Some may know him as the co-owner of greeting card company Beverston Press, others may know him for his cartoons which have been published in respected periodicals, but for the last six months, Oliver Preston, as chairman of the Cartoon Museum has been leading the charge to amass enough funds to re-open this important museum and cover its running costs until the end of next year at least.
After months of campaigning, making grant applications, appealing for donations, this important museum, which includes several well-known greeting card artists’ work will re-open on September 17 (Thursday-Sunday).
The naturally upbeat Oliver describes this year as having been “a tawdry time” for the Cartoon Museum, in London that he co-founded in 2006. The museum closed its doors on 18 March, and as Oliver reveals “there was a real risk that, without any income from trading, the museum had a life expectancy of October 2020. Independent museums stand apart from those that are nationally or local council funded as all the museum’s income comes from trading – visitor admissions, the shop, the learning programme and Friends. Despite holding six months of reserves things were very bleak.”
As Oliver highlights how cartoon art has been a mainstay of the greeting card industry, citing British cartoonists Matt, Quentin Blake, Johnny Pugh, Tony Husband, Searle, Thelwell, Simon Drew, Bestie as among those whose work is represented in the Cartoon Museum collection and on display in its galleries. Cath Tate of Cath Tate Cards has also been involved in the museum, notably with the Inking Women exhibition a few years ago, which celebrated the very best women cartoonists in the UK.
After earlier rejections from the Arts Council and the Charities Aid Foundation, the museum has now turned a corner, and was recently successful with an application to the HLF Emergency fund in late July, a grant in full of £98,700. The Garfield Weston Foundation has donated £60,000 to the museum and there have been further charitable donations of £25,000. In April a fundraising campaign was set up on Virgin Giving which has now raised £118,000 from 370 individual donors, taking it 70% towards its target of £150,000.
A mighty relieved Oliver told PG Buzz: “We are very, very humbled by the support that we have received from such a wide range of Friends and supporters and with over £300,000 raised it means that that the museum has the resilience to reach the end of 2021. We do expect an 80% drop in income in 2021, and are of course still very concerned about our schools’ activities and learning programme, but we have a secure base for moving forwards.”
The museum has welcomed 420,000 visitors since it opened in 2006, and last year trustees raised £1,050,000 for its move to a brand new home in Wells Street, just off Oxford Street. Designed by well-known architect Sam Jacob, the new space includes quirky gallery spaces and an impressive selection of greeting cards in the museum shop. Its learning programmes have engaged over 50,000 children and adults, and the Young Cartoonists’ Awards have seen new talent coming through, including Ella Baron and Will McPhail, and Nick Edwards, the 2009 winner who went on to win an Emmy in 2014 for Uncle Grandpa.
You can see the Cartoon Museum’s latest online exhibitions, or make a donation at www.cartoonmuseum.org
Top: The Cartoon Museum is reopening on 17 September. No booking is required, and it will open Thursdays to Sundays.
