Public art

A UK charity for young wheelchair users is creating the country's first step-free art trail this summer.

Whizz-Kidz will present Morph’s Epic Art Adventure, featuring more than 50 "super-sized sculptures" of the plasticine children’s TV character, who first appeared in 1977 in the BBC programme Take Hart.

Taking place from 19 June to 20 August 2023 in Central London, each Morph sculpture will be uniquely designed by well-known and emerging artists.

A series of ‘Mini Morph’ sculptures adopted and created by schools will also be displayed, and a trail map and app will help wheelchair users find their way.  

A statement from Whizz-Kidz said: "The Morph sculptures will be canvases for conversations about diversity and inclusion for wheelchair users.

"As part of Morph’s Epic Art Adventure in London, Whizz-Kidz will use the art trail to encourage the public, business community and young people to envision what a more inclusive world might look like for young wheelchair users, and what role they might wish to play in making this a reality."

Campaigners in Swindon calling for a museum to reopen held a tea party earlier this week to mark three years since its closure.

Swindon’s Museum and Art Gallery has been closed since March 2020, when the first Covid-19 lockdown measures were announced.

Since then, Swindon Borough Council has agreed to sell the museum’s former venue, Apsley House, to a property developer.

The museum was supposed to be rehoused in a new building, but Councillor Matty Courtliff said that inflation had increased contractors’ estimates, leading to a funding shortfall.

Linda Casmaty, Chair of the Friends of Swindon Museum, told the BBC that she was “disappointed and frustrated” by the situation.

“It's not fair on the people of Swindon – it has been identified as an area of low cultural engagement,” she said. “It could be 10 to 15 years before a new museum is built.”

Instead of funding a new building for the museum, Courtliff said the council was looking into installing the museum and art exhibits on the first floor of the town’s Civic Offices, but no timeline has been provided to local residents. 

Campaigners said that the town, which has a population of more than 220,000 people, currently has no art gallery and nowhere to display its art collection.

“You need to be able to see art, it's no use looking at it in a book,” Casmaty said. “We could get so many visitors if they would open this.

“I'm very keen that Swindon could become a tourist destination and this is one of the things we need.”

Proposed cuts to council funding for Derby’s museums could result in reduced hours or closures, leaders of the charitable trust running them have warned.

Derby City Council told Derby Museums, which runs several of the city’s museums, that its grant is set to decrease from £710,000 to £639,000 from April this year.

“Due to a perfect storm of rising costs and inflation, the council has to make an unprecedented level of savings to balance its budget”, a council spokesperson said, adding that all services were being asked to reduce their budgets by 10%.

In an open letter, Derby Museums' Executive Director Tony Butler warned that the proposed cuts could have a “devastating effect” at a time when museums’ own costs were spiralling.

The trust currently runs the city's museum and art gallery in The Strand, as well as the Museum of Making, and Pickford's House.

“The proposed cuts will be compounded by the challenging financial climate,” he said.

“High inflation has increased our costs. We currently spend £160,000 a year on gas and electricity and that could double… The current financial model leaves little headroom and as things stand, I fear we may run out of road.”

He added that the cuts could force museums to take measures including site closures, reductions in opening hours and staffing and the introduction of admissions charges.
    
 

The National History Museum has been widely criticised for a contract it signed with a Danish oil company. 

The contract was originally negotiated in 2016 with Dong Energy, a Danish company with substantial investments in oil and gas. The company changed its name to Ørsted the following year, switching its focus from fossil fuels to renewables.

The current agreement with Ørsted, which sponsors the museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, is set to continue until September 2023.

The Observer reports that the original contract included a gagging clause that prevented the museum from making “any statement or [issuing] any publicity which may reasonably be foreseen as discrediting or damaging the reputation” of the company.

Environmental groups have denounced the partnership, raising concerns about the influence of large corporations on public discourse around environmental issues and accusing the museum of greenwashing.

“It is totally unacceptable that, when the public walk through the doors of British museums, the information they consume is being controlled by large corporations,” said Robin Wells, a spokesperson for campaign group Fossil Free London.

The National History Museum has issued a statement denying that sponsors have influence over the editorial content of its exhibitions. 

“Clauses such as this are standard for corporate partnerships but, as they can be open to misinterpretation with regards to the absolute editorial control we retain, we no longer include them in new agreements,” it said.

A spokesperson for Ørsted said that the company “would not seek to influence the Natural History Museum’s views or limit its ability to provide its usual high standard of independent, critical, fact-based commentary on any aspect of the energy industry sector”. 

A charity established by England footballer Raheem Sterling has joined forces with the National Portrait Gallery to launch a creative youth engagement and skills development programme.

The London-based programme, called "Making of Me", aims to raise the career aspirations of 30 young people who want to express themselves creatively. 

Participants will be invited to take part in a series of 12 workshops and masterclasses, working with photographers, filmmakers and digital producers to create artworks exploring self-identity, representation, place and community.

They will be encouraged to take inspiration from portraits in the National Gallery’s collection.

The initiative aims to foster a sense of community and belonging among participants, while equipping them with a variety of skills and arming them with the knowledge needed to forge creative careers.

It is part of the National Gallery’s Inspiring People project, increasing the gallery’s reach during its closure. The programme will culminate in 2023, when the venue is set to reopen after major transformations to its building, with an exhibition of the participants’ work.

“Social mobility, education and employment make up the foundation’s three pillars and this project is a perfect fit for what we are aiming to achieve – helping to expand horizons, raise aspirations and create opportunities for the next generation,” said Clive Ellington, Chair of Trustees for the Raheem Sterling Foundation.