ABOUT THE V&A The V&A is the world’s leading museum of art and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects, books and archives that span over 5,000 years of human creativity. The museum holds many of the UK's national collec- tions and houses some of the greatest resources for the study of architecture, furniture, fashion, textiles, photography, sculpture, painting, jew- ellery, glass, ceramics, book arts, Asian art and design, theatre and performance. This history of the V&A is a story like no other. From its early beginnings as a Museum of Man- ufactures in 1852, to the foundation stone laid by Queen Victoria in 1899, to today’s state-of- the-art galleries, the museum has constantly evolved in its collecting and public interpreta- tion of art and design. Its collections span over 5,000 years of human creativity in virtually every medium, housed in one of the finest groups of Victorian and modern buildings in Britain. We are a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and a charity exempt from registration under the Charities Act of 2011. We are governed by a Board of Trustees appointed by the Prime Min- ister. The Director of the museum is Dr Tristram Hunt, who leads the Executive Board. Our mission is to be recognised as the world’s leading museum of art, design and perfor- mance, and to enrich people’s lives by pro- moting research, knowledge and enjoyment of the designed world to the widest possible au- dience. We strive to make the V&A matter to more people and in that context we work to the following six strategic objectives: • To create a world class visitor and learning experience across all V&A sites and collec- tions. • Focus and deepen the relevance of our col- lections to the UK creative and knowledge economy. • Expand the V&A’s international reach, repu- tation and impact. • To operate with financial and organisational initiative and efficiency. • Showcase the best of digital design, and de- liver an outstanding digital experience. • Diversify and increase private and commer- cial funding sources.
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