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 13,000 pages and unparalleled in its width and depth. Main features include some 80 online exhibitions, over 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 complement 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 40,000 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 is we have built an online, internationally recognised, and respected scholarly resource recording the Jewish, the Refugee, and the wide Immigrant contribution to British Art since 1900.” 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. 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 longterm emotional vocation than it is a job.” Ben Uri is one of the very few museums recruiting. The qualities and skill sets necessary for individuals joining the team are, in David’s words, “Initiative, the seeing eye, a consumer first approach, a drive for excellence, numeracy and commercial experience of sponsorship and digital commerce to overlay academic prowess. David also believes “the immigrant contribution to British art since 1900 is of huge importance as a piece of the social integration jigsaw.” 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 450,000 users 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 and society 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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