Falling attendances at London's Design Museum contributed to a cash crisis earlier this year that left the institute with a deficit of £1.2 million, Dezeen has learned.
Total visitor numbers fell 16.5 per cent last year, with just 518,000 attending in the financial year 2018-2019, compared to 620,000 the previous year.
Paying visitors decreased 20 per cent from 228,960 to 183,392. This led to a £500,000 decline in ticket revenue, which was down to £1.7 million from £2.2 million the previous year.
The museum's financial plight is set out in its latest annual report, which was published in March.
Written by Lord Mandelson, the chair of the museum's board of trustees, the report describes the financial situation as "not sustainable in the medium term". Revenue fall blamed on "specialist" exhibitions
The report blames the fall in ticket revenue on a combination of a natural decline since the museum's high-profile opening three years ago, and the exhibitions programme, which it describes as "more specialist focussed".
"The decrease was due in part to the museum being new in 2017-2018, and a more specialist focussed programme for 2018-2019," the report says.
Management consultants were appointed earlier this year to propose ways to return the institution to profitability, and recruitment consultants briefed to identify a business-savvy leader.
The recruiters sought someone "who will be able to see both the breadth on an internatio...