Museums and heritage

Two universities have become the first UK institutions to return Benin bronze artifacts to Nigeria.

Cambridge University returned a bronze cockerel, known as the Okukur, looted by British colonial forces in 1897 and given to the University’s Jesus College in 1905. The decision to return the bronze piece was made in 2019 following student protests.  

"It’s massively significant. It’s a momentous occasion," said Jesus College Master Sonita Alleyne.

Aberdeen University has followed suit, after a panel unanimously decided to return a looted sculpture depicting Oba (King) of Benin to Nigeria on Thursday (October 28).

Oba of Benin Omo N'Oba N'Edo Uku Akpolokpolo Ewuare II thanked Aberdeen University for the "noble act".

"We hope that other institutions worldwide will see the injustice when they insist on holding on to items which in fact should be a reminder to them of the great injustice that was inflicted on a people so far away and so long ago."

The British Museum has denied sharing information about environmental activists with its sponsor BP.

An OpenDemocracy investigation found the oil giant was collecting information on climate campaigners, including Co-Director of Culture Unstained Chris Garrard.

The museum said it has not received intelligence about campaigners from either BP or intelligence firm Welund.

The investigation has called into question the museum’s handling of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests. Internal museum emails obtained through a FOI request described Garrard as “an anti-BP activist,” going against anonymity guidelines.

Conservative MP David Davis told OpenDemocracy the British Museum must ensure FOI requests remain applicant blind.

“If they do not follow public rules, then it must be questioned whether they should get public money.”

A new fund to improve the diversity of London’s public spaces has been announced by London Mayor Sadiq Khan.

Untold Stories will offer community-led organisations between £1,000 and £25,000 to develop new murals, street art, street names and programmes.

Recent research into London’s sculptures found huge gaps in representation. More than a fifth of London's statues are dedicated to named men, whilst only 4% are dedicated to named women. Just three of almost 1500 public monuments depict named women of colour.

Khan said London’s statues, street names and buildings have shown a limited perspective of the city’s history for “far too long”.

“I’m determined to do everything I can to ensure our public realm presents a more complete picture of everyone who has made London the incredible city it is today.”

Untold Stories opened its first application round Thursday (October 21), with a deadline of January 12.

Managers of the Scottish National Gallery’s refurbishment have asked the Scottish Government for a bailout after further delays to the project.

Originally a £22m project, it began in 2018 – three years later than anticipated – and will not be finished before the end of 2022.

The National Galleries, attributing the delays to the pandemic and "unexpected defects" in the 19th Century building, have declined to say how much more public funding is required.

Head of Planning and Performance Elaine Anderson said Covid-19 had a "massive impact" on Scotland’s cultural sector, with many organisations facing an uncertain future.

"Without support and investment, the sector will decline in quality and reach and key opportunities will be missed."

Art Fund has announced the first wave of winners for its £2m Reimagine grants programme.

Twenty-two museums, galleries, historic houses and trusts have been awarded a share of £658,331.

Nine organisations have been awarded grants between £5,000 and £15,000, with a further 13 receiving funding up to £50,000.

The programme, which helps projects and networks "navigate their way to recovery" from the pandemic, prioritised applications focused on collections, digital work, audience engagement and the workforce.

Winning bids included a transatlantic slavery project led by National Museums Liverpool, a captioning project by Nottingham Contemporary, and 'Minecraft Museum', a project marrying gaming and curation at The Story Museum.

Visual arts nework CVAN will received funding to strengthen its advocacy and professional development work.

"Museums often produce what seem like miracles on a shoestring, but they need enhanced resources – such as in digital, specialist support and staffing – to truly build for the future," Art Fund Director Jenny Waldman said.

Grant winners for the second wave of funding will be announced in November, with the final round scheduled for December.

The number of adults engaging in arts and culture in Northern Ireland has fallen once again.

Continuous Household Survey data for 2020/21 shows 81% of adults engaged in arts and culture in the last 12 months, compared to 87% in 2019/20. 

This year's figure represents the lowest recorded for engagement in arts and culture since 2008/09.

Despite the overall decrease, the number of adults using public libraries increased from 23% to 28%.

The number of adults visiting a museum or science centre remained stable at 37%.

This year's report is the first to record engagement against deprivation. 84% of adults living in Northern Ireland's least deprived areas engaged in arts and culture compared to 78% living in the most deprived areas.

National Museums Liverpool (NML) has announced the winners of a competition to redevelop Liverpool’s Canning Dock.

Architects Asif Khan, Mariam Kamara and Sir David Adjaye will work alongside artist Theaster Gates to transform the area between the Royal Albert Dock and Mann Island.

Competition judges were unanimous in picking the winning team, whose plans start with redeveloping spaces in the Dr Martin Luther King Jr Building “to explore and investigate the transatlantic slave trade and legacies”.

Gates hopes the redevelopment will “give emotional heft to the truth of slavery in the UK”.

“Canning Dock represents one of the most important racialised sites in the UK and it gives me tremendous honour to work with this team to realise the complexity of the site.”

The British Museum is dipping its toe into non-fungible tokens (NFTs) by selling more than 200 digital postcards depicting the work of Japanese printmaker Hokusai.

The museum has partnered with French start-up LaCollection to deliver the initiative on a platform dedicated to digitalising museum and institutional collections.

LaCollection.io will launch on September 30 to coincide with the museum’s new exhibition Hokusai: The Great Picture of Everything.

Produced by the British Museum, common NFTs will be priced around £365, with rare and unique NFTs expected to go up for auction.

If an NFT is resold at a secondary market, British Museum will be entitled to 10% and LaCollection to 3%.

“It is so important that as a museum we continually adapt to new markets and find new ways of reaching people that we may not reach through traditional channels,” the museum's Licensing Manager Craig Bendle said.

Data from the last quarter of 2020 has revealed Tate Modern to be the most visited museum in England last year.

The museum attracted 160,814 visits from October to December - whilst coronavirus restrictions were still in place - pushing the The Natural History Museum and The Science Museum into second and third place respectively.

Altogether, it welcomed 1.43 million people in 2020 despite the pandemic closing institutions for several months.

National Museums Liverpool was the only museum outside London to feature in the top 10, placing seventh.

Data collated by DCMS shows 1.27 million people visited museums across the country in the last three months of the year, a 84.7% decrease compared to figures from 2019.