Public to nominate visual artist to appear on the next £20 note
Howard Lake | 20 May 2015 | News
Members of the public have been invited by the Bank of England to make nominations for the person who should be recognised by appearing on the reverse of the next £20 note design.
Speaking at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London yesterday, the Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, announced that the design would recognise someone for their achievements for the visual arts.
Who can be nominated?
Nominations can be made over the next two months of people:
• of historic significance from the visual arts including artists, sculptors, printmakers, designers, craftspeople, ceramicists, architects, fashion designers, photographers and filmmakers, and
• whose work “shaped British thought, innovation, leadership, values and society”.
The Bank will not accept nominations of the following:
• living characters, with the exception of the Monarch
• individuals “who would be unduly divisive”
• individuals for whom the Bank can not generate “a recognisable and usable representation within a banknote design” (for security and anti-fraud reasons).
Nominations for the £20 note character can be made until 19 July 2015.
This is the first public nomination opportunity held since the Bank introduced a new character selection process in December 2013 to ensure that the choice of characters for the Bank’s notes “commanded broad respect and legitimacy”.
[youtube height=”450″ width=”800″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pndc-SekcRc[/youtube]
When will the new £20 note appear?
After the nomination period closes, a committee which includes experts from the visual arts will draw up a shortlist, with help from public focus groups, and the Governor will make the final choice.
The winning nomination will be announced in Spring 2015, and the new £20 note will be introduced into circulation within three to five years.
Victoria Cleland, Chief Cashier and Director of Notes, said:
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“Characters have been on our banknotes since 1970 and they provide a fantastic opportunity to celebrate individuals from the past who have made significant contributions in a number of fields. The visual arts are clearly an area of outstanding British achievement and influence and I am very much looking forward over the next two months to meeting people across the UK to hear how they have been inspired by it.”
Tim Reeve, Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer, V&A added:
“Britain has long been a global leader in the creative industries and its dynamic arts sector contributes many billions annually to the UK economy, so it is very fitting that the new £20 note will celebrate the wealth of creative talent this country has produced”.
Other new bank notes to come
The Bank of England will issue the new £5 note featuring Sir Winston Churchill in the second half of 2016 and the new £10 featuring Jane Austen around a year later.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.