Press Office: Press Releases
Tate Modern, May 2000 - May 2001
A summary of the first year
Press release: 11 May 2001
Visitor figures
Tate Modern has had 5.25 million visitors in its first year, making the new gallery the most popular modern art museum in the world. Tate Modern is the third most popular tourist attraction in Britain, after the British Museum (5.7 million) and the Millennium Dome (6.5 million).
International modern art museum attendances for last year:
Tate Modern 5.25 million
Pompidou Centre Paris 5.2 million
(of which 1.7 million visited the gallery)
MoMA, New York 1.2 million
Guggenheim Bilbao 0.9 million
Guggenheim NY 0.9 million
San Francisco MoMA 0.7 million
Education programme figures:
- Over 100,000 school children visited the gallery in organised groups
- 52,000 visitors attended the free gallery talks
- 11,400 people attended ticketed talks, discussions and conferences
- 11,000 attended 884 free workshops for school parties
- 9,800 visitors took part in family workshops
- 8,000 teachers attended previews and training
- 2,500 Teachers Kits sold
- 240 events for the visually and hearing impaired
- 135,000 Tate Audios used (sponsored by Bloomberg)
Other figures:
- 2.5 million free floor plans used
- An increase of 46% to Tate Membership, from 26,000 to 38,000
- 1.5 million postcards sold
- Over 1 million people served in the cafes
- 850,000 teas and coffees served
- 55,000 Tate Modern Handbooks sold
- 15,400 people used the Clore Study Room
Displays and Exhibitions
Tate Modern: Collection 2001
Tate Modern: Collection 2001, sponsored by BT, has provided the opportunity for regular visitors to see many different works from the Collection, including several new acquisitions and loans, in the free, permanent collection suites. Over thirty room displays have been changed in the first year, demonstrating Tate's commitment to increased access to the Collection. The second year of changing displays also introduces Contemporary Intervention, a new annual series in which artists are invited to propose projects which explore the role and history of the museum.
Tate Audios
There are now four different Tate Audios available, including a children's tour narrated by Michael Rosenberg, and a tour for the visually impaired. All of these are sponsored by Bloomberg.
Performing Bodies
In October 2000 a four-week series of art film screenings in the Turbine Hall was critically acclaimed and popular with the public. Performing Bodies, on Monday evenings, looked at the use of film and video in performance work and drew up to 1,500 people on its last evening.
Century City: Art and Culture in the Modern Metropolis
Century City: Art and Culture in the Modern Metropolis, sponsored by
CGNU plc, opened on 1 February. It brought artists from Bombay and Lagos to a British audience for the first time and examined
a wide range of cultural activity from the visual arts to literature and popular music. In doing so, it firmly established
some of the aims behind the curatorial programme and ambitions at Tate Modern - to be more global and to look more widely
at art and culture. Over 100,000 people visited the exhibition.
Future exhibitions
The wide scope and range of the exhibition programme at Tate Modern will be demonstrated over the coming year. Exhibitions for spring and summer include the first ever retrospective of Arte Povera in this country and the second commission in The Unilever Series, which is being undertaken by the Spanish artist Juan Munoz. This succeeds the Louise Bourgeois commissions in the Turbine Hall. A major exhibition of Surrealism, based around the theme of desire, and the first exhibition in a public gallery in Britain of the work of the contemporary, German, artist Katharina Fristch are both planned for the autumn.
Education Programme
Tate Modern's wide-ranging education programme has had a huge following. Over 100,000 school children have visited, over 52,000 visitors have attended free gallery talks, 11,400 visitors have attended ticketed events and 9,800 visitors have taken part in the family workshops.
Schools Programme
In addition to fulfilling requirements of the National Curriculum and encouraging the expansion of classroom practice, the Schools Programme aims to build students' confidence so that they become independent gallery visitors, able to engage with the Collection critically. Catering for children from pre-school age to A level students, teachers, school governors and parents, highlights of the first year include:
- 884 workshops for over 11,000 students facilitated by the Tate team of gallery and artist educators
- Artbeat, an after school arts programme, worked with eight local primary schools in the North Southwark education Action Zone
- Artworks, the new annual National Children's Art Awards which encourage teachers and children to experience art in museums and galleries,
were presented at Tate Modern in 4 May
- A summer school for artist teachers run in partnership with Wimbledon School of Art, NSEAD and the Arts Council of England
- Art Now, a recent exhibition in the Clore Education Centre was the result of a partnership project between Tate Modern, Goldsmiths
College School of Education and six primary schools
- Over 8,000 teachers have attended evening previews at Tate Modern and 2,500 Teachers Kits have been sold
Family Programme
- The free weekly Start and ArtMix programmes for families has had a total attendance of 9,800 - double the predicted figure
- 5,000 free paper-based explorer trails for families have been picked up by visitors
Public Programme and Courses
Over 11,400 people have attended ticketed discussions, talks, conference, courses and films at Tate Modern. Highlights of this year's programme include:
- A major architectural forum in May 2000 with Jacques Herzog, architect of Tate Modern, which was the first sell-out event
- Artists talks with Laurie Anderson, Michael Craig Martin, Tracey Emin, Gilbert and George, Hans Haacke, Howard Hodgkin, Roni
Horn, Sarah Lucas, Vic Reeves, Paula Rego, Bridget Riley, Carolee Schneeman, Posy Simmonds and Mark Wallinger.
- Two important international conferences were organised by Tate Modern. Visiting Rights was part of Erasmus, an EU supported
programme looking at how museums and galleries serve their publics now and in the future. Speakers included Rt Hon Chris Smith
(Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport), Matthew Evans (Director, Resource) and Peter Jenkinson (Director, The New
Art Gallery, Walsall). Global and Local, a two-day programme on the condition of art practice today, involved high profile
speakers from North and South America, Asia and Africa, as well as the UK and Europe.
- Distinguished international speakers, including Homi Bhabha, Rem Koolhas, Mike Davies and Slavoj Zizek, took part in public
talks and discussions, complementing Tate Modern's teaching remit with postgraduate and doctoral students from the Royal College
of Art and the London Consortium.
- 512 people attended courses at Tate Modern.
- Webcasting from Tate Modern began in February this year with an online transmission in video and audio of the international conference Global and Local. Seven public events at Tate Modern have been webcast. The events were also documented in digital video, and are now available on the Tate website archives.
Film Programme
In addition to the state of the art auditorium, Tate Modern also houses a film and seminar room, which has enabled the public events programme to incorporate a wide-ranging film programme. Highlights included:
- A Rossellini film season in collaboration with the NFT
- A season of films from India and London to coincide with Century City, with introductions by Anand Patwardhan, MF Husain and
Patrick Keiller.
- Isaac Julien in conversation with Adrian Searle and Jane Parker discussing her work with Al Rees.
Programmes for the Deaf and Visually Impaired
Since its opening, Tate Modern's programme and facilities for deaf, hard of hearing and visually impaired people have been very popular. The programme, which has attracted over 240 people, has included:
- British Sign Language interpreted talks at Tate Modern on the first Friday every month
- Regular touch tours at Tate Modern which involve a combination of discussion, raised images, handling objects and touching
artworks. These innovative tours are generating critical interest both in the UK and abroad.
- The first open day for Deaf People, which was filmed by BBC TV for See Hear
These tours and events support the facilities available for the visually impaired at Tate Modern which include: dedicated audio tours; large print captions; access information in an audio format; and electronic reading aids including CCTV.
In addition:
- Tate Modern is currently involved in a project to train deaf artists to become gallery speakers.
- Tate Modern is the lead organisation of MAGIC (Museums and Galleries in the Capital), a group of fourteen organisations who all provide facilities and services for deaf people. MAGIC has just secured Arts Council funding to develop a webiste for deaf people interested in finding out more about museums and galleries in London.
Raw Canvas
Raw Canvas is a young people's peer-led programme for 16 to 23 year olds, supported by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and devised in partnership with young people to provide accessible and engaging activities to bridge the gap between the pupil and the independent adult visitor. Highlights include:
- July/August 2000: first Raw Canvas summer course for young people
- October 2000: artist Hannah Collins in conversation with young people
- March 2001: sixteen young people successfully completed the first Raw Canvas Workshop Leader Training Course.
- April 2001: first gallery workshop devised and led by Raw Canvas young workshop leaders.
Community Programme
Tate Modern's Community Programme, an introductory programme both to art and Tate Modern, is aimed at local community groups and organisations who may be new to using galleries and museums as resources and therefore need more encouragement to visit. The programme is particularly aimed at those who have social, cultural, educational or financial disadvantage, which has limited, or even excluded, their previous participation and involvement in art.
The programme is aimed at community organisations throughout London and beyond, but because of Tate Modern's commitment to its neighbours in Lambeth and Southwark, voluntary and statutory groups and organisations in these boroughs were particularly targeted.
- 200 people participated in community projects on and off site, ranging from a Car Free Day organised by Lambeth and Southwark
Council, to a 10-week family project with an estate in Lambeth
- Twelve local play schemes attended a special summer programme
- 1325 people attended the weekly programme of free introductory talks for community groups new to visiting galleries. Groups participating included, learning disability groups, elderly people, mental health groups and physical disability groups.
Training / Employment
Bankside Arts Training Trust has:
- Run pre-employment training for local people that resulted in nine local people getting jobs at Tate Modern and two elsewhere.
Approximately 30% of those working at Tate Modern come from the local community (Lambeth and Southwark)
- Run training courses for staff - particularly Visitor Services
- Held career surgeries in Visitor Services for staff to give career and training advice
- Worked with Education and Interpretation Departments to develop an internship programme that gives opportunities to local
people
- Developed training programmes for management of small/community arts organisations
- Developed a range of other training programmes for those in and out of work
Community Development
- Initiated an intergenerational project involving both young people from a local estate, pupils from Charles Dickens School
and older people from Blackfriars Settlement to develop the community garden on the banks of the Thames
- Facilitated initial work toward the establishment of a Community Development Trust in Bankside
- Chaired meetings on a range of community issues - including community facilities in Bankside
- Produced first issue of Tate Modern and You - Tate Modern's local publication
Notes to Editors
Contacts for press enquiries only:
Nadine Thompson/Sioban Ketelaar
Tate Press Office
Millbank, SW1P 4RG
Tel: 020 7887 8730/31/01
Erica Bolton/Jane Quinn
Bolton and Quinn
10 Pottery Lane, London W11 4LZ
Tel: 020 7221 5000
Please note that these contacts are only for press enquiries. For public enquiries see the Contact Us section of the website.
