About
Cornwall Museum and Art Gallery is a historic cultural institution undergoing significant transformation. Formerly known as the Royal Cornwall Museum, its rebrand signalled renewed ambition to broaden its audience, modernise its offer and reposition itself beyond a regional identity.
Alongside capital works, refreshed programming and renewed marketing, the museum has set out a clear ambition for growth and national relevance. Delivering that ambition required systems and processes that could support admissions, memberships, events and retail in a more integrated way.
The Brief
The project was initially framed internally as a CRM procurement. However, early conversations revealed that the question was broader: what did the organisation actually need at this stage of its development, and where should CRM, ticketing and retail functionality sit within that ecosystem?
Before engaging suppliers, commercial priorities and operational requirements needed to be clearly defined.
At the time, one core system handled on-site ticketing and memberships while acting as a basic database, with partial retail functionality. Events programming and school bookings sat in separate solutions, reporting was inconsistent and lacked consolidated visibility, and staff relied on manual processes to build a complete operational picture.
Significant personnel changes at senior levels during the project added further complexity, alongside ambitious redevelopment plans where timelines and funding phases were still evolving.
ReWork Consulting was appointed to provide independent structure and sector expertise, guiding the museum through procurement while ensuring decisions reflected operational realities and long-term strategic ambition.
The Challenge
Fragmented Processes
- A single system attempting to manage ticketing, memberships and database functions, with limited reporting capability
- Separate platforms for events programming and school bookings
- Manual workarounds required to connect activity and reporting
- Operational friction impacting staff confidence and efficiency
Market & Specification Clarity
- Need to determine where CRM functionality should sit within the organisation
- Requirement to align system capability with realistic commercial priorities
- Risk of over-specifying for ambition or under-investing for growth
Organisational Change & Ambition
- Leadership and personnel changes during the project lifecycle
- Ambitious redevelopment plans with evolving funding timelines
- Requirement to balance scalability, flexibility and affordability
The ReWork Approach
1. Discovery & Strategic Alignment
ReWork began with structured discovery sessions across visitor services, learning, programming, retail and leadership teams to define requirements clearly before moving into procurement.
This phase focused on:
- Mapping current workflows and identifying duplication or inefficiencie
- Clarifying the distinction between CRM and ticketing responsibilities
- Stress-testing future growth scenarios against funding realities
- Defining what “fit for purpose” meant at this stage of redevelopment
A key objective was ensuring the system matched the museum’s current stage of development, with ease of use and operational confidence prioritised alongside capability.
2. Structured Supplier Selection
Before issuing a formal RFI, ReWork applied sector knowledge and existing supplier relationships to identify suppliers aligned to the museum’s requirements. Only those meeting the defined criteria were invited to participate.
A structured procurement process followed.
The RFI stage narrowed the field against clearly defined operational and commercial requirements.
Shortlisted suppliers progressed to detailed evaluation, with responses structured against a defined framework to enable consistent comparison. Demonstrations followed a prescribed format, combining requirement-led sessions with opportunities for suppliers to present their strengths.
Reference checks were structured to focus on real-world implementation and support performance.
3. Implementation & Transition
Implementation was managed alongside leadership transitions and ongoing redevelopment activity.
The transition was phased, with some processes running in parallel while teams adapted to new workflows and reporting structures.
The introduction of online ticketing for admissions and memberships formed part of this transition, alongside integrated scanning and cloud-based functionality across ticketing, retail and event sales.
4. Ongoing Commercial & Supplier Relationship Support
ReWork provided ongoing commercial guidance and supplier relationship support following system selection and go-live.
This included:
- Structured review meetings with the museum team to track progress, priorities and internal alignment
- Joint review meetings with the ticketing provider and museum team to support delivery against the agreed brief and maximise the partnership
- Identifying optimisation opportunities and roadmap alignment
- Supporting proactive and balanced supplier dialogue
- Connecting system performance with broader business priorities
- Introducing trusted specialists from the ReWork network where appropriate
The Outcome
Cornwall Museum and Art Gallery now operates with:
- Online admissions and membership ticketing
- Integrated event programming and retail functionality
- Improved reporting visibility for exhibitions, membership and funding
- Reduced operational friction for front-of-house teams
- Stronger supplier accountability and structured engagement
Beyond system functionality, the project has strengthened the organisation’s approach to technology procurement and governance.
As redevelopment plans progress, the museum’s systems are aligned with growth, flexible enough to scale and grounded in operational confidence.
In Their Words
“When we began considering changing systems, we recognised we did not have the expertise in-house. Working with Sarah brought reassurance and structure.
It’s quite easy, when you’ve not got the expertise, to see a new system is an improvement and stop asking questions about making it even better. Sarah provided continuity during leadership transition and continues to prompt us not just to get on with what we have, but push more.
As we’re trying to become a world leading museum, that perspective has been important to that journey.”
Daniel Scholes, Operations Manager
Why It Matters
For organisations without in-house procurement or IT capacity, it’s easy to fall into the trap of over-buying, under-preparing, or launching systems that never embed.
ReWork helps cultural attractions like the Cornwall Museum & Art Gallery ask the right questions, see the full picture, and move forward with confidence.
Need an independent review of your systems, and how that relates to the market?
Let’s chat here:https://reworkconsulting.co.uk/get-in-touch/