The Tate Modern: Powered by the National Lottery

Descriptor: First we meet Liz Weald, a student from Ravensbourne College, who sits at a desk with broadcasting equipment. As she speaks, we see various shots of the exterior of the Tate Modern, before moving on to still images of the building before and after it was transformed into an art gallery.

Liz: Hello, my name is Liz Weald, and I’m an undergraduate from the Broadcast Department at Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication. Our production team went to find out how the Tate Modern was transformed from a disused building, into one of the most iconic art galleries in the world. It’s one of thousands of Good Causes across the UK that has received funding as a result of you playing National Lottery games. We hope you enjoy watching our film.

Descriptor: We now see a blue map of the UK on a red graphic background, which zooms to London on the map, where a white caption reads, “Tate Modern Lottery Funding - £51.3m”. We now see various fast shots of the exterior of the Tate Modern, including wide shots taken from the Millennium Bridge.

Narrator: Since it opened in May 2000, Tate Modern has attracted more than 20 million visitors. Thanks to a National Lottery grant, not only does the city of London have a new critically-acclaimed art gallery, but one of the most iconic buildings on the River Thames was saved.

Descriptor: We now meet Marcus Horley, the Curator of Tate Modern, who stands on a balcony in the Tate Modern. As he speaks, we see the visitor attractions that are near the Tate; St Paul’s Cathedral and the Millennium Bridge.

Marcus Horley: Tate is Britain’s third busiest visitor attraction. We’re right here in the centre of London, on the banks of the River Thames, very close indeed to several other visitor attractions. We are directly opposite St Paul’s Cathedral; we’ve also got the Millennium Bridge connecting us with the City of London to the north.

Descriptor: As the narrator speaks, we once again see various shots of the exterior of the Tate Modern building, together with a still of how it looked before the renovations. We then see shots of the modernisations that have been done to the building, including a large window.

Narrator: Bankside Power Station was built to provide electricity to the City of London. After it closed in 1980, it lay vacant for fifteen years, until a grant from The National Lottery helped convert it into the internationally-renowned art gallery it is today.

Descriptor: Once again we meet Marcus Horley. As he speaks, the camera pulls out from the large windows to show the enormity of the interior.

Marcus Horley: People come in and are just overwhelmed and awestruck; it’s almost as if you’re walking into a cathedral because of the dimensions of the space and the architecture of the interior.

Descriptor: We now meet a couple, who are standing outside the Tate Modern. The man, who stands on the right, speaks about what he likes best in the building.

Man: I really like the Turbine Hall, it’s really great the way they’ve restored the building and kept some of the character of what the original use was.

Descriptor: We now see a man who stands on the Millennium Bridge, who tells us what he likes about the Tate Modern and its location.

Man: Well I think it’s a, a brilliant bit of a landmark, isn’t it really, along the Thames, as you’re walking along it, you can see it from miles away. And, ah, I, I, I just like it as an emblem for London really.

Descriptor: We now zoom in on a wide shot of the exterior of the Tate Modern, before once again meeting Marcus Horley who explains the importance of the building.

Marcus Horley: People in Britain are very fond of looking after their historic buildings, and I think a lot of people would have felt quite disappointed had it been demolished and something modern built on its place.

Descriptor: We now pan back from the building’s tall chimney to a low shot of the building, before various panning shots of the exterior and interior of the building.

Narrator: Lottery funding has helped restore this building into a number of different areas, which house the galleries and public spaces. It has been designed to encourage visitors to become immersed in the space and to interact with the exhibits inside it.

Descriptor:  Once again we meet Marcus Horley, who now stands in one of the concourse areas. As he describes the concourse areas, we see various shots of them, including shots of the viewpoint postcards in hanging frames and people writing them, and video message boards.

Marcus Horley: We have various locations in our building, for example, the space we’re standing in now, which are concourse spaces. And these zones are almost like learning zones, where people can actually interact with some of the ideas that Tate’s learning curators have put together. We have a wall of viewpoint postcards, where anybody visiting the gallery can just take a blank postcard, draw or write something, and then we’ll display them actually in hanging frames on the concourses. We have message boards, where you can send a video message to people and then there’s even more; there’s of course the Tate collection of twentieth and twenty-first century art, and it’s not just the collection which is international, but I think the audience is international as well.

Descriptor: We now see two young American women. The woman on the left speaks about why they are visiting Tate Modern.

Woman: We’re on a vacation with our family, we’ve been in London for a night and, um, we heard that it was something that is not to miss here.

Descriptor: Once again we see various interior and exterior shots of the building, while hearing Marcus Horley, who explains how the lottery helped with the project.

Marcus Horley: Tate received approximately £51.3 million in lottery grant aid, and that was about a third of the cost of transforming this building. So without that enormous contribution, I don’t think Tate Modern really could have happened on this scale, in this location.

Descriptor: We now meet two young women who are standing outside the building. They take it in turns to describe how they feel about the Tate Modern.

Woman: I’d say it’s an experience, not just a museum. The building itself is amazing, you get to experience amazing art, but you get to see it in a totally different way.

Woman: Yeah, I think it’s a really unique museum, I’ve never been in a museum like it, and I think a lot has to do with the building itself, and the character it gives.

Descriptor: As the narrator speaks, we now see shots of crowds of visitors inside the building, before once again seeing an exterior shot of the entire building.

Narrator: Thanks to the money raised through the sale of National Lottery games, this London landmark has been given a new lease of life, and now has a different role to play in the life of the city.

Descriptor: For the last time we meet Marcus Horley, who explains why National Lottery funding was so important.

Marcus Horley: Thanks to that funding, this building was saved, preserved for the nation, so that everybody who’s actually fond of post-war architecture, can now enjoy this space, knowing that it will be here forever.

Descriptor: Finally, we see a white background with a National Lottery logo, together with the Millennium Commission logo, and a blue caption which reads, “Lottery Funded”, before moving on to a black background with the Ravensbourne College logo, and a white caption which reads, “Produced by Charlotte Adams, Sophie Batchelor, Steven Serrao Gutierrez”.