Liverpool 2008 relies upon the city’s galleries and museums. But how does art turn into cash for the region? Laura Davis reports AMID the flutes of Champagne and with streamers covering the floor near his feet, Sir Jeremy Isaacs praised Liverpool for winning Capital of Culture. On that day, the day when the city’s hopes were realised and its reputation began to change for the better, the judges’ chairman said the reason he had placed his faith in Liverpool was for its fine buildings and strong arts organisations. Yet, in a city full of cranes and roadworks, it is sometimes easy to forget that next year we are celebrating a year of culture – not one of new buildings and shopping centres. Though the arts may seem like an added extra – a luxury that comes only once the place we live in has dealt with its many problems – this sector is intrinsically linked to regeneration. For not only does it inspire new uses for forgotten old buildings, there is evidence that it also draws hundreds of thousands of people into the region each year to spend their money here. Research carried out by Tate Liverpool found that 31% of last year’s visitors to the Albert Dock gallery cited it as their main reason for being in Liverpool. In addition, a study by the Northwest Development Agency concluded that 107,000 of the 225,000 (48%) overseas visitors to Liverpool in 2003 spent time in at least one of National Museums Liverpool’s venues, which include The Walker and the Maritime Museum. Tony Travers, of the London School of Economics, produced an economic report for NML in November, 2005, which estimated that, including Tate Liverpool and the city’s other museums and galleries, that proportion would be “likely to approach 75%”. “As a national museums group we’re really focused on visitors from Liverpool city as a region but we’ve also got a remit to make sure that we cater for UK and international visitors as well,” explains Tracey McGeagh, NML’s head of marketing and communications. “Tourists are becoming increasingly important because of 2008. There’ll be a lot more tourists coming into the city and we want to make sure they visit our venues. “We’re convinced that having a really lively exhibitions programme makes a big difference. This year, we’ve got 19 exhibitions across all venues. “I think it’s important to have a really strong family friendly offer. There are exhibitions like Animated Adventures and An Eye for Colour that really do attract a lot of family visitors.” Tourists tend to be drawn by particular exhibitions as well as individual works of art. The Egyptian gallery and the planetarium at World Museum Liverpool, the new Titanic display at the Maritime Museum and the Big Art gallery (for children) at The Walker are among the most popular. The Walker’s And When Did You Last See Your Father, which was painted by William Frederick Yeames, in 1878, depicting an imaginary scene in a Royalist house during the English Civil War, is one of the gallery’s most popular works. To the Merseyside region, the financial benefits of having strong museums and galleries are palpable. According to Tate Liverpool, its 566,291 visitors in 2006 generated £14.4m for the North West economy. Around 14% of these were from overseas. Travers calculated NML’s visitors spend around £25m in the region, but his estimate for the organisation’s overall regional economic impact is more than twice that – somewhere between £65.9m to £74.6m. He added that a minimum of 1,600 Merseyside jobs, including those in other sectors such as catering, depend upon NML. With Liverpool preparing to take on its Capital of Culture role in just over six months’ time, the effect of the city’s improved national profile is already starting to take effect. Last year, NML saw an increase of 5% year on year, with more than 1.69m people coming through the doors of its venues, including the Lady Lever Gallery in Port Sunlight. This is despite the Museum of Life being closed to make way for the new Museum of Liverpool at the Pier Head. The proportion of overseas visitors increased from 10% to 13% from 2005-2006. As well as this £65m new-build, the £10m International Slavery Museum is due to open this summer. “We’re already having people book visits, we’ve just had a block booking from Birmingham for the opening. Because it’s an internationally-focused museum, we’re really expecting it to be of a lot of interest to tourists,” says Tracey. “The Albert Dock is already a big draw. There’s the attraction of the Pier Head and, going down to the water, it’s a natural place for a visitor to go and there’s such a strong offer, too, from the museums and the Tate.” While its exhibitions attract overseas visitors, NML does not yet spend money marketing their venues abroad. “We concentrate on visitors coming so we advertise in things like in-flight magazines, so for those visitors who have already made the decision to come to the UK, we make sure we’re on their radar. We don’t at the moment invest in overseas marketing although it would be great to do that,” says Tracey. “However, we get an enormous amount of website visits, we get over 600,000 visits per month, and we are discussing with some of our partners in the visual arts about how we could go into partnership with them to promote all the galleries together.” | 
