As reported a few weeks ago, Birmingham City Council is planning a comprehensive renewal of the infrastructure of the Council House complex. This creates a once-in-a-century chance for Birmingham Museums Trust to renew the Museum and Art Gallery , creating a new museum for Birmingham.

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery lies at the city’s historic core, the great Council House complex that embodies Chamberlain’s municipal gospel in stone. For over 130 years the imposing Grade 2* Listed buildings have housed England’s greatest civic museum, a source of inspiration, learning and enjoyment for generations of visitors.

Birmingham’s civic collection is one of the greatest in the UK, equalled only by those of Liverpool and Glasgow and reflecting Birmingham’s status as the Second City. It is best known for its unrivalled collection of Pre-Raphaelite art.

But this is only part of an internationally important collection of over 800,000 items that cover almost every subject area across art, human history, the natural sciences, and science and industry.

To complement the general upgrade of the building, Birmingham Museums Trust will develop a project that addresses long-standing problems around wayfinding, disabled access and collections care. But the biggest changes will be to the displays. The museum team will work with community groups and experts to rethink the city’s collection and showcase it in new, exciting ways, attracting the city’s young, multicultural audiences and international visitors to the city.

Our vision is to reflect Birmingham to the world, and the world to Birmingham. We will even bring back the much-missed T Rex, or at least a close relative.

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Birmingham City Council set up Birmingham Museums Trust in 2012 as an educational charity to manage the city’s collection and the nine venues in which it is displayed and stored. As well as the Museum and Art Gallery and Thinktank, the science museum, the Trust cares for the city’s hidden gems – the Museum of the Jewellery Quarter, Aston Hall, Blakesley Hall, Soho House, Sarehole Mill and the romantic ruins of Weoley Castle.

Few major industrial cities can boast such beautiful and interesting historic properties.

The Trust’s early years saw a struggle to replace rapidly declining public funding with earned income. This is not unique to Birmingham Museums: all the UK’s civic museums, and indeed all cultural organisations, are looking for new business models. Caring for a major public collection represents an overhead that other visitor attractions do not carry.

Dr Ellen McAdam, Director of Birmingham Museums Trust

The Trust now generates over 60 per cent of its turnover from a combination of admissions, fundraising and commercial activities, a higher proportion than most other major museums.

Fundraising for the renewal of the Museum and Art Gallery will require a special effort, and we hope that everyone in Birmingham will support us.

Our visitor numbers have grown with our income – up 28 per cent since 2012 – and become more diverse. In 2015/16 nearly 340,000 children, young people and families took part in outreach events, projects and activities across our sites. We score highly in Visit England assessments and many visitors praise our friendly, helpful staff.

None of this could have been achieved without our many supporters, and in particular our major funders, Arts Council England, the Heritage Lottery Fund and Birmingham City Council.

As we approach the end of our fifth year and the start of a major capital project we are renewing our relationship with our major funder, Birmingham City Council, through a new Memorandum of Understanding and long-term leases and agreements. With their support and partnership Birmingham Museums Trust hopes to create a new museum for Birmingham and the 21 century.

For more details see www.birminghammuseums.org.uk