In this two-year period Tate lent a total of 1,538 works to 227 exhibitions at 325 venues, 145 in the UK and 180 abroad. Compared to the last biennium there was an increase of 32% in the number of works lent. The majority of loans (as opposed to works lent) were made in response to external requests; 688 works from the Collection to 195 exhibitions at 283 venues (122 in this country, 161 abroad). The remainder of our loans occur as part of Tate-initiated programmes; Partnerships, the International Programme, and Tate exhibition tours. Alongside loans from the Collection, we also administer the loan out of works on long-term loan to the Collection, and works in the Archive; these add a further 34 works and 29 Archive items to the loans out programme, and another 11 to Tate programmes. These works are not included in the figures below; the long-term loans referred to are loans out from the Collection, a separate programme again.

Loans to exhibitions

We have received more loan requests than before: 416 in the two-year period, of which 198 were agreed. This slightly under the normal percentage (47% agreed, rather than 50% or more), contradicting the hope expressed in the last report that more realistic requests were being made, with a greater chance of success. Perhaps we are still normalising after the massive 'Tate Modern effect'.

A feature of the period has been an increased number of exhibitions where tour venues were both in the UK and abroad; for example 'Shakespeare in Art' shown at the Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara and Dulwich Picture Gallery (5 works lent), 'Turner: the Late Seascapes' which began at the Clark Art Institute, Williamstown and toured to Manchester Art Gallery and the Burrell Collection, Glasgow (16 works), and 'Dante Gabriel Rossetti' which was shown at both the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool and the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (18 works).

We have however made many loans to exhibitions shown exclusively in the UK: 10 works to the 'William Roberts' exhibition shown at the Hatton Gallery, Newcastle and the Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield; 5 works plus archive items for 'Abstraction on the Beach: John Piper in the 1930s' at Dulwich Picture Gallery and the Djanogly Art Gallery, Nottingham; one work and six archive items to 'David Jones' at Ditchling Museum.

Other UK national museums have developed exhibitions in partnership with non-nationals, to which we have contributed: 'Thomas Jones' was shown at the National Museums and Galleries of Wales, Cardiff, Manchester Art Gallery and the National Gallery (14 works lent); 'Ceri Richards' also at Cardiff, Leeds City Art Gallery and the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea (5 works); 'Paradise' at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle and the National Gallery (2 works).

There have been a number of loans to UK exhibitions focussing on Turner: 14 works, including 6 sketchbooks to Portsmouth City Museum for 'Turner, Portsmouth and the Sea'; 12 to the Barber Institute of Arts, Birmingham; 25 to the Gas Hall, Birmingham, and 70 to Petworth House, Sussex.

In London, we supported the Hayward Gallery's major exhibition 'Saved! 100 Years of the National Art Collections Fund' with 15 works, and an exhibition at Christie's to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the British Sporting Art Trust (13 works). Overseas, there have been major loans to the Institute of Contemporary Art, Valencia (14 Ben Nicholsons), the Musee d'Amiens (17 Turners), the Musee d'Orsay, Paris (14 works), and the new Museum of Kamakura and Hayama, and two tour venues in Japan (10 Nicholsons). We have also supported British Council exhibitions in Wolfsburg and Toulouse (14 works), Paris (15 Constables) and recently, Tehran for the first time (one work, a Woodrow).

Tate Partnership Scheme

The first five partnerships, established in 2000, were renewed in April 2003 for a further two years. The partners are Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery, the New Art Gallery Walsall, the Potteries Art Gallery and Museum, Stoke-on-Trent, Sheffield Galleries and Museums Trust, and Abbot Hall Art Gallery and Blackwell, Kendal. Exhibitions have ranged from large surveys to small 'in focus' displays. Each gallery has organised between one and three exhibitions each year, with loans and technical assistance from Tate. Kendal borrowed 16 Spencers in 02-03, and 6 Gills in 03-04; Sheffield borrowed 12 Constables in 02-03 and 27 Blakes in 03-04; Stoke had 19 works for 'British Landscapes' in 02-03 and 17 Turners in 03-04; Walsall had 64 works for 'Coming of Age' in 02-03 and 27 for 'Strangers' in 03-04; and Norwich had 8 Selfs in 02-03 and 34 works for 'St Ives' in 03-04.

International Programme

This scheme has developed further, with five loan exhibitions taking place. These exhibitions are curated within Tate and consist almost entirely of Tate works. 'Whistler, Sargent and Steer' (32 works) went to the Frist Center for Visual Arts, Nashville. 'The Pre-Raphaelite Dream' (69 works) travelled to the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Dunedin Public Art Gallery and the Frist Center, Nashville. 'A Bigger Splash: British Art from the 1960s to the Present Day' (112 works) was shown at Oca and the Instituto Tomike Ohtake, Sao Paulo. Finally, 'The Stage of Drawing: Gesture and Act' (150 works) went to The Drawing Center, New York and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, followed by a showing at Tate Liverpool (and also at Tate Britain later this year).

Tate Exhibition Tours

Tate exhibitions have continued to grow in number, and to draw increasingly on the Collection. Compared to 2000-2002, this biennium has been busy, with 9 Tate touring exhibitions including 169 Tate works (an increase of 26%). These ranged from Tate Britain's 'American Sublime' (2 Turners included in the tour to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia), through Tate Modern's 'Matisse Picasso (4 works in the tour to the Grand Palais, Paris and the Museum of Modern Art, New York), Tate Liverpool's 'Shopping' (8 works to the Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt), to Tate Britain's 'Turner and Venice' (119 works to the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth).

Loans to exhibitions including special programmes

Centres in Britain 675
Centres abroad 830
Both Britain and abroad 33
Total number of works 1,538

Loans to exhibitions excluding special programmes

Centres in Britain 393
Centres abroad 262
Both Britain and abroad 33
Total number of works 688

Loans to Tate partner galleries

5 partners, 19 exhibitions, 280 works

Loans to International Programme

4 exhibitions, 7 venues, 401 works

Loans to Tate exhibition tours

8 exhibitions, 14 venues, 169 works

Requests for loan

Number of requests 416
Requests agreed 198

Long-term loans

Public galleries in Britain 10
Public Buildings/ parks 46
British national collections 91
British embassies 2
Government buildings 11
Overseas venues 8
Total number of works 168