As you will know The Harris Museum, Art Gallery & Library has recently re-opened its doors after being closed for a substantial refurbishment. You may have also visited or seen the press coverage of the highly successful ‘Wallis and Gromit in A Case at The Museum’ exhibition, or the more recent The Harris Open 2026. If you have yet to visit, when you do you will be struck by how thorough the refurbishment has been. The work has reinvigorated this vital local cultural resource.
The Friends of the Harris
The Friends of The Harris (a charity which supports the museum & its programme) was happy to play a major role in the renewal of Preston’s local museum. We are now seeking to expand the range of membership options for people who wish to be part of the continuing success of The Harris. As a result we are now exploring how best to be a bridge between The Harris and the local business community.
The Harris & business
The Harris has always valued the history of the local business community & continues to represent the history of Preston’s businesses within its displays. Previously the Friends of The Harris have focussed on individual members & local residents, but with the re-opened museum we are looking to expand our engagement with businesses around Preston.
Recognising that all successful relationships are based on mutual benefit, the Friends of the Harris are reaching out to local businesses to find out what you would want to see in a Business Friends of The Harris scheme.
Business Friends of the Harris Museum
At the moment this scheme is in the development stage with no fixed programme of benefits of membership finalised. The Trustees of the Friends of The Harris are initially proposing three areas that the Business Friends scheme would focus on: events & services; community engagement; and benefits for Business Friends’ employees.
The Trustees are looking at how The Harris might be better used by local businesses as a high prestige & attractive venue for events. We are also exploring, and would value your views on, the sort of events specifically organised for the Business Friends that would be valuable. These events could utilise the particular focus of the museum’s own holdings to provide events that would be attractive to both business clients and staff, but also could reflect specific content suggested by the Business Friends.
We want to hear from you
The Friends of The Harris engagement with the business community must be driven by local business priorities and this is why we are reaching out to you. We want to talk with you to discover what it is you value about your local museum, how you think a scheme could benefit the local business community & what your priorities for the Business Friends of The Harris would be.
If you would like to be part of the development of the Business Friends of The Harris and would like to feed into the planning of this new membership scheme, please send an email to Christopher May, the Friends of The Harris Trustee who is leading on this development. We have a short consultation document with which to start our conversation, which we like to share with you.
To get in touch & to request the consultation document, please email: c.may@lancaster.ac.uk
