Museums and heritage

Protesters from Art Workers for Palestine Scotland have staged a sit-in at Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery in Glasgow this afternoon (10 November).

The demonstration began shortly after lunchtime as dozens of activists sat in the art gallery with flags and banners.

Police have attended the scene, and visitors are not being admitted during the demonstration.

The protesters are calling upon members of the Scottish parliament to publicly demand an immediate ceasefire in Israel.

In a call out on their Instagram page ahead of the demonstration, which was due to end at 2.30pm, the protesters said: "The majority of arts and cultural institutions have been silent as we witness the ongoing genocide of Palestinians.

"We refuse to let the arts, culture and heritage sector to continue as if nothing is happening. No more business as usual in the arts."

Further details of the theft of 2,000 Greek and Roman artefacts from the British Museum (BM) have emerged as the terms of a review of the organisation were published on its website yesterday.

The terms of reference for the British Museum Independent Collection, Security and Governance Review state that the “loss and/or damage of the affected objects occurred during the period from 1993 to 2022”, corresponding to the timeframe the alleged suspect was employed at the museum as a curator.

The document also names the review’s three co-chairs as Nigel Boardman (former trustee and lawyer), Lucy D'Orsi (Chief Constable of the British Transport Police) and Ian Karet (lawyer and charity law expert). 

They join senior BM employees David Bilson (Head of Security and Visitor Services), Mark Coady (Head of Internal Audit) and Thomas Harrison (Keeper of Greece and Rome) in investigating the thefts and liaising with the police.

The terms task the team with “identifying a complete list” of the missing items, noting “the ongoing detailed audit of affected objects is likely to take longer” than the scope of the review.  

In setting up procedures to recover the missing property, the terms suggest this could involve “civil litigation against persons suspected of possessing missing affected objects”.

The review will also examine the “failures of controls, processes or policies” that enabled the thefts, as well as the actions taken by the board in response to the allegations of losses.

The review report will be presented at the December meeting of trustees. It will also be shared with the Secretary of State at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, Lucy Frazer, and her Permanent Secretary, Susannah Storey.

It will, however, be “kept confidential” though the trustees reserve the right to publish it in whole or part with the approval of the Co-Chairs.

Museums across the country have made a joint commitment to take collective action on the climate crisis at the UK’s first-ever Museum Cop.

Attendees at a conference held at Tate Modern last week included delegates from museums and organisations from Birmingham, Bristol, Brighton, Derby, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Sheffield and York, as well as national bodies from England, Wales and Scotland.

In a statement, museum leaders acknowledged a “responsibility to speak out about the climate and biodiversity crisis” as “institutions with a long-term view.”

It said museum leaders feel they have an "ethical obligation" to take action to alleviate the damage of climate change and are committed to using collections, programmes and exhibitions “to engage audiences with the climate crisis and inspire them to take positive action”. 

The agreement also included pledges to manage collections sustainably while developing and implementing decarbonisation plans and increasing biodiversity in museums’ green spaces.

As well as urging UK politicians and businesses to accelerate action on climate change, the conference made a series of recommendations, including changes to planning laws to improve the long-term viability of heritage buildings and for environmental best practices to be taught on sector-related courses and apprenticeships.

Nick Merriman, Chief Executive of the Horniman Museum and Chair of the Cop, said: “The fact that the whole museum sector has come together to stress the urgency for action is hugely significant. We will now work together to implement the actions we have agreed.”

The National Lottery Heritage Innovation Fund has announced 17 organisations that will benefit from a share of £1.17m of funding to explore how challenges facing the sector’s workforce can be overcome.

The grants, worth between £50,000 and £75,000, will support a staff member for up to 12 months to test solutions for issues ranging from recruitment and retention of volunteers and heritage skills shortages to attracting young people to the sector and improving digital products and capacity.

This testing phase is the second of the programme’s three stages, which started with 34 organisations. Of these, 17 will progress to the test phase, while a third phase is planned for late 2024.

Projects moving to the second stage include the British Film Institute, which will test new entry routes to film conservation and the role of formal accreditation in professionalising the practice.

Meanwhile, Hampshire Cultural Trust will look at different approaches to creating paid career pathways for volunteers across heritage organisations.

Eilish McGuinness, Chief Executive of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: "I'm delighted to see these 17 projects progress to the next stage. The cohort approach has already led to some impressive development of skills, confidence and capabilities – I'm excited for what they come up with next.

"Investing in innovation supports organisational sustainability, one of our four investment principles, and will ensure that heritage is valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future."
 

Museums in Glasgow are closed this week due to industrial action taken by staff over plans to cut jobs.

Members of Unison working in Glasgow museums and collections are taking part in five days of strikes, ending on Saturday (28 October), impacting flagship institutions, including Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum and Glasgow Museums Resource Centre.

Unison says that Glasgow Life, an arm's-length organisation that runs the city's art, leisure and culture sector on behalf of the council, proposes 38 job cuts in specialist roles, including gallery curators and conservators.

The union has warned the cuts to conservators could result in a "high-profile accident" to items in the £1.4bn Glasgow Museum collection. "Collections do not look after themselves," a union spokesperson said.

"Deep cleaning of display venues by specialist conservation staff will greatly reduce or completely disappear. World-class textiles at the Burrell Collection, taxidermy specimens at Kelvingrove and other vulnerable organic objects will be at particular risk of pest damage without regular, vigilant cleaning by highly-trained specialists."

Defending the cuts, Glasgow Life said it had to make £7.1m of savings after cuts to its budget from Glasgow City Council which is grappling with a £50m deficit.

Glasgow Life said: “We recognise how valued our museums and collections are to Glasgow’s communities and the city’s international profile, and we understand the concern any changes may cause.

"Wherever possible, we have identified ways of making savings by reducing, rather than losing Glasgow Life services programmes and events; retaining the potential to rebuild them in the future."

"However, we have been saying for some time now that the savings we are making this year add up to around 9% of our annual service fee from the Council and ensure none of our facilities will have to close."

The British Museum has announced plans to digitise its collection in response to the stolen artefacts scandal that has embroiled the institution.

A five-year plan to digitise the museum’s collection and make it available online will help “improve security”, according to the museum's Interim Director, Sir Mark Jones.

Appearing before the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee on Wednesday (18 October) he said:  “It is my belief that the single most important response to the thefts is to increase access because the better a collection is known - and the more it is used - the sooner any absences are noticed.

"So that's why, rather than locking the collection away, we want to make it the most enjoyed, used and seen in the world.”

The process of digitising the collection is already underway and involves the uploading or upgrading of 2.4 million records. 

The British Museum’s Chair of Trustees, George Osborne, said the organisation had been “victims of an inside job” when around 2,000 items from its collection were revealed to be missing in August, leading to the dismissal of a Senior Curator. 

“There are lots of lessons to be learnt," said Osbourne. "We have changed our whistleblowing code, changed our policy on thefts... tightened up security on thefts." 

The museum has also announced plans for enhanced access to study rooms, where members of the public and academics can view items from the collection by appointment.

Osbourne revealed that the museum will acknowledge the thefts in an exhibit of the missing items, 350 of which have been recovered so far. 

The Museum of Liverpool was evacuated on Tuesday (10 October) following reports that a World War Two “training device” was found.

A police bomb disposal unit was called to the Pier Head venue at 10.50 a.m. after concerns were raised about a “suspicious item” found inside the building.

The museum was temporarily closed as a precaution while further examinations took place but has since reopened. 

Police deemed the item, found to be an old WWII training device, safe and said it posed no risk to the public.

The Institute of Public Policy Research North Think Tank had been due to hold an event at the museum as part of the Labour Party Conference but had to relocate to Tate Liverpool.