Engagement

Museums Galleries Scotland has awarded grants worth £420,000 to nine projects via the Museum Development Fund. 

The projects include North Lanarkshire’s Museums & Collections, which will collaborate with local communities impacted by the legacies of slavery and empire to create more inclusive heritage spaces and develop collections knowledge. 

Meanwhile, Historylinks Museum in Dornoch will launch a People’s Gallery to tell the stories of ordinary people who have contributed to the history and heritage of the town. It will be co-curated by the community and include participation from schools and local clubs.

Elsewhere, Museum nan Eilean will support the international interest in the heritage of the Outer Hebrides and increase the sustainability of the Museum Service through holding an Emigration Conference. 

Lucy Casot, CEO of Museums Galleries Scotland said: “We’re delighted to fund nine varied projects from museums across Scotland. 

"These projects represent the work the sector is undertaking in remaining responsive to the needs of their community, better representing stories from people in Scotland and across the world, and contributing to a sustainable tourist experience.”

The Jewish Museum London has received more than £200,000 to work in the community ahead of a move to a new building.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund will provide £231,000 for the "Jewish Museum London on the Move" project which involves the development of learning and collections programmes around the UK to new and existing audiences after it left its premises in Camden in June this year.

Learning programmes will be adapted for outreach in London schools, along with virtual programming and broadcasts about Jewish festivals. In person schools workshops will begin again in partner venues from spring 2024 and plans are in place to develop the schools offer for 2025. 

Meanwhile, community and heritage partnerships will host family days around London and reminiscence sessions with the museum's collections will take place in Jewish care homes.

Chair of Trustees, Nick Viner said: “The trustees of Jewish Museum London are very grateful to the National Lottery Heritage Fund for this investment which will enable our ongoing transition towards a future museum. 

"We’re delighted that our objects can already be seen around the country, and this support will enable us to expand further our programme of loans and displays, alongside our education work. Jewish Museum London exists to celebrate the UK’s diverse Jewish community and heritage. Now more than ever we need to foster understanding between all cultures.”

The museum, which receives £224,000 a year from Arts Council England as part of the National Portfolio for 2023-26, hopes to reopen in a larger new home within the next five years.

Manchester City Council is calling on residents and cultural organisations to have their say on a new decade-long plan for culture.  

The local authority has said it is keen to understand what types of creativity residents are interested in. It is seeking "ideas big and small" across everything from art, performance, galleries and museums to more hands-on art and craft opportunities.

The current 10-year strategy runs until 2026. The consultation on the new strategy will be open until 30 November 2023.

Luthfur Rahman, Deputy Leader of Manchester City Council, said: “Manchester has a global reputation for arts and culture, bolstered in no small part by the opening of Aviva Studios recently. 

"We are renowned for our nightlife, music and museums and we want to make sure that culture is an integral part of our communities over the next 10 years.  

“This conversation involves everyone – your ideas could be big, they might be small. But they will all help guide culture in our city."

The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust (SBT) has announced the launch of a three year project exploring the role of women in creating and maintaining the playwright’s legacy over the centuries.

“Prompted by the 400th anniversary of the death of Anne Shakespeare (nee Hathaway) earlier in August, we are embarking on an ambitious, multi-year project that will explore the sometimes hidden, often ignored, erased or forgotten stories of the many women who have influenced, as well as secured Shakespeare’s legacy,” said Professor Charlotte Scott, the trust’s Director of Knowledge and Engagement.

The SBT has committed to ensuring all the activity will be devised and led by women and female-identifying people. 

The project will focus on the lived experiences of the women in Shakespeare’s life, including his mother Mary, his sister Joan, his daughters Susannah and Judith and the extended networks of friends, neighbours and country women who maintained those relations.

The trust, which is responsible for maintaining the family homes, documents and artefacts relating to Shakespeare and Stratford-upon-Avon, will share stories and events for every family and an exhibition at Shakespeare’s New Place in Spring 2024. 

In 2025, the focus of the project will be the female gaze and the female characters who have contributed to Shakespeare’s place in theatrical history, including “lovers and Queens, witches, mothers, murderers, politicians and powerhouses”. 

The final year will centre on the women who made and continue to make Shakespeare famous, from actresses to artists, writers, readers and creatives who have brought his characters to life.

“We are approaching Shakespeare not as a single genius, but as the figurehead of a community and network of people who enabled and secured his place in the canon of western literature,” Scott said.

“He wrote at a time when society was highly patriarchal and socially stratified. However, his own life and much of his career was one which was ruled by women, from the monarch to his homelife.”