New accounts for V&A Dundee shows the attraction made a loss of almost £1 million, despite an increase in visitor numbers.
Chairman Tim Allan said the deficit was expected as the design museum invested heavily for its fifth anniversary year.
This included costs associated with the Tartan exhibition, the first to be curated by the museum.
The accounts for Dundee Design Limited, for the year to March 2023, show income of £6.8m, an £81,000 increase on the previous year.
However, V&A Dundee costs increased by more than £1m – from £6.6m to £7.8m – leading to the loss.
Tartan success comes at a cost
Mr Allan said many of the costs of Tartan were shown in the accounts, but revenue from the exhibition has come in a new financial year. It opened in April last year and closed last weekend.
He said it had been a huge success, with more than 75,000 paying customers.
Mr Allan said: “The board took the view that we had deep enough reserves to invest in Tartan and the fifth anniversary year.
“There was huge expense preparing for Tartan. It was the first exhibition curated and created by V&A Dundee rather than receiving it from somewhere else.
“It’s always difficult for exhibitions to make a profit but it’s been a driving force behind visits to the museum.
“We have now secured private funding to send it on a tour. We have many foreign museums looking to host it.
“It let people see how good we are internationally. This will drive more collaborations and footfall to Dundee.”
Scottish Government support
The museum attracted 290,947 visitors in the 2023 financial year. This was a 48% increase from 196,892 people in 2021-22, a year affected by pandemic closures.
Mr Allan said the number of visitors will increase further this year, which will be reflected in more positive finances.
V&A Dundee has also secured a higher grant from the Scottish Government. This has been set at £3m in 2022/23 and 2023/24 but will increase to £3.8m in 2024/25.
Mr Allan said: “It will make it around 50% of the museum’s turnover, which I think is the correct amount.
“Funding is always a concern and there’s an ongoing requirement for great places like the DCA, Rep, Science Centre and Heritage Trust to be supported. We can not let the offer in the city drop.”
V&A exhibition strategy
Mr Allan said he believed the museum’s strategy of having a major paid for exhibition running along with several smaller shows during the year had proved a success.
He said: “We have moved to a more nimble system – from two major exhibitions a year to one but we’ve filled in the blanks.
“Instead of periods of inactivity, which we used to have, we want to give a sense that the museum is full of things to see.
“We know one of the things people say about the V&A is ‘it’s a lovely building but what is there in it to see?’
“I would challenge anybody before Christmas to be short of things to see in the museum.”
This weekend, the V&A will be the venue displaying the Dundee tapestry, which tells the story of the city across 35 hand-stitched panels.
“Smaller exhibitions such as the one we held on Valentines postcards have been a huge success in the city,” Mr Allan said. “The Dundee tapestry display is exactly the sort of thing we should be doing.
“We will have our major exhibition on the kimono opening in May which is exquisite.
“The next challenge for us is rethinking the Scottish Design Galleries. It needs a refresh and a rethink about how they are laid out and what story they tell.
“That’s a major project for us in the next couple of years.”
Conversation