About Us

Friends of BMGA is a registered charity (no. 276777).  All of its activities are run by volunteers.The Friends have their roots in two charitable organisations the Friends of Bristol Art Gallery, founded in 1947, and Bristol Magpies, founded in 1977 and in 2007 renamed Friends of Bristol Museums, Galleries & Archives to better reflect our activities and purpose.  The two groups merged in 2018 so that we could more effectively run our social programmes and support the work of Bristol Museums, Galleries & Archives.

Over the years we have raised over £2 million to help fund acquisitions, conservation and display, education and interpretation across the nationally-recognised sites and collections.

Constitution

As with all charities, we have a legal Constitution that provides the ground rules within which we must work.

A key part of the Constitution determines our objectives:

“The education of the public by promoting, supporting, assisting and improving Bristol Museums, Galleries & Archives through the activity of a group of supporters”.

In support of that objective we are empowered to carry out a range of activities, the details of which you can find in our Constitution. It also sets out some simple rules about how we run the organisation.

• Constitution — Download Constitution (Constitution agreed September 2023)
• Reserves Policy — Download Financial Reserves Policy (2022)

Fundraising

We raise funds by organising a wide-ranging programme of activities. These
include day visits to historic sites, exhibitions and other collections and also
short visits to sites of interest in Bristol.  There is a regular programme of
lectures on historical and artistic topics and also special fund-raising events,
such as cake sales.  We organise around 40 events each year.

View Upcoming Events

In the last few years the Friends have raised up to £40,000 each year from the various events held and from annual subscriptions.  Each year, therefore, we are able to make a number of substantial grants to Bristol Museums’ Service as contributions towards new artefacts, conservation programmes, gallery refurbishment, museum equipment, the harbourside working exhibits and educational activities.

Learn about recent contributions to Bristol Museums’ Service and the impact of our fundraising; View Grants & Acquisitions. The winter lectures, organised by the Museum each year, from October to March, are free thanks to the sponsorship by the Friends, as are the Museum summer walks.