What Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Coventry does

The Herbert Art Gallery & Museum is a cultural institution located in Coventry city centre, operated by Culture Coventry Limited, a registered charity (No. 8359113, registered in Cardiff, Wales). It holds approximately 300,000 objects spanning archaeology, social and industrial history, visual arts, and natural history, including approximately 180,000 natural history specimens and around 8,000 local photographs in its Pictures of Coventry database. The museum's collection includes internationally significant medieval manuscripts dating from 1182, royal correspondence from Elizabeth I, Anne Boleyn, and Richard III, and the Coventry Leet Book with 15th-16th century city records. The site incorporates a grade I listed 14th century Medieval Undercroft beneath the main building.

The museum operates a diversified revenue model across admissions (day entry from £2.50, annual passes, and the CV Life Attractions Pass bundled with Coventry Transport Museum and The Wave waterpark), corporate and gallery hire, children's parties, recording studio hire, archive services, heritage certificates, donations, corporate sponsorship, and retail. Its Coventry Archives subsidiary offers free on-site research room access plus paid reprographics, remote research at £20/hour after the first free hour, and house history packages from £25 to £75. The museum holds National Portfolio Organisation status with Arts Council England and partners with the Natural History Museum to host Dippy the Diplodocus until February 2027. It also runs award-winning educational programmes including Creative Bridges for neurodivergent young people and Arts Award support, and serves approximately 350,000 visitors annually.

Technology infrastructure centres on a museum collections management system with digital archives (Coventry Digital, Coventry Atlas), an online booking platform, and the Herbert Media podcast studio. The institution is managed by a team of 38 staff and is in the process of executing the Collections Move Project, relocating its collections to a new Collections Centre in the former IKEA building by end of 2027 as part of Coventry City Council's City Centre Cultural Gateway initiative.

Name

Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Coventry

Legal name

Culture Coventry Limited

Website

https://theherbert.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Herbert Art Gallery & Museum is a Coventry-based cultural institution operated by charity Culture Coventry Limited, holding approximately 300,000 objects including medieval manuscripts and natural history specimens. It serves around 350,000 annual visitors through exhibitions, education programmes, corporate and gallery hire, archive services, and partnerships including the Dippy-on-loan exhibition.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Coventry

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Admission Fees: Day entry fees starting from £2.50 with annual passes available. Admission charges introduced in April 2025.
2. Corporate Event Hire: Revenue from hiring spaces including Covered Court with Dippy the Dinosaur, Learning Spaces, Studio, and Long Gallery for corporate events, conferences, gala dinners. Midweek day delegate rates from £45.00, half day from £35.00.
3. Gallery Hire: Affordable exhibition spaces for independent artists and art groups. Gallery 1.3 and 1.2 hire at £240/2 weeks or £480/4 weeks.
4. Children's Parties: Birthday party packages including Arty Party (£200-£250 for 2 hours), Dippy Dino Parties (£200 for 2 hours) with optional food boxes (£4.95/child) and party bags (£3-£8/child).
5. Recording Studio Hire: Podcast and recording studio day rate at £100, hire only without engineer.
6. Archive Services: Research room and reading room access with fees for reprographics, photo permits (£10-£40 depending on permit type), remote research at £20/hour after first free hour.
7. Heritage Certificates: House history packages (Certificate £25, £50, £75 depending on package), motor heritage certificates for classic cars.
8. Donations: Donations via National Funding Scheme platform, text-to-give options (£1, £3, £5, £10), with Gift Aid support.
9. Corporate Sponsorship: Sponsorship opportunities for exhibitions, collections, education and community programmes with brand awareness benefits and discounted facility hire.
10. Retail Shop: Museum shop with 10% discount for party guests.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels8 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The Herbert Art Gallery & Museum is a cultural institution in Coventry operating a museum with approximately 300,000 objects across archaeology, natural history, social/industrial history, and visual arts, alongside archives dating to 1182. It sells general admissions, the multi-venue CV Life Attractions Pass, temporary exhibitions (including Dippy the Diplodocus on loan from the Natural History Museum), curriculum-linked school programmes, the Creative Bridges alternative provision programme, children's party packages, corporate venue hire, gallery hire for artists, recording studio hire, archive research services, and heritage certificates. It also operates a retail shop and accepts donations and corporate sponsorship.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• CV Life Attractions Pass: Combined ticket offering unlimited access to Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Coventry Transport Museum, and three visits to The Wave waterpark
• Creative Bridges
• Discover in a Day

Products and services

• General Museum Admission and Annual Pass

Quantifiable outcome

• Rated excellent by Ofsted
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and major.

• Culture CoventrycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCulture Coventry Limited is the charitable trust that manages the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Coventry Transport Museum, and other cultural venues on behalf of Coventry City Council. Registered in Cardiff, Wales, No. 8359113.
• Coventry Sports FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCoventry Sports Foundation collaborates with Culture Coventry as part of the CV Life partnership to operate multiple cultural and leisure venues in Coventry.
• Coventry Transport MuseumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPart of the CV Life group, offering combined attractions pass with unlimited access to both the Herbert and Coventry Transport Museum plus The Wave waterpark.
• The Wave WaterparkminorGTM or Marketing PartnerIncluded in the CV Life Attractions Pass, providing three visits to The Wave waterpark alongside unlimited access to Herbert and Coventry Transport Museum.
• Corporate SponsorsminorGTM or Marketing PartnerCompanies sponsor exhibitions, collections, education and community programmes. Benefits include discounted facility hire, invitations to private views, and accreditation on promotional material.
• Natural History Museum (London)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDippy the Diplodocus is on loan from the Natural History Museum until February 2027, providing a major exhibition attraction.
• Arts Council England (Artsmark)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCulture Coventry works in partnership with schools and settings on their Artsmark Award journey, helping put arts at the heart of education.
• Arts AwardmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupports young people to achieve Arts Award qualifications at Discover, Explore, Bronze, Silver and Gold levels through exhibitions and workshops.
• Special Schools in Coventry and WarwickshiremajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCreative Bridges programme delivered through partnerships with special schools, providing Games Design and Art and Design courses for young people aged 16-25.
• Special Schools (Creative Bridges)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBronze Arts Award is delivered through Creative Bridges programme via partnerships with special schools in Coventry and Warwickshire.
• Coventry Family History SocietyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProvided two PCs for searching Coventry census indexes (1841-1901) and provides free drop-in sessions.
• National Funding Scheme (DONATE)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerFundraising, payments and donations processed and administered by National Funding Scheme, registered charity 1149800 (England/Wales) and SC045106 (Scotland).
• Baxter Baristas (Catering Partner)minorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerProfessional catering partners for corporate events, gala dinners, and venue hospitality.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• York Castle Museum: Independent charitable trust museum with social history collections, heritage certificates and family history services, and educational programming — a strong functional analogue to the Herbert's archives and education offerings.
• Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums: Joint archive and museum service operating multiple regional venues with comparable education, archives, and corporate hire offerings. Strong analogue as a multi-site regional cultural trust funded by local authority.
• The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery: Regional UK museum combining art gallery, social/industrial history, and natural history collections under one roof. Closely comparable in mixed-discipline remit, regional civic mission, and admission model.
• Manchester Art Gallery: Regional UK art gallery with significant fine art collections, education programmes, and corporate hire offerings. Comparable in mission as a publicly-supported civic art institution serving a major English city.
• Coventry Transport Museum: Sister museum under the Culture Coventry / CV Life umbrella. Operates as a specialised transport museum in Coventry, sharing visitor passes, marketing, and back-office functions with the Herbert, making it the closest direct operational peer.
• Beamish Museum: Open-air living history museum in North East England with strong education programme, corporate hire, events business, and significant annual visitor numbers funded by a mix of admissions, grants, and donations — comparable operating model and revenue diversification.
• Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery: Major regional UK museum and art gallery with comparable collections spanning fine art, social history, and archaeology, operated by Birmingham Museums Trust. Closest analogue in terms of scale, collection breadth, and West Midlands regional context.
• Leeds City Museum: Free-to-enter regional civic museum covering social history, natural history, and archaeology, operated by Leeds Museums and Galleries. Comparable in scale, collection mix, and council-funded operating model.

Broad incumbents

• Tate Liverpool: Regional Tate gallery with a comparable civic art gallery role, education programmes, and corporate hire. Part of the national Tate network which lends scale, prestige, and touring exhibition access that the Herbert must source independently.
• Natural History Museum (London): National-scale natural history museum and current Dippy lender to the Herbert. Operates as a much larger institution with research, exhibitions, and a national schools programme — a strategic upstream partner rather than direct competitor.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/The_Herbert
• YouTubeyoutube.com/herbertartmus
• Facebookfacebook.com/theherbert
• Instagraminstagram.com/the_herbert_cov
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/herbert-art-gallery-&-museum-coventry

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Coventry