School visits to UK museums hit by ‘shortage of means’, philanthropist says

Smaller UK museums are suffering from a “shortage of means” that leaves them lagging down their European counterparts, according to a philanthropist who is backing depository trips for thousands of British schoolchildren.

Frédéric Jousset, a French philanthropist who made waves erstwhile helium founded a mobile depository onboard a €32m catamaran, said British children were missing retired connected entree to the arts due to the fact that of a deficiency of investment.

“The nationalist spending to enactment taste institutions is conscionable higher [in France],” said Jousset. “There’s a shortage of means, particularly astatine smaller UK museums successful areas of higher deprivation, and they conscionable can’t spend to concern the schoolhouse visits.”

A study released past year by the University of Warwick and the Campaign for the Arts unit radical showed that portion Britain has chopped backmost its full civilization fund by 6% since 2010, France has accrued its spending by 25%.

Jousset’s non-profit, Art Explora, launched its latest task called Time Odyssey astatine the British Museum, aiming to partially plug the backing gap. The philanthropist volition money an estimated 100,000 depository visits, including schoolhouse transport costs, for children astir the UK.

Last twelvemonth the organisation ran a aviator strategy involving the Yorkshire Museum successful York; the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter; the Great North Museum: Hancock, successful Newcastle upon Tyne; Manchester Museum; and South Shields Museum and Art Gallery.

The Time Odyssey task aims to demystify museums and marque them much accessible. Photograph: Art Explora/British Museum

It besides conducted probe that recovered 60% of UK teachers said they had not taken their people to a depository connected a schoolhouse travel successful the past 12 months, portion 14% of teachers had ne'er taken a people to a depository connected a schoolhouse trip. Of the 4,500 students who attended the pilot, 60% had not visited a depository successful the past year.

Jousset said a cardinal portion of the task was to demystify museums and marque them look much accessible, particularly for children from little socioeconomic backgrounds. “Sometimes museums are excessively intimidating,” helium said. “You request to person immoderate acquisition and immoderate inheritance to beryllium capable to acquisition this. It’s similar a church. Children cannot messiness up. They can’t run, they can’t interaction the sculptures.”

Jousset’s passionateness for creation was fuelled by his mother, who was a main curator astatine the Centre Pompidou successful Paris. He launched Art Explora successful 2019 and has been a donor to the arts successful France. At 35, aft making millions via his call-centre concern Webhelp, helium donated €1m to the Louvre.

Time Odyssey is Jousset’s latest art-based involution successful Britain, a state helium made his location 15 years ago. In 2023, Art Explora partnered with Tate Liverpool to make a mobile creation assemblage featuring enactment by JMW Turner, Barbara Hepworth and Claude Cahun, which made its mode astir sites successful Merseyside.

Jousset has besides taken accessible creation to the waves. In 2021, helium announced Art Explora, a 46m-long, 300-tonne vessel with capableness for 2,000 visitors that toured the Mediterranean accompanied by pop-up pavilions connected shore, arranged with section taste institutions.

Time Odyssey has added National Museums Liverpool, Danum Gallery, Library and Museum successful Doncaster, and Tees Valley Museums to its database of participating institutions, portion the British Museum is besides partnering.

Bernard Donoghue, the manager of the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, which tracks visitant numbers to UK institutions, said: “School radical visits to attractions person recovered precise good since the pandemic … [but] the outgo of question and the prosecute costs of coaches particularly are the top obstruction to much schools undertaking visits to attractions.”