Minutes of the Board meeting held on Thursday 20 May 2021 at 2pm via Zoom
Present
Lord Hall of Birkenhead (Chair)
John Booth
Catherine Goodman
Katrin Henkel
Sir John Kingman
Rosemary Leith
David Marks
Stuart Roden
Charles Sebag-Montefiore
John Singer
Professor Molly Stevens
Apologies
Tonya Nelson
In attendance
Dr Gabriele Finaldi - Director
Chloe Brand - Acting Head of Development
Dr Caroline Campbell - Director of Collections and Research
Dr Susan Foister - Deputy Director
Paul Gray - Chief Operating Officer
Victoria Hayes - Secretary to the Board and Head of Governance
Andy Hibbert - Director of Finance
Chris Michaels - Director of Digital, Communications and Technology
Julie Molloy - Managing Director of National Gallery Company Limited
Anh Nguyen - Director of Development
Nicholas Cullinan - Director of National Portrait Gallery (for item 1)
Larry Keith - Head of Conservation and Keeper (for item 2)
Rune Gustafson - Acting Chair of National Gallery Company (for item 7)
Sarah Younger - Project Director, The NG200 Project (for item 8)
1. Presentation from Nicholas Cullinan, Director of The National Portrait Gallery
1.1. The Chair welcomed Nicholas Cullinan, Director of the National Portrait Gallery to the meeting, who gave a presentation on the National Portrait Gallery’s Inspiring People project.
2. Pictures for treatment
2.1. The Head of Conservation and Keeper joined the meeting from the conservation studio via Zoom.
2.2. The Board saw, following cleaning and restoration, Ludovico Carracci’s 'The Marriage of the Virgin' (NG6595) which they approved as being ready to go back on display.
2.3. The Board were shown Francesco Pesellino’s 'The Story of David and Goliath' (NG6579) and 'The Triumph of David' (NG6580). The Head of Conservation and Keeper explained that the pictures had become grimy over time, the varnish had yellowed and the silver leaf in the pictures had blackened. The Chair of the Scientific Consultative Group offered to help explore whether there were chemical strategies that could be used for cleaning the silver.
2.4. The Board approved the treatments proposed.
3. Declarations of interest
3.1. The Chair of the Masterplan Committee said that in connection with the NG200 project, it was likely he would know most of the contractors involved and that once the competition winner was announced he would make further declarations as and when necessary.
3.2. The Chair of the Scientific Consultative Group congratulated the Deputy Chair on his appointment to the Royal Society.
4. Minutes of the meeting held on 25 March and matters arising
4.1. The Minutes were approved.
5. Loans out
5.1. The Director of Collections and Research presented the loans out paper, which was approved.
6. Director's report
6.1. The Director gave his presentation. He said that the Gallery had re-opened on Monday 17 May, with the Secretary of State present. He outlined the new displays of paintings on the one-way routes.
6.2. He reported that the Accommodation Hub was nearing completion, that the contractors had left the site and the furniture was being moved in.
7. Commercial strategy
7.1. The Chair welcomed Rune Gustafson, Acting Chair of National Gallery Company to the meeting. He and the Managing Director of National Gallery Company gave a presentation. The Board praised the direction and ambition of the strategy and there was a discussion.
7.2. The Managing Director of the National Gallery Company said that an external consultancy was working with teams across the Gallery to ensure the commercial offer was fully integrated and customers’ needs fully understood.
7.3. The Deputy Chair applauded the ambition and vision of the strategy and suggested that the Company prioritised its choices.
7.4. A Trustee asked about developing a copyright licensing strategy. She suggested that the Managing Director of the National Gallery Company attend the next Digital Advisory Board so that there could be a discussion about the overlaps and differences in the commercial and digital experiences of visitors. She said that both fields presented much potential for learning about visitor behaviour.
7.5. A Trustee asked whether a new KPI could measure spending patterns per visitor. The Managing Director said that a clearer picture would emerge over the next six months as the data capture systems improved.
7.6. The Chair congratulated the Acting Chair and Managing Director of National Gallery Company for an ambitious strategy in a challenging environment. The Board approved the strategy.
8. Update on NG200 capital projects
8.1. The Chair welcomed the Project Director of the NG200 project to the meeting, who said that she would be attending each Board meeting to provide the Board with an update.
8.2. The Project Director summarised the progress of the competition process and said that all was on target for the appointment of an architectural team in July.
8.3. Information has been excluded under s.22, s.36 and s.43 FOI 2000
9. Committees of the Board and others reporting since the last meeting
9.1. The Board noted the Minutes of the Masterplan Committee of 9 March.
9.2. The Board noted the Minutes of the Development Committee held on 13 April.
9.3. The Board noted the Minutes of the Digital Advisory Board held on 4 May.
10. Management Accounts and Development Summary
10.1. Information has been excluded under s.36 and s.43 FOI 2000
10.2. The Acting Head of Development said that money raised at the end of the financial year was better than anticipated thanks to a couple of legacy gifts. She said there was still much work to be done, and it remained a challenge not being able to bring donors and sponsors into the Gallery.
11. Trustee Introduction to National Gallery Review of the Year
11.1. Subject to a couple of comments, the Board approved the Trustee Introduction to National Gallery Review of the Year.
12. Security strategy
12.1. The Board noted the Security strategy.
13. Any other business
13.1. The Chair said that he looked forward to the July Board meeting being in person.