Museums and heritage

A number of staff at Poole Museum are to be made redundant by Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole Council as the venue undergoes a major redevelopment project.

The council-owned museum is set to be closed until the end of 2024 to allow for restoration works on its three historic buildings to take place.

A spokesperson for the council told the Bournemouth Echo a “small number of positions” are likely to be made redundant, with the council “actively seeking redeployment opportunities elsewhere in the council” for those affected.

Some museum employees are being consulted to work on a "on the move" project, which will see some of the museum’s exhibits taken into the community during the closure, the spokesperson added.

When the museum reopens, it will feature new and updated communities facilities, alongside three new galleries showcasing the museum’s maritime collection.

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 Lottery Heritage Fund has awarded £4.9m for the restoration of historic buildings at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London.

The work, which will be overseen by Barts Heritage will focus on conservation of the Great Hall and the Hogarth Stair, a staircase featuring two seven-foot-high canvasses painted by William Hogarth, depicting stories from the Bible.

The paintings require specialist cleaning and conservation, and the hall is also set to undergo extensive restoration work, including the repair and strengthening of the timber staircase and conservation work on an 18th Century chandelier. 

“We’re thrilled that our funding will be used to conserve these unique examples of Hogarth’s work and revitalise the stunning stair Hall for more and more people to appreciate and enjoy when visiting the historic buildings,” said Eilish McGuinness, Chief Executive at The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The project includes an outreach component via a programme offering cultural and educational activities such as therapeutic artmaking courses, sensory heritage walking tours and mindfulness activities. 

Young people interested in heritage conservation can apply for placements, apprenticeships and volunteering roles.

Will Palin, Chief Executive of Barts Heritage said the project combines “the much-needed restoration of the one of the most important historic hospital buildings in the UK with a pioneering heritage and health programme”. 

“We are thrilled to have secured this transformative grant from the Heritage Fund and look forward to welcoming the public both during restoration works and after the project is complete,” he said.
 
 

Selby District Council (SDC) has approved a plan to increase public art in the area.

The Public Art Plan, which covers the North Yorkshire areas of Selby, Sherburn and Tadcaster, will seek to increase quantity and quality of public art in a bid to add joy to the local community and boost tourism to the area.

SDC’s Executive approved the plan in a meeting last week.

In the same meeting, the Executive also approved a Heritage Interpretation Masterplan which will promote Selby’s heritage offer to “increase civic pride, revitalise communities and bring new audiences to the area”, according to a project report.

Selby, which features in Arts Council England's (ACE) list of priorty places for investment, will also be represented in ACE's national portfolio for the first first time when the funder's new portfolio begins in spring, with visual arts organisation Mediale set to receive £196,000 a year.

Cardiff Council is considering turning the Museum of Cardiff into a mobile attraction as part of a consultation into its 2023/24 budget.

The move would result in the loss of the museum’s current building and most of its staff.

Cardiff residents will be asked to vote on the proposal to “take the museum out of the Old Library and make it a mobile attraction” - which the council says would save £266,000 a year – as part of a public consultation opening tomorrow (23 December).

The consultation proposes moving the museum’s displays and activities around Cardiff, with the museum retaining “a small key team” to continue with community engagement and care of the collection.

If plans to mobilise the museum go ahead, the consultation adds the museum could return to a permanent fixture “if a suitable location was found and funding secured”.

Members of the museum and heritage sector have criticised the plans. Community-based organisation Heritage & Cultural Exchange said “a closure or moving to virtual museum would be a tragedy”.

Museums Association Director Sharon Heal says it’s “a real shame the council has chosen to consult on closing Cardiff Museum”.

“We know that local authorities are facing a tough time and finding it difficult to make ends meet, however closing a much-loved local museum is not going to solve the council’s financial woes.

“Cardiff Museum is award-winning and its staff have worked with communities across the city and surrounding area to make sure that diverse stories are captured for future generations.”

“To take that away is short sighted and will mean a vital part of Cardiff’s cultural landscape and the story of the nation’s capital is missing.”

Plans for a multi-million pound transformation of one Sunderland’s main cultural attractions have moved forward after funding was secured from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens has secured £299,425, which will be matched by the City Council, to further develop proposals for a major revamp of the venue. This will include moving the museum’s main entrance, and a redesign of  the ground floor to include a central atrium, new galleries and a learning and engagement zone.

Meanwhile, programming will be adapted towards more family-focused activities and exhibitions, including a programme complementing the Winter Gardens with a focus on the natural world, biodiversity and climate change. 

Sunderland City Council says it is aiming to apply for a full National Heritage Lottery grant of £5m in 2024 to carry out the work..

“This is all about transforming, re-energising and rejuvenating Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens in line with what our residents and visitors have told us they want to see,” said Linda Williams, Cabinet Member for Vibrant City at Sunderland City Council.

“We want to make sure that the whole museum is a modern, accessible, bright and innovative space that shows off our rich and vibrant stories to everyone near and far.”

She added that a major part of the project will involve updating the story of Sunderland to “better reflect our communities, who we are, and where we come from”.

Rebecca Ball, Chief Executive of Sunderland Culture, said the work “will help ensure the museum is able to continue to develop new and innovative ways to both safeguard and share the city's stories for all our communities”.

Two museums in Northampton have regained full accreditation from Arts Council England, eight years after the controversial sale of an ancient Egyptian statue for nearly £16m.

The Northampton Chronicle reports that following the sale of the 4,000-year-old Sekhemka statue in 2014, which saw the current Lord Northampton Spencer Compton receive around £6 million and the Northampton Borough Council receive the rest, Northampton Museum and Art Gallery's accreditation was stripped on ethical grounds.

The sale was widely condemned in the art world and the council was removed from the Museums Association, making them ineligible to apply for funding.

Abington Park Museum also had its accreditation stripped as it was under the ownership of the council. But both museums have now regained it.

Nick Gordon, Cultural Services Manager at West Northamptonshire Council, said:  “The Council is really pleased and it has been a lot of work to get to this point. The loss has really had an impact and we hope to move things on and leave the past behind us now.

“We are under completely different administration now and we have learnt from what was done through the consequences. We want to put this to bed and face the future, but not forget.”