Little Museum to go large in the US

The Little Museum of Dublin has secured sponsorship from the Ireland Funds that will enable it to tour some of its exhibitions abroad, beginning with New York in late 2015.

Museum director Trevor White has told The Irish Times that the Ireland Funds has agreed a two-year deal worth €100,000, which will give it the naming rights for the ground floor of its premises at St Stephen's Green and allow it host functions there.

“The Ireland Funds has agreed to underwrite our exhibition programme for the next two years,” Mr White explained. “We’re very giddy with excitement at the deal. Our goal is to create a long-term partnership with them.”

Mr White said this would allow the museum to tour some temporary exhibitions abroad. This is slated to start at the American Irish Historical Society’s building in Fifth Avenue in New York next winter with a concept relating to the centenary anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising. Exhibitions in London and Paris will “hopefully” follow, he added.

Kieran McLoughlin, chief executive of the Ireland Funds, said this deal stems from a small grant provided to the museum to provide an “I Love Dublin” educational programme recently.

“We’re very impressed with their innovative approach to making history more accessible to different audiences,” he said.

"It's relevant, its accessible, its impactful and they have proved to be very entrepreneurial in their approach. It's a good example of a not-for-profit that's having an economic impact, too."

Story of Dublin

The museum opened in 2011 to tell the story of Dublin in the 20th century and built its collection with more than 5,000 artefacts from members of the public. It operates from 15 St Stephen's Green at a peppercorn rent under a seven-year licence from Dublin City Council.

Mr White said the council’s support has been crucial to its success, and he is trying to persuade the local authority to give it use of number 14 to expand its activities.

Visitor numbers rose last year to 51,873 from 24,197 in 2012. “It’s mostly US or UK visitors in the summer and domestic in the winter,” Mr White said.

Accounts just filed for the Little Museum of Dublin Ltd show that it made a surplus in 2013 of €45,368, up from €5,985 in the previous year. Its income rose by 33 per cent to €359,394.

The accounts state that business was boosted by a number of new exhibitions, including U2: Made in Dublin, Your Huddled Masses: the Irish in America, and Darkest Dublin, which detailed tenement living in the city.

Mr White said the museum is targeting revenues this year of about €480,000 with visitor numbers expected to top 70,000.

The museum is currently planning an exhibition of Christy Brown's archives, which it acquired with the National Library of Ireland earlier this year. It is also planning an extensive programme around the 1916 Easter Rising.

Founded in 1976, the fund’s various chapters around the world have raised more than $480 million for 3,000 organisations. It has distributed $20 million in the first 10 months of this year, Mr McLoughlin said.