Bronte Parsonage Upgrading Works Complete, is a Movie Next?

It's more than 150 years since the Brontë sisters were alive, but their legacy continues to inspire.

The American writer and political commentator Bonnie Greer is the Brontë Society’s president, while Patti Smith, who will perform a sell out gig in Haworth in April, is another unlikely fan. Then there’s the hit TV series Twilight which owes a nod of gratitude to Wuthering Heights -– the favourite book of its heroine Bella Swan – and that has, in turn, helped bring the stories of Charlotte, Emily and Anne to a whole new generation.

Another big fan, albeit a less well known one, is Ann Sumner the new executive director of the Brontë Parsonage in Haworth. “I’m a lifelong Brontë fan. I first came here in my teens and have been back regularly over the years, I came here with my daughters when they were studying the Brontës,” she says.

Although she originally comes from Bath, Sumner is no stranger to Yorkshire having lived in Leeds and Harrogate and worked as senior curator at Harewood House. “ I've seen the Parsonage develop and I've seen the Brontë Society go from strength to strength and with the bicentenary celebrations of Charlotte Brontë coming up in 2016, I thought what a wonderful opportunity it would be for somebody to lead at this exciting time.”

So when the chance arose to take the helm at the parsonage she jumped at the chance. “I was very keen to be involved with what was going on here and I was also excited by the prospect of returning to Yorkshire because there is such an incredibly vibrant arts and cultural scene here.” Sumner has only been in her new job one day following the parsonage’s reopening at the weekend but is already looking forward to what she calls “exciting” times for the museum. “ We've just had a major redecoration – the first in 25 years – and our new website has just gone live which is a huge opportunity for us to reach a wider audience because the Brontës are very much a worldwide brand.”

It’s a brand that goes beyond the books they left behind. “The legacy inspires music, contemporary art and literature, obviously, and the breadth of academic study that’s going on at the moment with the Brontës and how immersed they are in our culture is quite remarkable.”

Sitting in an upstairs office at the parsonage with impressive views stretching out across this most iconic of landscapes Sumner explains that as well as increasing the number of visitors to the museum she wants to forge closer links with universities, galleries and arts organisations both at home and abroad.

“We’re working at the moment with Leeds University on placements here and we want to get more followers on our Facebook page and look at our worldwide activities and our links abroad. We want to look at travelling exhibitions which we would like to do in Charlotte’s anniversary year,” she says. “Building on the success of the contemporary arts project is another of the key areas I would like to concentrate on and broadening our audience so that we bring as many people as possible to the parsonage, although there’s a challenge with a small institution like this as to how many people one can actually engage with.”

“Clearly we need more space and that’s something I will be looking at. It would be great to improve our learning facilities in the future to reach as many schools as we possibly can with this fantastic legacy and story that still inspires people today.”

First of all she needs to help boost visitor numbers, for although the museum welcomed 73,408 people through its doors last year this was down three per cent on 2011. “We rely very much on our visitors coming to the parsonage and we’re very fortunate that we have steady numbers. But clearly we’d like to raise the number who visit and I’m sure that the redecoration of the parsonage will encourage more people to come here including those who perhaps haven’t been for a while.”

The parsonage attracts visitors from as far away as Japan and Australia, but Sumner wants to make sure that people in Yorkshire don’t feel excluded. “We’re very keen to have visitors from all over the world but also to have local and regional support for the parsonage, because the Brontë Parsonage and Brontë country together are a major tourism attraction in this region.”

The parsonage closes every January to allow maintenance work to take place although on a building that’s been standing since the 18th-century this doesn't come cheap. The issue of funding is also a crucial one in these tight economic times. The museum has been given funding from Arts Council England and the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation for its contemporary arts project, and it also receives donations and bequests from Brontë supporters.

“We’re fortunate at the parsonage to have a very well run society which manages the museum and in these difficult economic times all of us in the arts sector are looking at working together more on projects. For us, bequests are also an incredibly important part of our ability to fundraise and we hope to launch a patrons programme which will allow people to give us a little bit more if they want to.”

Despite the financial pressures that arts organisations are under Sumner is excited about the future. “I was delighted when I was driving up to Yorkshire to hear the news on the radio that the Tour de France was coming to Haworth. “It’s going to be another wonderful factor in the build-up to the 2016 celebrations for Charlotte Brontë and we want to make sure we’re well positioned to be able to cope with the major increase in visitors we hope these events will generate.”

She also believes that the parsonage is still one of Yorkshire’s flagship tourist attractions. “It’s been described as a shrine to me in the past but I think it’s very much a living memorial to the Brontës and it is incredibly important to the village along with the other great attractions we have here like the church and the railway. It’s also very important on the Yorkshire tourism map and it’s important for me, personally. We all know about the economic situation and museums and galleries in this climate are in a unique position to assist with the recovery.

“We are a huge part of the tourism economy throughout the country and we can provide jobs and volunteering, so I think it’s really important that we are seen to be thriving and vibrant during difficult economic times.”

Looking further ahead, there is talk of a possible movie about the lives of the Bronte family. It seems that it will be filmed in the Yorkshire area to take advantage of the beautiful, almost unique, landscape that the family knew so well, but it is felt unlikely that the parsonage itself would be suitable to cope with the demands of a modern film crew.