So how much will it cost?
I was chatting the other day to one of my Chief Executive mates as I’m prone to do these days. I was bringing him up to date on the museum’s progress, explaining our short and long-term objectives. The long-term objective remains to have a World Class Insurance Visitor and Research Centre in EC3, supported by a museum and library.
He asked me a question we are frequently asked – “how much will it cost?” The answer to that question now is the working budget for our next step, a physical ‘Mini Museum’ of around £2m over three years. We have already viewed suitable premises, and some have suggested we could locate the museum in the Lloyd’s building. We remain open to all options and, in the meantime, our priority has to be to raise the funds to support that next step, so that when an opportunity arises we can grasp it quickly and confidently. Earlier in the year Adrian Flux generously became a corporate sponsor and this month International General Insurance (IGI) is continuing its support with a crucial and greatly appreciated three-year commitment, which you can read more about below. IGI were one of the first supporters of the Insurance Museum and helped fund the Feasibility Study in 2019.
When we started the museum project we looked closely at my role model – the Bank of England Museum – and that remains a good benchmark for our planning and budgeting for a longer-term permanent museum. A truly world class visitor centre might cost £2-£3 million a year. That’s the long-term vision, but before we get to that here’s more on the vision for our ‘Mini Museum’, our crucial next step and focus for the next 3 years.
The IM’s Mini-Museum
Our next aim is to establish an IM Mini-Museum in EC3, City of London. This will be a location to start our work engaging with audiences and telling the global story of insurance. We are planning for a shop-sized space where we can run:
- exhibitions over the three years, aimed at the public and tourists
- education programmes for primary and secondary schools
- careers programmes engaging young people
- CPD and other related events for the insurance community
- a network hub and forum to champion the future evolution and innovations of insurance
- activities that will raise revenue, such as sponsored exhibitions, venue hire, donations, and fundraising events.
Having a base will also help us engage with the rest of the UK, through virtual talks, and an outreach programme that will include exhibitions and events.
Above all, we want to engage with our audiences and learn from the experience. We will test these programmes, evaluate their impact and carry out further consultation with users to understand how we can develop the Insurance Museum for our bigger, permanent World Class Insurance Visitor and Research Centre in EC3.
We estimate the cost of this to be just under £2m over the three years. This includes everything from rent, to employing specialist public engagement consultants.
IGI joins Insurance Museum
We are pleased to announce that International General Insurance (IGI) is continuing its sponsorship of the Insurance Museum over the next three years. IGI’s support will enable us to continue to develop and launch our successful online galleries and to work towards establishing a physical ‘Mini Museum’ in 2023. Aaida Abu Jaber, IGI’s Assistant Vice President – PR & Marketing said: “IGI is delighted to be able to support the exciting initiative of a museum that tells the story of insurance, past, present, and future. We hope our support will assist in producing more galleries that show the world how interesting and versatile our industry is”.
Reg Brown, Insurance Museum Chairman
March 2023
