Inside Story Issue 60
John Barnes, Chief Executive
As we come to the end of a memorable year celebrating two decades of membership, our Chief Executive, John Barnes, reflects on how members’ support helps us achieve our aims.
What do you most want members to feel that they are enabling?
That they’re helping us open up these palaces, to tell richer, more relevant stories and to care for them properly for the long term. We talk a lot about our ambition to become a charity for everyone but that only becomes real when people like members choose to support us, beyond visiting, over the long term. That support gives us the confidence to plan and think into the future.
What keeps you awake at night?
Right now, we’re facing financial challenges as the global situation impacts our income. Overall, as we speak, visitors to the palaces are down by around 15 per cent, and overseas visitors, especially Americans who represent a third of our audience, are down by a lot more.
The reduction in income is significant, but we’re determined to stay focused on our strategy, to be for everyone, and protect long-term investments, such as education, community work, and major capital projects like the new learning facilities we’re planning for the Tower of London.
The reality is that palaces operate on the long wave of time: they need sustained care over generations, while we are constantly managing short-term pressures. The knack is to balance these two things, and that’s where consistent support from members really matters.
What’s something members may not realise that they’ve made possible?
We can welcome large numbers of children to the palaces, free of charge, through supported programmes and travel, because we have a strong membership base. Those experiences can be genuinely transformational. If you bring a child who’s never been to London before to somewhere like the Tower or Hampton Court, their reaction is often just ‘wow’.
It’s that kind of horizon-expanding moment that membership support makes possible – it allows us to invest ahead, not just operate day to day.
Is there a recent moment that has stopped you in your tracks?
It happens every time I quietly observe groups around the palaces, often multigenerational and multinational, who are all engaging with what we do but in their own ways.
That’s what I find the most compelling about our ambition to be for everyone. We don’t determine how people connect with what we offer, instead we provide the stories and the space, and people find their own way in. What matters is the connections people make, and the experiences we provide.
What would you say to members who haven’t visited for a while?
A big thank you for remaining a member and, if you haven’t visited for a while, do come back. It’s easy to think of the palaces as familiar and unchanging but, actually, they’re constantly evolving. There are new exhibitions and programming, freshly conserved buildings, newly presented gardens, and research that provides new insights into our shared history. There’s always something new to see, and new ways of experiencing them.
About us
Our strategy
The palaces are the setting for stories that shape us all. Find out more about our strategy and how, with your support, we’re bringing these stories to life in ways that feel more meaningful to more people.
