Those of us lucky enough to live here know what a hugely exciting and dynamic city Liverpool is to live, work and play in. International trips are important opportunities to spread this word and present our city, as a place of significant potential for investment, tourism and cultural connections.
Our Waterfront Transformation Project has hit several major landmarks over the past 12 months. From the appointment of Michelle Charters as Head of International Slavery Museum and FCBStudios as the firm to lead International Slavery Museum and Maritime Museum’s redevelopment, to planning approval for the transformative designs for Canning Quayside and Dry Docks and our bold vision for both museums, this ground breaking project is growing new impetus and energy.
At this key moment I’m looking forward to sharing the vision and ambition of the project with friends in the USA, inviting them to join us on this journey.
The Waterfront Transformation Project spans the area between the Royal Albert Dock and Mann Island, to link storytelling, heritage, community and hospitality and enrich the visitor experience in this iconic space.
Those whose lives have been most affected by the histories being told are playing a fundamental role in the development. By putting people at the centre of the stories we tell, we are working together with our communities to design our future and be a catalyst for societal and environmental change.
Liverpool’s story is inextricably entwined with the history of USA, and we cannot explore or redevelop our beautiful waterfront without engaging with that. The city’s cultural and social connections with New York in particular, are still felt and celebrated today.
While in New York I’ll be meeting colleagues at Weeksville Heritage Centre, The Jewish Museum, South Street Seaport Museum, Queens Museum and Museum of City of New York, for a roundtable discussion as well as visiting their spaces and exploring their latest projects.
This is not new work for National Museums Liverpool. For the past 30 years, International Slavery Museum – the first and only museum in the world dedicated to transatlantic slavery – in particular, has reached and connected with other museums, universities, academics, students and visitors from across the globe. But now, as momentum builds for the museum’s redevelopment, building international conversations and partners is crucial to creating a dynamic network that expands learning, research and healing.
I’m also looking forward to seeing one of the Walker Art Gallery’s most notable treasures (in a very competitive field), Simone Martini’s, ‘Christ Discovered in the Temple’, on loan to The Met for its major exhibition, ‘Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300–1350’. This moving painting of teenage rebellion is almost 700 years old but the family dynamics on display are timeless and charming.
The painting represents the world-class collections of National Museums Liverpool and just one of many attractions for our international audience, of which US visitors make up a significant majority (in 2023-24 the total number of visitors from the USA more than doubled the nearest competitor). The intention is that this trip and the extraordinary offer Liverpool will be demonstrating will only inspire these numbers to grow.
Laura Pye, Director of National Museums Liverpool
