What makes Ben Uri Museum in St. John’s Wood distinctive is that it uses art very differently through digital and physical engagement in London. It is the only museum in the country whose principal focus, 24/7, is on the wide Immigrant contribution to British art since 1900 and as a result is as interested in the artists as in their art. Its online presence is huge and equally distinctive with four independent sites led by benuri.org being the mother site linking to benuricollection.org.uk, buru.org.uk and dispora-artists.net. The online presence is over 12,000 pages and unparalleled in its width and depth. Main features include some 80 online exhibitions, close to 1000 Collection works, 100 Kids programmes, 100 Arts and Mental Health programmes, 125 Podcasts, 250 Films, over 400 essays and critical reviews and most importantly an unrivalled 3300 fully researched biographies. Buru.org.uk presents over 1000 profiles principally of European descent and Diaspora-artists.net over 2300 principally recording the Black and Asian contribution. This uniquely comprehensive database was originally designed to satisfy the needs of students, scholars and researchers but Ben Uri have also found a growing number of the public are using it to check out family or friends. It also maintains a vibrant physical museum gallery in Boundary Road, off the famous Abbey Road, in St. John’s Wood which presents 5 exhibitions a year. To compliment the exhibitions there is one of London’s most extensive art libraries which, like its exhibitions, is free to visit and use. This pioneering and greatly successful transformation from the standard physical museum model to digitally led was conceived in 2017 and launched in 2018. By this reinvention Ben Uri has successfully changed from being Local to Global with over 30,000 web pages explored every month. David Glasser, Director and Executive Chair of Ben Uri’s Trustees, shared: “Ben Uri's distinctive point of difference to other museums in London, the UK and Globally is our commitment to a digitally led future which we pioneered in 2018. Our principal point of difference to our colleague museums in London / UK is we have built an internationally recognised and respected focus on the Jewish, Refugee, and wide Immigrant contribution to British Art since 1900 presented online.” BURU (the Research Unit's) extensive search capacity is recognised as ground breaking and is very easy to navigate and search by Surname, country of birth, year of migration to the UK and many other fields. Already over 3,300 profiles published we have close to 2,000 more to research and publish documenting the Jewish, the Refugee and the wide Immigrant contribution to British visual cultural heritage. Speaking of the work of the small, committed team at Ben Uri, David shared: “Working for Ben Uri and being immersed in its 110 year history is much more a long-term emotional vocation than it is a job.” Ben Uri is one of the very few museums recruiting. This is exactly why the qualities and abilities necessary for individuals joining the team are, in David’s words, “Initiative, self-starter, the seeing eye, a consumer first / led approach, a drive for excelling and excellence, numeracy and commercial experience of sponsorship and digital commerce to overlay academic prowess and a firm belief that our unique and distinctive philosophy of revealing the huge contribution that the Refugee and wide Immigrant contribution to British David also believes “the immigrant contribution to British art since 1900 is of huge importance as a piece of the jigsaw of social integration.” With such a strong and invested team behind it, 2025 will see even more of an increased digital footfall for Ben Uri as its online presence of over 350,000 users this year compared to less than 5,000 physical visitors to its exhibitions in St Johns Wood. David continued: “Time is the rarest resource for those living, working and visiting London. Museums must be available when the visitor can visit, physically and more importantly digitally so those who live afar can engage when it suits them.” Explore all of Ben Uri’s websites whenever suits you as open 24/7 and discover the immigrant contribution to British art is far wider and deeper than Frank Auerbach, Francis Bacon, Frank Bowling, Lucian Freud, Mona Hatoum, Tam Joseph, Anish Kapoor, Paula Rego and Yinka Shonibare. Contact: David Glasser, Company: Ben Uri Gallery, Museum & Research Centre Website: https://benuri.org/ Celebrating, researching, and recording the richly diverse Jewish, Refugee, and wide Immigrant contributions to British visual culture since 1900. Ben Uri Gallery, Museum & Research Centre (Ben Uri) is a pioneering digitally led hybrid institution which, from its founding in Whitechapel in 1915 has flourished in London for 110 years. We explore its significance as it is awarded in our Greater London Enterprise Awards this year. British Visual Culture Research Centre on Refugee Contributions 2025
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