Amy de Joia talks to Laura Spence about her inspirations, present projects and future developments. De Joia is executive director of development and communications for National Museums Liverpool and featured in How-Do’s Public Sector 100.
What projects are you working on at the moment and what’s the thinking behind them?
National Museums Liverpool runs eight museums and galleries in and around Liverpool – so there are always lots of projects on the go! We’ve had a three-fold increase in visitor numbers over the past six years, with a record-breaking 2.7m visitors in 2008, and we want to continue to build on that success. Our biggest project at the moment is the new £72m Museum of Liverpool, due to open 2011. It’s the largest newly-built national museum in Britain for over a century and the world’s first national museum devoted to the history of a regional city – so it’s a big deal for us and for Liverpool. We’ve had fantastic funding support from the North West Development Agency, European Regional Development Fund, and the Heritage Lottery Fund, and more than 10,000 local people have been consulted on the museum’s themes and content. We’re also in the middle of revamping all our cafes, restaurants and shops – they are an important part of the visitor experience.
So what’s the favourite aspect of your role at NML?…
…continue reading at National Museums Liverpool’s Amy de Joia opens up to How-Do – North West Media Features – How-Do.