Days out and exhibitions

ENDS