THREE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SECOND
BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING
20 SEPTEMBER 2012
IN THE BOARDROOM
MINUTES
Trustees present:
Lord Sterling
Chairman
Nigel Macdonald
Gilly Drummond
Sir John Guinness
David Quarmby
Linda Hutchinson
Eleanor Boddington
Professor Geoffrey Crossick
Chris Lintott
In attendance:
Kevin Fewster
Margarette Lincoln
Andy Bodle
Richard Doughty
Mike Sarna
Diane Armstrong
Christopher Gray
1.
Director
Deputy Director
Director, Operations and HR
Director, Cutty Sark
Programming and Exhibitions Director
Senior Financial Manager
Museum Secretary
Apologies
Received from: Lord Boyce, David Moorhouse, Sir Robert Crawford and David
Philip.
The meeting began with a Trustee only session in which:
i.
Trustee succession plan and recruitment
The Chairman updated the Board on the Nominations Committee's work to
progress the recruitment of new Trustees and for his successor.
ii
Committees of the Board as at 20 September 2012
The Board approved the Committee details as at 20 September and ratified
the appointments to Committees (Audit Committee: Eleanor Boddington and
Finance Committee: Chris Lintott.)
The Executive then joined the meeting:
2.
Declaration of relevant interests related to this meeting
None.
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3.
Draft Minutes of the previous meeting: 331 of 24 May 2012
Trustees reiterated the request for a paper on "an outstation" to give the public
access to more of the collection than at present. The Director stated a report on
collections on display will be available for the November meeting.
Action: Deputy Director
With the addition of the above, the Board agreed the minutes to be a true
record of the meeting and the Chairman then certified the minutes accordingly.
4.
Matters arising not covered in the agenda below
None
5.
ROG master narrative
The Director spoke to the final draft of the narrative and commended it to
Trustees.
With the addition of links to the subjects of the rest of the Museum and the
matter of GPS/radar to feature, Trustees agreed the ROG master narrative.
Actions: Deputy Director
Trustees considered that a master narrative is required for both the Queen's
House (most importantly for the forthcoming 400th anniversary) and requested
an umbrella statement for Royal Museums Greenwich. Trustees agreed that the
master narratives should be reviewed in rotation every two or three years.
Action: Director
Trustees also thought that Cutty Sark Trust Trustees could be approached for
their views on a master narrative for Cutty Sark.
Action: Director
All staff are to receive the master narratives as part of their induction packs.
Action: Director, Operations and HR
6.
Youth Advisory Group and Ebb and Flow presentation
This presentation was received with great enthusiasm and admiration for the
work of the Youth Advisory Group and the staff and students involved. Trustees
commended the fact that the students had not been pre-selected in any way.
Trustees were also presented with the Ebb and Flow project - a partnership
project between Royal Museums Greenwich and Charlton Athletic Race and
Equality (CARE). Local young people took part as Young Heritage Leaders on
this project working with heritage professionals. They discovered the hidden
histories of people from around the world connected to their area, tracing the
origins of multi-cultural Greenwich and London today. The Application was
launched at the UNESCO Youth Summit in Greenwich over the summer.
Trustees were also pleased to hear of the Museum's work in the wider area with
other organizations such as Deptford "Ahoy Centre" and the Sea Cadets.
Trustees thanked Sarah Lockwood, Head of Learning and Interpretation and
Andrea Cunningham, Head of Informal Learning and Access for their work and
commitment.
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7.
7.1
Ansel Adams and Turner exhibition updates presentation
Ansel Adams
Trustees received a briefing on the Ansel Adams exhibition from Philippa
Simpson, Touring Exhibitions Manager.
Trustees heard that the exhibition layout had been designed entirely in-house
and were pleased to note that much of the exhibition infrastructure from Royal
River was being re-configured and re-used.
The Programming and Exhibitions Director spoke to costs and investment
reporting that there had been significant and good cost-engineering savings
from the team applied to the original design. Trustees understood that the key
drivers for the exhibition are: Growing Audiences (a new audience is being
pursued via the Flickr Commons project website); Brand Reach;
Entrepreneurial Approach; Cost Control, and Quality.
The Director stated that the American sponsor which was expected to support
the exhibition had regrettably pulled out - though the Museum was now
receiving assistance in kind from Visit California. [Post meeting note: The
exhibition did, however, receive support from the Royal Museums Greenwich
Foundation of £50,000.]
Trustees advocated contacting the American community in London for
involvement and potentially donations and the Chairman will invite the
American Ambassador to the opening on 7 November. The Director would
supply Trustees with a script to assist in their approaches to Americans in
London for support.
Action: Director
The Executive confirmed that the "most likely" and "best case" figures for
admissions (30,000 and 47,000 respectively) came from the market research
consultancy Muse Research.
Trustees noted that the request for more biographical information about Ansel
Adams would be answered by the theatre incorporated into the exhibition
design.
Overall Trustees were pleased with plans and progress for the exhibition.
7.2
Turner and the Sea
Trustees then received a briefing on the Turner exhibition again from Philippa
Simpson. This major exhibition is the first full-scale examination of Turner’s
lifelong preoccupation with the sea.
The Board was concerned to hear more about how this Turner exhibition would
be differentiated from others. Something very distinctive needs to be signalled
to the art-going audience who would want a new angle (as opposed to the
tourist wanting "British"). In response it was reported that in addition to the
"business-man" aspect to Turner's life, was the fact that he had been born by the
Thames and lived his life by it. Moreover, by placing his works alongside those
by other major British, European and American artists, this exhibition will give
viewers the opportunity to see the ways in which Turner responded to the art of
the past, while challenging his audiences with a new and exciting maritime
vision.
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The Programming and Exhibitions Director spoke to the costs slide and
reported that the staff team had achieved good savings from the original budget.
It was intended that the exhibition would tour to Peabody Essex and thereby
assist the Museum's brand extension.
Trustees were agreed that the retail opportunity was high and requested the
Executive contact TATE to ascertain what amount it would budget per head for
a show of this nature.
Action: Programming and Exhibitions Director
Trustees thought that Turner's management of his personal money may be an
attractive factor to potential sponsors or specific funds.
It was confirmed that, unlike Ansel Adams, the scale of the exhibition did
warrant an audio-guide.
Trustees then received a brief outline of The Great Map (Neptune's Globe as
was). There was then a brief discussion, particularly covering the time required
for testing this kind of technology, and it was agreed that Trustees would receive
a presentation at the November meeting.
Action: Programming and Exhibitions Director
8.
National Historic Ships UK presentation and report
The Director introduced Martyn Heighton, Director, National Historic Ships UK
who then gave Trustees the first of the new annual presentations on the work
that had been undertaken in the previous 12 months.
Trustees were grateful for the presentation. The Chairman of the Audit
Committee confirmed that there is an internal audit report on the unit as part of
the core financial controls in this year's audit plan.
9.
Director's Report
Trustees noted and were pleased that Nelson's Trafalgar coat would be lent to
the Napoléon et l'Europe exhibition in Paris.
Trustees would receive a full report on the Royal River exhibition at the
November meeting but in the meantime the Director reported that budgets for
admissions and retail had now been updated to reflect the lower number of
visitors than expected.
It was reported that Barclays was very pleased with the exhibition and the
benefits it had brought to the bank.
Trustees considered that more visitors would have come to the exhibition if it
were not for the following factors:
1.
Greenwich as a location
2.
Competition from Cutty Sark
3.
"Royal" – were people suffering from Diamond Jubilee fatigue?
Trustees also considered that in future more work must be done on authoring
and testing the title and strapline to clarify what the exhibition is offering to
which audience.
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The Programming and Exhibitions Director stated that in future exhibitions
would be programmed to coincide with the times during which audiences were
active – concessions at a certain time of year and families during another.
Trustees then discussed capitalizing on the tourist legacy of the Olympics. The
Board was disappointed to learn of the lack of progress of the Greenwich
Destination Management Company which should already be in place if the
Borough is to maximize the benefits from 2012.
10.
Director of Finance & Enterprises Report
(given by Diane Armstrong, Senior Financial Manager):
i. Finance Report Q1 2012-'13
Trustees heard that income was on budget but that expenditure was below
budget. The report was made prior to the budgets being revised at Quarter 1.
The Board noted the Finance Report for Q1 2012-'13.
ii. Strategic Risks as at 30 June 2012 (no comment)
The Board had no comments to make on the Risk Register which was then
approved.
iii Revised budgets for 2012-'13
The Board approved the revised budgets for the remainder 2012-'13.
11.
Potential reduction in Grant in Aid
The Director introduced the paper and the meeting agreed that the difficulty
was one of timing. The most likely date for an announcement is that of the
Autumn Statement in early December. If the Museum waits until this date
before addressing the implementation of the cuts it will not have made
provision against a reduction in staff costs in the current year to achieve the full
saving in 2013-14.
Trustees noted the paper and also agreed to the recommended strategy of
planning to deal with the cut in one year rather than spread over two - adopting
the scenario where the full 5% reduction is taken in 2013-14.
Trustees understood that the Museum cannot absorb a further 5% cut in GiA
through further efficiencies alone. The cut will necessitate the reduction, or
suspension, of public-facing and charitable activities and the Director took
Trustees through the strategic thinking behind the proposals in the paper.
Trustees were broadly content with this, including the staff savings which the
Executive would pursue, but requested that Lates should not be discontinued
and that Digital Media should not have resources reduced.
The Chairman asked for a report on the use of external consultants. [Post
meeting note; this was supplied by the Senior Financial manager]
12.
Implementation of Gift Aid - update
Trustees agreed the recommendations and the pricing strategy put forward (of
simplification and maintaining the headline ticket prices) made in the paper.
Action: Director, Commercial - after arrival.
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13.
Olympics de-brief and status report on compensation
Trustees noted the report.
The Chairman wished to record his and Trustees thanks to the Museum team of
Kevin Fewster, Andy Bodle, Mark Grover, Chris Halliday and the Estates team,
Karen Haden, and the Trustee Olympic Committee - all of whom had put such a
lot of effort into this to ensure its undoubted success.
The Director reported that staff as a whole had put up with a lot of change and
inconvenience over the period but had maintained their professional
demeanour throughout and all had felt privileged to take part in such a once-ina lifetime event.
[During the break for luncheon, Trustees received a presentation from Mark
Grover on the overall installation and Games which portrayed the scale of the
work carried out and the excellent nature of the Equestrian site provided by the
Museum and Greenwich]
14.
Cutty Sark: Final draft of Service Level Agreement (SLA)
The Director introduced the paper which updated Trustees on the progress of
the Service Level Agreement.
The Board agreed that the nominated Trustees must include at least one NMM
Trustee.
It was then confirmed that: when the SLA is signed the current MOU will fall
away; that there is a technical necessity to include the two trading companies in
the SLA; and that each party can terminate the Agreement.
Trustees then approved the Service Level Agreement as well as the side letter
dealing with changes to the Articles of Association of the Cutty Sark Trust and
that any further drafting issues should be referred to Nigel Macdonald and
Eleanor Boddington.
Trustees thanked the Director of Finance and Enterprises for all his work in
getting the Agreement to this stage.
Trustees agreed that Nigel Macdonald be authorised to sign the Agreement on
behalf of the Trustees and Kevin Fewster on behalf of the National Maritime
Museum Enterprises Limited.
Action: Director of Finance and Enterprises and Museum Secretary
The Chairman of the Audit Committee stated that it was important to note that
the Agreement was clear on the separation of long term major capital
maintenance which is still the responsibility of the Cutty Sark Trust and the day
to day operational maintenance which is the responsibility of the Museum.
Information has been exempted under Section 43 (2) of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.
15.
2011 – '12 Report to Board on Audit Committee Business
Trustees noted the report and were grateful to the Audit Committee for its
work over the year.
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Volume B
The Conservation Report was noted and Trustees requested the Executive to
pass on their commendation to the Head of Conservation and Preservation,
Birthe Christensen and the wider team.
Trustees requested the Executive considers providing a similar report from
Estates – though not necessarily on an annual basis.
Action: Director of Operations and HR
17.
Next Board Meeting:
Thursday 22 November 2012.
Distribution: Those present + apologies+ HIA
Minutes approved by Lord Sterling, Chairman
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