Become a Member
Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum
Become a member of Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum and enjoy a range of exclusive benefits including special member-only events and shop discounts.
Worcester’s beautiful Art Gallery and Museum was built more than 120 years ago, funded by people like you – local benefactors who saw the immense benefits in making art and museum collections available to everyone.
Membership benefits
Your membership will give you access to a number of exclusive Member Only benefits for one year:
- Invitations to exhibition Private Views
- Special Member-only events
- Free entry to ticketed exhibitions
- Priority booking for Bite-size Talks
- 10% discount in the museum gift shop (and in the Commandery gift shop)
- 10% discount in the Balcony Café at the Art Gallery & Museum (Tues-Thurs) and at Little Al’s Kitchen at The Commandery (Tues-Thurs)
- Exclusive Members’ e-newsletter
- Option to have your name published as a supporter
- And more! (Look out for special discounts throughout the year on events at the museums and with our partner organisations.)
Both individual and family memberships are available.
Supporting vital projects
Your membership will help to support Worcester’s amazing museum collections and enable us to deliver exciting exhibitions and events now and for the future. Already, members have funded the conservation of a key artwork in our collection.
Conserving The Cockle Gatherers
Before 2018, The Cockle Gatherers by Arthur Hacker was hidden in the Worcester City Art Gallery & Museum’s stores due to its poor condition. The painting’s varnish had yellowed and become stained from being hung in smoky rooms, and a tear in the canvas had been poorly repaired with tissue paper, meaning Hacker’s delicate painting was not visible.
A graduate of the Royal Academy Schools, Hacker’s painting of French peasant life Her Daughter’s Legacy was the Royal Academy Exhibition’s greatest talking point in 1881 and he was later elected as an Academician. The Cockle Gatherers most likely dates from the turn of the twentieth century, and is now considered one of the most notable works in the Museum’s art collection.
With the vital support from Art Gallery & Museum members, the whole painting was cleaned and the canvas tear was repaired to modern standards. Since its conservation, The Cockle Gatherers has been included in the Fifty Objects; Fifty Stories exhibition and was selected for display in the exhibition Connections: The Worcester City Collection, in Conversation with the Community in September/October 2024. Thanks to museum members, a painting that nobody had seen properly for the best part of century can now be enjoyed by visitors for years to come.
How do I join the membership scheme?
Join online: simply complete the online form and payment and we’ll be in touch.
Fill out the form and post it to us: please download and print the form or pop in to pick one up. Payment can be made by either cash/cheque (payable to Worcester City Council*) or credit card. Please do not send cash in the post.
Your Membership pack will be available to collect at the Art Gallery & Museum (we will email or phone you when ready) or please tick the box on the form if you wish it to be posted.
Your Membership pack will include your personal Membership card which you should use whenever visiting our museums, booking tickets to an event or making a purchase in our shops.
Would you like to give a gift Membership?
Know someone who’d love a Membership at the Art Gallery and Museum or The Commandery? Please fill out the online form and payment and we’ll be in touch. Get in touch if you have any questions about the process.
Membership prices
Worcester City Art Gallery & Museum: Individual – £21.00 per annum. Family (2 adults and up to 3 children) – £42.00 per annum.
Both venues (Worcester City Art Gallery & Museum and The Commandery): Individual – £43.00 per annum. Family (2 adults and up to 3 children) – £90.00 per annum.
Contact details for membership
Jo Jeffree, Communications Administrator
gallerymuseum@worcester.gov.uk
Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum,
Foregate Street,
Worcester,
WR1 1DT