Museums and heritage

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.”

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.”

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.

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.
 

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.

A new describing art guide aims to support art galleries and museums to make their collections more accessible for blind and partially sighted people.

The guide was launched by Sight Loss Councils (SLC) and funded by the Thomas Pocklington Trust. It was developed by East Sussex SLC in collaboration with Zoom Arts and Royal Collection Trust.

“Blind and partially sighted people also enjoy accessing art and museums. However, this can often be inaccessible to us,” said Iris, a member of East Sussex SLC and a volunteer.

“This is why we are working alongside arts organisations to make this happen. 

“We hope that our resource will enable staff to better understand how they can describe art with confidence to someone with sight loss and that it’ll break down some of the barriers about communicating with blind and partially sighted people.”

She hopes the guide will encourage galleries and museums to actively promote their ability to offer audio described tours.

Amy Stocker, Access and Inclusion Manager for Royal Collection Trust, said the resource “should make people much more confident when communicating with blind and partially sighted people”.

“Hopefully this means more vision impaired people will have access to art and engaging with arts and culture,” she added.

A heritage project to explore, celebrate and preserve the heritage crafts of refugee and asylum seeker communities in Rochdale will go ahead after securing funding. 

Cartwheel Arts has been awarded a £92,340 grant by The National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) to deliver Crafting Heritage in collaboration with Rochdale Borough Council and a network of local partner organisations.

The project expects to delve into traditional heritage crafts such as Ukrainian folk art, Islamic geometric patterns, Arabic calligraphy and textiles including weaving, sewing and embroidery.

Outcomes will be documented and archived at arts and heritage centre Touchstones Rochdale, with a final celebration event planned at the venue in 2025.

As part of the project, Cartwheel Arts will offer a fully paid eight-week training placement for four emerging craftspeople in the area with experience of forced migration.

The trainees will deliver a programme of crafting sessions within local primary schools.

“We are passionate about preserving and disseminating the diverse heritage crafts of Rochdale’s migrant communities and are keen to provide an opportunity for the development and sharing of heritage crafts within local schools,” Helen Featherstone, NLHF Director, England, North said.

“Crafting Heritage not only represents a ground-breaking means of preserving and sharing these rich traditions within local schools but will also forge dynamic partnerships on both local and national fronts to bring this vision to life. 

“We expect this project will leave an enduring and profound mark on all those who join us on this exciting journey.”