Trustees Back Theatre Museum & ROH PartnershipDate: 19 May 2006
Theatre Museum trustees have decided a partnership with the Royal Opera House is a positive option for the future of the archive of stage memorabilia (See News, 28 Mar 2006).
The museum has been under threat of closure since Heritage Lottery Fund turned down two grant applications from the owner, the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington, for redevelopment. Since opening 20 years ago, the venue in Tavistock Street has kept a valuable record of the arts, including theatrical memorabilia and video archives.
At a meeting yesterday (Thursday 18 May 2006), the V&A Trustees concluded the idea of forming a partnership with the Royal Opera House and joining both organisations’ collections, as had previously been discussed, was “hopeful”.
A V&A spokeswoman told Whatsonstage.com: “Following a period of consultation, a number of proposals have emerged. As a result, the V&A will now explore these options in greater detail and report back to the Trustees. The V&A is still in discussion with the Royal Opera House about a partnership. This would enable the ROH to use the Theatre Museum site to extend its educational activities and events and allow the Theatre Museum to continue to stage displays and educational activities in Covent Garden. The Trustees hope to take a final view on the best way forward by the autumn.”
She added: “While we are hopeful this will go ahead, we certainly cannot confirm anything at this stage.”
Christopher Millard, director of press and communications at the Royal Opera House, told Whatsonstage.com: “We would like to turn it into an educational resource for the performing arts; we would have exhibitions there but would be working with partners in the performing arts world such as the Society of London Theatre and the National Theatre. That way we would have very strong associations with working theatres, which we thought was the best idea, being right in middle of theatre world.”
He added: “We have to present proposals to our own board shortly, and if they are happy, we will go ahead with a more detailed proposal. The meeting yesterday with the V&A was to see if this met with their approval, and it has, so we’ll take it from there.”
- by Caroline Ansdell
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