Smash-hit Dippy on Tour surpasses one million visitors milestone

Dippy is currently on display at Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, the fourth stop of the eight-venue-tour. Since his Scottish debut on 22 January over 450,000 people have marvelled at the iconic diplodocus.

The tour originally aimed to introduce 1.5 million people to the awe-inspiring dinosaur cast, helping inspire the next generation of scientists and encourage families to explore nature on their doorstep. Now as the tour reaches the halfway point Dippy is already well over halfway towards achieving his ambitious goal.

Dippy on Tour: A Natural History Adventure is being brought to visitors across the UK by the Natural History Museum in partnership with the Garfield Weston Foundation, and supported by Dell EMC and Williams & Hill.

Director of the Natural History Museum, Sir Michael Dixon says:

“We are thrilled with the news that Dippy has been seen already by one million visitors. His success at the first four venues has been beyond our expectations. Not only has he broken visitor number records at every venue, Dippy has had a huge social and economic impact, benefiting the surrounding communities.

“All of our partner venues have put on fantastic supporting exhibitions and worked with other local organisations to create a programme of activities which have so far helped to inspire tens of thousands of children to go on Dippy-themed adventures in the great outdoors. With four venues left on the tour in Newcastle, Cardiff, Rochdale and Norwich we have no doubt that Dippy will continue to draw crowds and thrill children.”

Philippa Charles, Director of the Garfield Weston Foundation, says:

“We are absolutely delighted that one million people have been enthralled by Dippy in Dorchester, Birmingham, Belfast and now Glasgow. We hope that he continues to inspire visitors to think about and explore the wonders of our natural world in the remaining four stops of his tour.”

Reaching this major milestone follows a succession of smash-hit appearances. At Dorset County Museum, yearly visitor numbers tripled in under three months with Dippy being seen by 153,189 people, providing a £2.25 million boost to the local economy.

At Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery’s he was the most successful temporary exhibition ever, attracting 140,000 additional visitors to Birmingham’s city centre who ultimately spent £4.2m in the city. This success was recently referred to as the “Dippy phenomenon” by the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) who cited the dinosaur as a reason for the increase of 38% (831,548 visits) to Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.

Continued successes were seen at Belfast’s Ulster Museum who reported the highest number of visitors ever for an exhibition in a single day (4,200) and received 130,000 visitors overall. Now as Dippy reaches one million visitors mark whilst in residence at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, he has set another visitor record. With almost half a million visitors so far, the museum has achieved its highest number of visitors to a temporary exhibition to date.

Chair of Glasgow Life, Councillor David McDonald, said:

“The response to Dippy on Tour at Kelvingrove Museum has been incredible. Almost half a million people have come and wondered at this marvellous creature. We are delighted Dippy will add the title of millionaire to his many achievements here in Glasgow, a city that has really taken him to our heart. It’s a fantastic overall number, which we expect will only grow during the last four weeks of his stopover in Glasgow.”

“Don’t forget there is still time to see Dippy in Glasgow before he stomps off to Newcastle, where we are sure he will amaze many thousands more people.”   

Dippy will be on display at Kelvingrove Museum until 6 May. His next destination, the fifth on the tour, will be the Great North Museum, Hancock, Newcastle upon Tyne, where he will be in residence from 18 May - 6 October 2019. 

Ends

Notes to Editors

Images

·         Images of Dippy on Tour volunteers marking the 1 million milestone with a family visiting Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum are available to download here

Tour Dates

·         Dorset County Museum, 10 February - 7 May 2018

·         Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, 26 May - 9 September 2018

·         Ulster Museum, 28 September 2018 - 6 January 2019

·         Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow, 22 January - 6 May 2019

·         Great North Museum, Hancock, Newcastle upon Tyne, 18 May - 6 October 2019

·         National Museum Cardiff, 19 October 2019 - 26 January 2020

·         Number One Riverside, Rochdale, 10 February - 28 June 2020

·         Norwich Cathedral, 11 July - 31 October 2020

·         The Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum exists to inspire a love of the natural world and unlock answers to the big issues facing humanity and the planet. It is a world-leading science research centre, and through its unique collection and unrivalled expertise it is tackling issues such as food security, eradicating diseases and managing resource scarcity.

The Natural History Museum is the most visited natural history museum in Europe and the top science attraction in the UK; we welcome around five million visitors each year and our website receives over 850,000 unique visitors a month. People come from around the world to enjoy our galleries and events and engage both in-person and online with our science and educational activities through innovative programmes and citizen science projects.

·         In partnership with the Garfield Weston Foundation

Established over 60 years ago in 1958, the Garfield Weston Foundation is a family-founded, grant-making charity which supports causes across the UK with grants around £70million annually. It has donated over £1billion to charities since it was established.

One of the most respected charitable institutions in the UK, the Weston Family Trustees are descendants of the founder and they take a highly active and hands-on approach. The Foundation’s funding comes from an endowment of shares in the family business which includes Twinings, Primark, Kingsmill (all part of Associated British Foods Plc) and Fortnum & Mason, amongst others – a successful model that still endures today; as the businesses have grown so too have the charitable donations.

From small community organisations to large national institutions, the Foundation supports a broad range of charities and activities that make a positive impact in the communities in which they work. More than 1,800 charities across the UK benefit each year from the Foundation’s grants.

Tour Sponsors

·         DELL EMC

Dell EMC, a part of Dell Technologies, enables organizations to modernize, automate and transform their data center using industry-leading converged infrastructure, servers, storage and data protection technologies. This provides a trusted foundation for businesses to transform IT, through the creation of a hybrid cloud, and transform their business through the creation of cloud-native applications and big data solutions. As a supplier of the Natural History Museum, Dell EMC technology has supported the work of its scientists for many years. Through Dippy on Tour, Dell EMC and the Natural History Museum have the opportunity to inspire the next generation of scientists and encourage them to engage with the natural world. The digital world has a huge role to play in this, and the web app Dippy’s Naturenauts created as part of this partnership, demonstrates the role online and mobile technology can play in encouraging people to explore the outside world.

·         Williams & Hill

Williams & Hill have built up a reputation for excellence by firmly establishing themselves as the leading ‘Specialised Transporter of Fine Art, Antiques, Design Furniture and Decorative Objects’. With a highly experienced team working for the world’s major galleries and exhibition venues – they have a true understanding of the requirements for methodical care, consideration and appreciation of whatever may be in their care. No two days are the same, and the excitement of working in their own ever changing art gallery never fades. williamsandhill.com

Tour venues and partners

·         Dorset County Museum is one of the leading independent, charitable, heritage organisations in the Southwest of England. It has a learned Society with 2000 members and receives over 47,000 visitors a year. Its diverse collections contain over 4 million objects including internationally significant geology, archaeology and literary collections. The Museum is a registered charity and operates independently with financial support from Dorset County Council and West Dorset District Council. In May 2015 the Museum was awarded £11.3million from the Heritage Lottery Fund to enable an ambitious redevelopment project. dorsetcountymuseum.org

·         The Jurassic Coast was designated England’s only natural World Heritage Site in 2001. Day to day site Management of the Jurassic Coast is the work of the Jurassic Coast Trust, a small independent charity with a huge remit.  The Trust works to inspire people to love, understand and value the Jurassic Coast, and was instrumental in bringing Dippy down to Dorset in collaboration with the County Museum. jurassiccoast.org

·         Birmingham Museums Trust is an independent charity that manages the city’s museum collection and venues on behalf of Birmingham City Council. It uses the collection of around 800,000 objects to provide a wide range of arts, cultural and historical experiences, events and activities that deliver accessible learning, creativity and enjoyment for citizens and visitors to the city. Attracting over one million visits a year, the Trust’s venues include Aston Hall, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, Blakesley Hall, Museum Collections Centre, Museum of the Jewellery Quarter, Sarehole Mill, Soho House, Thinktank and Weoley Castle. birminghammuseums.org.uk

·         Come face to face with dinosaurs, meet an Ancient Egyptian Mummy and see modern masterpieces with a visit to the Ulster Museum. As Northern Ireland’s treasure house of the past and present, the museum is home to a rich collection of art, history and natural sciences and free to all visitors. The Ulster Museum, part of National Museums Northern Ireland, welcomes nearly half a million visitors annually. nmni.com/um

·         Glasgow Life is the charity which runs services and facilities on behalf of Glasgow City Council. We work in every area of the city and with every community to try and inspire Glasgow’s citizens and visitors to lead richer and more active lives through culture, sport and learning. More than 18 million attendances were recorded to the facilities that we run across the city between 2015 and 2016. Glasgow Museums is the largest museum service in the UK outside London and operates nine easy to reach, accessible and family friendly venues across the city. We are open year-round and entry is free. Glasgow Museums house an extraordinary permanent collection of fine art, historic objects and natural history exhibited in some of Glasgow’s most stunning public buildings. glasgowlife.org.uk

·         Great North Museum: Hancock is managed by Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums on behalf of Newcastle University. The Museum brings together the North East’s premier collections of archaeology, natural history, geology and world cultures under one roof. It incorporates collections from the original Hancock Museum, Newcastle University’s former Museum of Antiquities and the Shefton Museum. The Great North Museum is a partnership between Newcastle University, Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums, Newcastle City Council, the Natural History Society of Northumbria (NHSN) and the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne (SANT). greatnorthmuseum.org.uk

·         Situated in the heart of Cardiff’s elegant civic centre, National Museum Cardiff houses Wales’s national art, geology and natural history collections as well as major touring and temporary exhibitions. On the ground floor of the museum, take an amazing journey in The Evolution of Wales from the very beginnings of time to the present day. The story begins in space with the Big Bang and takes you on a 4,600 million-year journey, bringing you face to face with dinosaurs and woolly mammoths along the way. Witness Wales's diverse natural history on an expedition that begins at the seashore and ends in the mountains. Experience some of the unique environments that make Wales home to over 900 Sites of Special Scientific Interest. The art collection at National Museum Cardiff is one of Europe's finest and includes five hundred years of magnificent paintings, drawings, sculpture, silver and ceramics from Wales and across the world, including one of Europe's best collections of Impressionist art.

·         Rochdale Borough Council is a local authority in the North West of England which serves more than 200,000 residents. Sitting in the foothills of the Pennines and close to the major cities of Manchester and Leeds, the council is playing a key role in the Northern Powerhouse, and its priorities are people, place and prosperity. Link4Life is the Rochdale Boroughwide Cultural Trust, delivering leisure and cultural provision across the Rochdale borough, including the award-winning arts and heritage centre, Touchstones Rochdale. rochdale.gov.uk

Norwich Cathedral is a Christian presence in the heart of Norfolk and the Diocese of Norwich. It began, over 900 years ago, as the Cathedral church of a Benedictine Monastery, built to inspire by its sheer size and magnificence. The Cathedral continues to fill today’s visitors with a sense of awe and wonder. The primary purpose of a Cathedral is to be a place of Christian worship. It was at the centre of the monastery and the focus of the monks’ most important work, the worship of God. Norwich Cathedral is also the focus of both city and county life. As well as playing host to special civic and legal services, it is also a venue for concerts, talks, exhibitions, degree ceremonies and other community events. cathedral.org.uk