Record number of visitors attracted to Hull’s museums and galleries

Hull Museums are celebrating after seeing visitor numbers across their sites exceed pre-lockdown numbers.

A busy 2023/24 period saw over 383,000 people visit the city’s free museums and galleries, up 13 per cent on 2019/20. It also saw the Museums Quarter sites – Streetlife Museum, Hull and East Riding Museum of Archaeology and Wilberforce House Museum – attract their highest visitor figures since 2017/18, with over 228,000 people visiting the sites, up nine per cent on 2018/19.

The Ferens Art Gallery saw over 151,000 visitors in the year, up 12 per cent on 2019/20. Highlights including the hugely popular Discover Ancient Egypt season, the Art and Environment season, artist in residence and the Jason Wilsher-Mills: Are We There Yet, currently on display at the gallery, have contributed to these impressive numbers.

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Over at the Museums Quarter, the reopening of Wilberforce House in May 2023 following essential maintenance work, as well as temporary exhibitions at Wilberforce and Streetlife Museum, including Taking the Knee, Women Who Inspire Us and Why We Matter, alongside a programme of free events throughout the year – large-scale events like Medieval Mayhem and Victorian Christmas – have helped to attract record numbers of visitors to the museums.

Cllr Rob Pritchard, portfolio holder for culture and leisure at Hull City Council, said: “Our free museums and galleries are among some of the best in the country and it’s fantastic to see they are appreciated by our residents and visitors to the city. These staggering figures are down to the fantastic offer from our Hull Museums teams, with first-class exhibitions and free events offered throughout the year.”

The increase in visitor figures rounds off a fantastic year for Hull Museums who have recently seen the Wilberforce House Museum awarded the National Museum Association’s Museums Change Lives Award 2023, as well as being highly commended at the Museum and Heritage Awards this year. In addition, the Museum and Gallery’s Visitor Experience Team recently won the Hull Bid award for Customer Service Excellence.

Jane Avison, Museums and Galleries manager, said: “We’re delighted to see the museums attracting such high numbers of visitors, and to have beaten the pre-lockdown visitor figures is fantastic news. We’ve got lots of exciting exhibitions and events coming up over the next 12 months and we look forward to welcoming even more people.”

Find out more about Hull Museums here.