HLF Heritage Grant Application Royal College of Music Museum Brief for Activity Plan

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1 HLF Heritage Grant Application Royal College of Music Museum Brief for Activity Plan 1. SUMMARY More Music is a major redevelopment of the College s courtyard and performance facilities and will enable the Royal College of Music to maintain its status as a world leader in music education; strengthen the RCM as a cultural venue of national/ international significance; and create a greatly enhanced environment that inspires students, professors, visiting musicians and many visitors who come to the building each year. The Royal College of Music Museum will be relocated within the main building, with its stunning collection of musical treasures of international significance dating from the 15C. Ring-fenced proposals which form an HLF project will tackle the collections conservation deficit, outdated displays, an inadequate environment, and poor access alongside wide-ranging activities, including exciting collaboration outside London. 2. BACKGROUND The Royal College of Music Museum today The Museum is open from 11.30am to 4.30pm, Tuesday to Friday, entrance is free and it receives over 8,000 external visitors a year. There are currently 3.6 FTE: a Curator, a Museum Administrator, a fixed term contract Digitisation Officer and Museum Assistant. The Museum currently relies on 13 volunteers, who work half a day each, welcoming guests and providing information about the display and collections. They are managed and trained, including in Health and Safety, by the Museum Assistant. Among them are 4 RCM students, 3 RCM Friends and 6 external helpers. As well as being open for public viewing, the Museum is a working collection that has, for a long time, been well-embedded into day-to-day learning and teaching of RCM students. Additionally, it runs a busy programme of events for external groups of visitors. Last year, as well as regular activities, high profile events included the opening concert for Restore a Score (February 2015), part of the Raise the Roof Junior Gala (March 2015), and the public consultation event for the wider Courtyard project (April 2015). The Museum was also used to film a short video introduction for the BBC iwonder website, presented by Suzy Klein, (February 2015) and for a film by Korean Television documenting visually-impaired musicians. Alongside permanent displays there are special exhibitions related to music and last year the Museum hosted The RCM and World War 1 with portraits, manuscripts, letters, scores, and documents testifying the activity of the RCM during the War, and the active role played by RCM students and professors fighting at the front and in the trenches. The exhibition was celebrated by a number of activities, including a closing concert last March. An exhibition jointly-organised with Ben Uri Gallery opened in April 2015 and includes children activities, conferences and musical events. Recently-discovered archival material 1

2 and selected artworks tell the story of how the Ben Uri Gallery has supported music, particularly émigré and emerging musicians, throughout the 20C. Many of the instruments in the collection are in playing condition and can be heard during Museum concerts and events or during guided tours. The Museum hosts events for all ages, including hands on workshops designed for families and children and arranges visits for those with special needs. The Museum welcomes scholars and researchers and is part of the International Committee of Musical Instrument Museums and Collections of ICOM. The Museum offers special tours for schools including General Tours and Discovery Sessions on selected topics, hosting a range of events including concerts, talks, and special events for young children. There are more tailored tours suited to the adult learner, including The University of the Third Age (U3A). In addition, the Museum offers a special service to Higher Education Institutions with free sessions on musical instruments, musical iconography, research skills and the history of concerts. The Royal College of Music Collections a) Musical Instruments More than 1,000 instruments and associated items dating from c1480. The collection includes some of the key masterpieces in this field such as the oldest surviving stringed keyboard instrument (Ulm, ca.1480), the earliest known guitar (Lisbon, 1581) and one of the earliest harpsichords in the world (Venice, 1531). It is particularly noticeable for the 16 th and 17 th century European instruments and provides one of the most comprehensive resources for the study of British musical instrument makers from the late 16th to the early 20th Century. Also in the Special Collections are numerous important keyboard instruments (many in playing condition), brass instruments formerly belonging to musicians such as Elgar, Holst and Steele-Perkins, a unique collection of playable early English viols, and historically significant wind instruments such as a recorder by Jacob Denner the inventor of the clarinet and one of the earliest clarinets in existence. It is one of the five earliest and largest collections of musical instruments in the UK, together with those of the British Museum, Edinburgh University, V&A and Horniman Museum. b) Music manuscripts and early prints The manuscript and early print collection consists of over 60,000 items. Among them are the autograph manuscripts of Mozart s Piano Concerto in C minor, K.491, Haydn s String Quartet Op.64 No.1, Chopin s Minute Waltz, Elgar s Cello Concerto and Vaughan Williams s 5th Symphony. Also, when the RCM was opened in 1883, it was presented with two large and significant gifts: the libraries of the Concerts of Ancient Music donated by Queen Victoria and that of the Sacred Harmonic Society. As a result, the collections of manuscript and printed music are particularly rich in English and Italian music from the 18th and early 19th centuries (reflecting British musical taste), but they also contain important sources from the 16th and 17th centuries, among them a choir-book once owned by Anne Boleyn. It is one of the five most significant music research collections in the UK, alongside the British Library, Royal Academy of Music, Oxford and Cambridge Universities. c) Paintings The portrait collection is formed of c.130 paintings, with a focus on British portraits of musicians painted between the 18th -20th centuries. Highlights include Sir Joshua Reynolds s portrait of J. C. Pepusch (1745), one by Edward Coley Burne-Jones of Ignacy Paderewski (1890), and two by Gerald Festus Kelly (Sir Malcolm Sargent, 1948 and Ralph 2

3 Vaughan Williams, 1952). The collection also includes the best known portrait of Joseph Haydn (Thomas Hardy, 1791). A smaller collection of Italian paintings includes St. Cecilia playing the organ (Roman School), dated 1640, and a portrait of Farinelli by Bartolommeo Nazari (1734). The collection of figurative arts is one of the three largest collections in the UK specialising in portraits of musicians, together with those at the National Portrait Gallery and at the Royal Academy of Music. The fame reached by many of the musicians attached to the RCM, whose portraits are in the collection, makes it an important resource, particularly for the history of British music since the late 19th century. d) Archives A substantial proportion of the archival holdings is made up of personal collections of musicians. These include composers (e.g. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and William Hurlstone) and performers (e.g. Leon Goossens, Isolde Menges, Mary Garden and Geraldo). They also include the papers of Clive Carey (singer, opera producer and teacher) and manuscript reports on music by Lionel Bradley ( ). In addition, the collections contain a number of archives relating to businesses (e.g. Bechstein, Boosey & Hawkes, Ibbs & Tillett, Novello & Co. and Frederick Rothwell & Co) and institutions (e.g. the Bach Choir, the New Berlioz Edition and the Society of Women Musicians). e) Books The RCM s collection of books contains many early treatises on music, with the earliest volumes dating from the mid-17th century. These include contemporary libretti for Handel s oratorios and the unique printed libretto for Purcell s Dido and Aeneas. Among the later holdings are the Heron-Allen collection of literature on the violin family once the most comprehensive of its type and a series of bound pamphlets on musical subjects, many from the collection of Sir George Grove. Other books from Grove s library (invariably annotated) reflect his particular interest in the music of Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Schubert. The periodical holdings include runs of a number of 19th-century titles. f) Programmes The RCM Special Collections houses the second largest collection of programmes in the UK more than 600,000 items dating from the early-18th to the early-21st centuries. Programmes of concerts and operas tell us far more than who performed what, when and where important and interesting though that information can be for an understanding of music and its history but also give glimpses into social and economic aspects of musical life in the past. 3. PROJECT AIMS To create a flagship music museum both nationally and internationally and for the museum s local community To restore and reveal the many facets of the collections for public enjoyment and understanding To increase the number and diversity of visitors both to the site and remotely To improve collections care and promote sustainable management 3

4 In order to relocate the museum and improve interpretation, learning and engagement, the Royal College of Music are preparing a first round bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund under the Heritage Grants programme in August Included in the bid will be a request for development funding to prepare and carry out further plans and design prior to the submission of the second round bid. The Museum is therefore seeking a budget estimate to complete an Activity Plan. If the lottery bid is successful, this brief will be developed and detailed tenders sought in October 2015 prior to commissioning the work, which will need to be carried out between 1 December 2015 and 31 March PLANNING ACTIVITIES RCM will recruit specialist consultants, to help develop the Activity Plan and undertake consultation with target audiences. The plan will include developing a programme of participation, learning, training and volunteering. The consultants will assist the RCM in developing the Activity Plan, building on existing work undertaken and relationships with audiences including individuals and public sector, voluntary sector and private sector partners. Consultants will work alongside the project team to lead and support on developing a detailed Action Plan to support the Activity Plan. Having regard to the developing Collections Management Plan, the Conservation Plan for the building, the ten-year Management and Maintenance Plan and future requirements for sustainability, the consultants will help the project team develop partnerships, training and volunteering opportunities that will enable the Activity Plan to be delivered. The consultants will be an integral part of the project team, so that the aspirations for the future of the museum, the plans for interpretation and engagement with the community, can be realised. The consultants will develop a close working relationship with the Museum Curator and Learning and Engagement Officer, and other relevant members of the team. Specifically, the consultant will: a) Work alongside the project team to develop an Activity Plan and Action Plan that will follow precisely Heritage Lottery Fund published guidance to: Increase the range of and develop audiences participating and engaging with the museum service and museum collections; Develop participation activity Develop learning opportunities Develop training opportunities Develop a programme of events and activities to help people learn about heritage b) The consultant will produce an Activity Plan which includes the following: 4

5 Audiences - Provide information and collate data on current audiences, their needs, potential audiences and the barriers to participation and engagement Baseline Activities information about current activities on offer in the museum and what people think about them Future aims and a strategy for delivering activities Development and planning of learning opportunities Training plan detailing and planning training opportunities Volunteering plan detailing and planning volunteering opportunities An explanation of how all of these opportunities will meet the HLF aims and outcomes by increasing the range of audiences, improving skills and knowledge, conserving and improving the heritage value and improving management and maintenance Information about what the long term benefits of these participation and learning opportunities will be An action plan and associated costs to form part of the HLF project budget c) Brief of consultant role: To work alongside the Museum project team to develop and produce an agreed Activity Plan in accordance with current HLF guidance that will support the Heritage Grant Round 2 application and be capable of effective delivery. To advise the project team on best practice in community engagement and increasing participation with the museum and museum collections. To work with existing key partners and potential partners in developing costed and timetabled programmes to increase participation with the museum service and museum collections. To report to an agreed timetable to the Museum Curator who is the lead contact with Heritage Lottery Fund and report progress on the development of the Activity Plan. To work within the Museum project team, agreeing a programme of development work with the Curator to achieve the successful development of the Activity Plan. To deliver the agreed programme of development work, to an agreed schedule, including interviews and outreach to individuals, groups, organisations and council officers. To participate in a planned programme of consultation activities, including meetings with stakeholders and community groups and public events. To ensure that the Activity Plan and supporting information is produced in a timely manner with a comprehensive draft to support the HLF Development Review in February/Early March 2016 and subsequent final version to support the Round 2 application by April

6 To provide at least 2 final printed versions of the plan, presented in an agreed format which is attractive to present and can be updated. Produce electronic versions suitable for uploading to the HLF portal. 6