Hope springs eternal
We’ve all been on a rollercoaster of experiences from the first closure of the Museum in March 2020 through to our third, celebratory reopening on 17 May 2021 and successful family programmes at both the Museum in Covent Garden and Museum Depot in Acton over May half term. So, what does it mean to ‘reopen better’?
Even in the darkest days of existential crisis for the Museum, we were able to tap into the hope and can-do spirit that is part of our DNA and imagine a brighter future. A couple years ago we had worked together as a team to articulate our purpose – to ignite curiosity to shape the future – and I believe this work helped to keep us on track to navigate our way towards recovery.
London Transport Museum has always been a place of innovation and entrepreneurial drive. Before the pandemic, as a charity with no government funding, we earned over 80% of our income and we were on our way to delivering our ambitious five year plan. It was partly this positive and optimistic energy to find new solutions that propelled us forward over the last year.
Looking back at the last year, I’m struck by how quickly we swung into action to reprioritise activity and trust in our clear sense of purpose, and the talents and passions of our people to help us weather the crisis.
Hidden London
In Spring 2020, within weeks of having to cancel all of our Hidden London tours of disused Underground stations, the team developed a free offer on YouTube, Hidden London Hangouts, for transport fans around the world, followed by a new virtual tours programme in the summer. As we look forward to resuming some of our in-person tours later in the summer, we’re in the enviable position of working out the optimal balance between on site and virtual tours. We hope to see our Hidden London programmes and audiences grow even stronger than before.
London 2030
Back in 2019, we began to explore the potential of a collaboration with Central Saint Martins. Their reputation, commitment to young people, ethos focused on sustainability, and fit with London Transport Museum’s design heritage suggested they would be great to work with – we just needed to find the right project. It took the indefinite postponement of some of our larger projects to create the opportunity for a quick and agile collaboration that both organisations were keen to pursue.
Within two Zoom meetings at the end of December 2020, we had agreed a brief for ten MA students who began to devise an exhibition and media programme in January 2021. We only had two months with the students, so time was of the essence. The project ran virtually throughout the last lockdown with the students exploring what the ‘new normal’ in London might look like ten years from now. Now open in our ‘Future Journey, Future City’ gallery, we’re confident our London 2030 installation will ignite people’s curiousity and get them thinking about how we harness the power of community, technology and transport to create the green city for tomorrow. This is a theme we’ll continue to explore at the Museum throughout the year.
Here for Culture
Every museum and cultural organisation puts a lot of effort and energy into its forward planning – it’s a complex dance of ideas, opportunities and resources. In 2020, the pandemic forced us to put all our plans on ice and only essential digital projects contractually underway were able to continue in those early months. Once we received funding from the Culture Recovery Fund, we were able to greenlight needed investment to ensure we could reopen safely for visitors and, importantly, with panache. A small team worked tirelessly all winter with the motivation of reopening with style. With new displays, upgraded digital screens and interpretation for our vehicles, and essential repairs to projectors and infrastructure, London Transport Museum has never looked (or sounded) better. Even our Victorian horses had a spa treatment!
Young people and social impact
We also applied our can-do optimism to our programmes for young people, a strategic priority for the Museum. We’ve always had a lot on offer for families and young children, and this has continued throughout with virtual activities when we were closed and with new programmes for families since reopening. London Transport Museum is also uniquely placed to deliver social impact as part of our core charitable work. Through our programmes, we focus on three key areas that supprort our core purpose: the environment; employment for young people, and a sense of place.
The Museum also delivers the TfL-funded STARS programme that has the unique potential to reach all Year 6 students in London. During the pandemic the team delivered virtually to schools as well as directly to children when schools were closed. None of this would have been possible without the passion and drive to keep going in the face of adversity - and the hope to make things better.
Now that we’re open again – hurrah – we’ll continue to thrive and innovate and hope and plan for a brighter future because hope springs eternal - and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
