Easter opening date for £27m Perth Museum

25 Oct 2023

A new museum in Perth costing £27m has been given an official opening date for 2024.

Perth Museum will open after a multi-million-pound refurbishment of the former city hall over Easter weekend next year.

Partially funded by £10m of UK Government investment through the Tay Cities Deal and by Perth and Kinross Council, the museum will showcase Perth’s place in ancient and modern Scotland as the nation’s first capital.

Its collection will include the Stone of Destiny, used in King Charles's coronation, and a sword belonging to Bonnie Prince Charlie, which returns to Scotland for the first time since being made in Perth in 1739.

Councillor Grant Laing, Leader of Perth and Kinross Council, said: “Perth Museum will be a landmark attraction that brings Scotland’s history to life and is the culmination of our long-term cultural regeneration vision for Perth.

“It will significantly increase visitors from across the UK and internationally. It has created new skills and employment opportunities, and it will ignite our sense of civic pride in our beautiful and historic city.”
 

Glasgow museums shut amid staff strikes

24 Oct 2023

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."

Museum closes due to Storm Babet floods

24 Oct 2023

The Museum of Making in Derby will be closed after it suffered "significant" damage from flooding caused by Storm Babet.

Derby Museums said the building was exposed to "substantial" quantities of water, with the museum closed while insurers are called in to assess the damage.

The museum's collections are undamaged, as the majority are housed on the upper floors of the building. 

Tony Butler, executive director of Derby Museums, said: "We were all devastated to wake up to the floods on Saturday morning. 

"Our team worked hard to secure the Museum of Making and protect our collections, which I am pleased to say are safe and undamaged.

"We are sorry to be closed to the public in the coming days. I’d like to thank our fantastic supporters, both individuals and the local business community; as always, we have been overwhelmed by your love and appreciation for Derby Museums."
 

British Museum digitises collection to prevent thefts

18 Oct 2023

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. 

Glasgow museums says £3m sculpture is missing

17 Oct 2023

A statue thought to be worth £3m is currently “unlocated” in Glasgow’s collections, museum officials have said.

The plaster sculpture, by French sculptor Auguste Rodine, was bought by Glasgow Museum from the artist in 1901.

Glasgow Life, the charity responsible for running the city’s museums, says it was exhibited in Kelvingrove Park in 1941 but is now listed as “unlocated”.

It is one of around 1,750 items currently listed as missing or stolen.

According to a report from The Times, the missing inventory also includes gold coins linked to 16th century monarch Queen Mary I of Scotland.

There has been increased scrutiny on missing artefacts from the reserves of UK museums since the British Museum acknowledged the theft of thousands of items.

Earlier this month, an investigation by the BBC found Museum Wales, the institution managing seven national museum in Wales, is missing almost 2,000 items.

Last week, Museums Association Director Sharon Heal said the recent media coverage of missing items is “misleading and damaging to the reputation of museums”.

“It is unsurprising that, with collections amounting to tens of millions of items that have been collected over many decades, some items might be missing or unaccounted for.”

Museum Wales pay off 'may have breached law'

Exterior view of Cardiff's National Museum
16 Oct 2023

Auditor says a £325,698 settlement with former Director General may have breached the requirements of charity law.

Museum alters trans exhibit amid defamation concerns

The front entrance of Weston Museum
16 Oct 2023

Weston Museum said it removed the wording from an exhibition on trans issues after concerns were raised that it could be perceived as defamatory.

Liverpool museum evacuated by police bomb squad

13 Oct 2023

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.

Vagina Museum to reopen after exceeding fundraising target

10 Oct 2023

London’s Vagina Museum will reopen on 4 November after a successful fundraising drive.

The museum was forced to close its doors in February after its property guardianship ended.

It has relocated to multi-storey premises in Bethnal Green after surpassing an £85,000 fundraising target with donations from more than 2,500 people.

Its new home features three gallery spaces. The ground floor will house temporary exhibitions, while a pair of upstairs galleries will feature a permanent exhibition and community gallery.

When the museum reopens, initially only the ground floor will be accessible as lift access is not yet available.

The museum’s Head of Communications, Zoe Williams, told The Guardian fundraising efforts had been a “make or break scenario”.

“We genuinely didn’t know how successful it would be, especially in the cost-of-living crisis when so many people in our community are really feeling the pinch. It’s just wonderful.”

Heritage Fund selects first areas for place-based funding

09 Oct 2023

Funder to offer ringfenced support to 20 towns, cities and landscapes across the UK as part of its new 10-year strategy.

Releasing the potential of UK heritage

Image of Sheerness Dockyard church before renovation
09 Oct 2023

The National Lottery Heritage Fund has launched its 10-year strategy - Heritage 2033. Its Chief Executive, Eilish McGuinness, says its focus on longer-term, place-based commitments will be a springboard for lasting change.

ACE appoints museum development partners

06 Oct 2023

Five regional providers have been appointed to deliver Arts Council England's Museum Development programme for 2024 to 2026.

ACE has said the new streamlined programme - there were previously nine regional providers - will "ensure the delivery of Let’s Create" and focus "on the cultural potential of local communities". 

A national programme - Museum Development England - will bring together the delivery partners to share insights and learning.

The partners are: Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust and Leicestershire County Council; Museum of London; York Museums Trust in partnership with Tyne & Wear Archives Museums and the Manchester partnership and Cumbria Museums Consortium; Norfolk Museums Service with Brighton & Hove Museums; and Bristol City Council.

Emmie Kell, Director of Museums and Cultural Property, Arts Council England, said: “We know how important museums are to their communities and all they do to help tackle isolation, build connections, foster creativity and instil a strong sense of place. 

"The Museum Development Programme is an essential part of the Arts Council’s development offer for museums."

“All the partners within the programme have extensive skills, local knowledge and on the ground relationships, which will be vital in helping museums respond to challenges and opportunities to face the future with confidence.”

DCMS pushes 'retain and explain' approach on contested statues

Statue of Edward Colston being pulled down by demonstrators in 2020
05 Oct 2023

Guidance designed to help custodians of controversial public statues and monuments deal with calls for their removal has been published by government.

Museums in Oxford return ancestral Aboriginal remains

05 Oct 2023

A handover ceremony has taken place to mark the repatriation of ancestral remains from two museums in Oxford to Aboriginal communities in Australia.

The Museum's Association reports that the Pitt Rivers Museum and Oxford University Museum of Natural History are returning the remains of 11 Aboriginal ancestors.

The return is part of an agreement between the museums and the Australian Government to repatriate 30 ancestors in total.

Laura Van Broekhoven, director of the Pitt Rivers Museum, said: “For the Pitt Rivers Museum, ceremonies like these introduce new chapters in our history as a museum. 

"We want to thank Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders for their leadership in this process; we are pleased that the ancestors are finally able to return home. We are grateful to join this Indigenous-led process that works towards healing.”

Financial climate for museums to 'get worse before it gets better'

04 Oct 2023

The cost-of-living crisis continues to impact museums across England, and the situation is expected to get worse before it gets better, according to a new report.

Funded by Arts Council England and produced by South West Museum Development, the Annual Museums Survey gathered data on 700 accredited non-national English museums. It found while visitor numbers in 2022/23 were higher than the previous year, they were down 18% on pre-pandemic levels.

Museums also reported increased expenditure of 10%, mainly on energy bills, materials, staff costs and travel. At the same time, visitor spending was down overall and some organisations had also experienced a drop in donations.

After a slight increase in reported income during 2020/21 and 2021/22, overall income for museums dropped by 3% in 2022/23.

The report found museums attempting to balance the need to generate more revenue by increasing ticket prices with a desire to keep admission fees low to encourage visitors.

Respondents said schools were struggling to fund museum visits for pupils, especially the transport costs. The report concluded that museum visitor demographics and behaviour are increasingly difficult to predict.

The cost-of-living crisis has also significantly impacted museum staff and volunteers, according to the survey, as some employees departed for higher-paid jobs or moved to new roles closer to home.

Seasonal staff and lower-paid positions in retail, catering and cleaning proved challenging to hire, while some volunteers returned to paid jobs or could not afford to travel to perform their roles.

Despite this, the number of volunteers increased last year by 11%, only 5% fewer than pre-pandemic levels.

Victoria Harding, Programme Manager at South West Museum Development, said: "A range of factors, such as free entry and geography, have influenced the degree to which museum visitors have returned to pre-pandemic levels.  

"However, across the sector, irrespective of how successfully museums have generated increased income through a variety of new, or enhanced, ways this progress is outstripped by the increase in expenditure reported by 64% of museums."
 

Partial closure of York Castle Museum after concrete discovery

02 Oct 2023

Several galleries at York Castle Museum have been closed following the discovery of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in the building's roof.

The museum is on the site of the city's former prison, constructed between 1780 and 1783. Part of it was first converted into a museum in 1938, and the roof has undergone substantial repairs over the years.

The museum's Kirkgate exhibition as well as the Shaping the Body and Period Rooms displays have been closed while further inspections take place.

Kathryn Blacker, Chief Executive of York Museums Trust, said the closure was a precautionary measure.

"We're doing all we can to ensure the necessary inspections take place as soon as possible and are planning for any potential actions we will need to put place when we receive the results of the inspection," she said.

The rest of the museum is to remain open with ticket prices being reduced during the closure.

Hampshire arts venues threatened by proposed funding cuts

02 Oct 2023

Hampshire Culture Trust has said the closure of multiple museums and arts venues across the county is “inevitable” if funding cuts proposed by Hampshire County Council go ahead.

The council, which is the trust’s largest funder at £2.5m annually, has proposed cutting its funding by almost 50% as part of a recent budget review.

The trust operates museums, art galleries and arts centres that attract 600,000 visitors anually and is responsible for 2.5m museum objects.

A council spokesperson told local press the council is facing an estimated budget shortfall of £132m by April 2025.

“With such major budget constraints, we are having to consider very carefully how we can close this funding gap in future and regrettably, some very tough decisions are now needed on what the authority can and cannot continue to do in future.”

Paul Sapwell, Hampshire Cultural Trust Chief Executive, said the trust has huge sympathy for the council’s position but urged for consideration of whether the reduction is proportionate.

“We want to talk about the size of the reduction, the timescales of which they want to make that reduction, what those consequences would look like, and whether there are opportunities to mitigate that reduction through greater partnership to mutual benefit,” Sapwell added.

“Future venue closures across the county will be inevitable if a cut of this scale is agreed. We believe a better solution can be found and that the trust can have a positive future, although tough decisions will need to be made.

“We believe a solution exists and we want to work with the County Council to find it.”

British Museum launches webpage to recover stolen objects

28 Sep 2023

The British Museum has announced the launch of a webpage that aims to help recover some of the almost 2,000 antiquities that have been stolen from its collection over the past seven years.

The webpage does not record the exact details of individual stolen items. Instead, it describes “the types of objects that are missing” and displays illustrative photographs, so that the public will be better able to identify whether they have come into contact with items, the Art Newspaper reported.

The museum has so far recovered 60 items. A further 300 have been identified and are “due to be returned imminently”, it said it a statement. It did not give details about the items that have been recovered and identified so far. 

Around 1,600 objects from the Greek and Roman departments have yet to be tracked down, including gold jewellery and gems made from semi-precious stones and glass dating from the 15th Century BC and later. 

The museum has not disclosed how many of these artefacts have been identified. Records of some objects are reported to have been incomplete.

A spokesperson for the Art Loss Register, which is assisting the museum with its recovery operation, told the Art Newspaper that the museum has chosen not to reveal the exact details of items that remain missing because it might “enable those who are holding such pieces and are acting in bad faith to avoid detection”.

This might result in artefacts being sold “through channels where fewer questions are asked” or even being destroyed, the spokesperson said.

Experts from Art Loss Register are part of an international panel of 14 leading specialists assembled by the museum to aid in the identification and recovery of the lost artefacts.

The museum is also working with the Metropolitan Police and is actively monitoring the art market, including online.
 

There is plenty of room in museums for all of us

Symbol of transgender symbol visible through torn paper on a pink and blue background
27 Sep 2023

In response to criticism of new guidance on trans inclusive practice in museums, its authors Suzanne MacLeod, Richard Sandell, Sharon Cowan and E-J Scott push back against the critics, arguing the guidance can be used with confidence.

Planning permission granted for Somerset Shoemakers Museum

26 Sep 2023

A museum detailing the history of the shoe brand Clarks has been granted planning permission.

Located in Street, Somerset, the Shoemakers Museum will sit within the grounds of the Grange, currently occupied by the Alfred Gillett Trust, the charity that preserves the heritage collections of C & J Clark Ltd. 

The Clark family founded their well-known British brand nearly 200 years ago. 

The museum will include a permanent gallery displaying the history of the company, as well as temporary display areas, an open-air events space, an education room and a library. It will also house a café and display Street’s famous Ichthyosaurs fossil.

It is being designed by architects and heritage consultants Purcell, who will ensure that the main building is preserved. Energy-efficient lighting and high-efficiency boilers will be installed, while the existing radiators will be serviced and retained.

A 1970s extension, 20th century boiler rooms and an ageing structure known as the Link Building will be removed to make way for the new two-storey museum structure.

The first phase of the museum is due to open in 2025.

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