Museums and heritage

Art Fund has awarded £1m in grants for museums and galleries to improve inclusion in the workforce.

The funding comprises £800,000, split between 21 museums and galleries, in the latest round of its Reimagine Grants programme.

The charity says it was particularly interested in applications that responded to the findings and recommendations of its 2022 report on diversity in the curatorial workplace and that are aiming to make their organisations more inclusive.

Contemporary Visual Arts Network has been awarded the maximum £50,000 for a project in partnership with the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art that will offer a two-year professional development programme supporting artists and arts professionals from marginalised communities.

Other funded projects include volunteering opportunities and employment pathways for disabled and neurodivergent people at Buckinghamshire’s National Paralympic Heritage Centre and an action learning project developing new ways of working with underrepresented communities at Oriel Myrddin Gallery in Carmarthenshire.

A total of £7.3m has been awarded in Reimagine Grants since the first round in August 2020.

Art Fund’s £1m grant package also includes a ringfenced £200,000 to be awarded through Museum Development UK (MDUK) to support smaller museums retain and train staff.

MDUK will distribute the funds through a combination of grants and programmes, while investing £100,000 of their own through match funding.

The award giving will have an emphasis on curatorial posts and members of the workforce who work directly with collections including learning, engagement and conservation.

Manchester Museum has announced a large-scale repatriation of artefacts from its collection.

The programme will see 174 cultural heritage items from its collection returned to the Aboriginal Anindilyakwa community of Australia’s Northern Territory.

Three women from the Aboriginal Anindilyakwa community have travelled to Manchester to receive the articles. Manchester Museum hopes that the repatriation process will help Anindilyakwa descendants connect with their heritage.

The artefacts include boomerangs, Ajamurnda (bark baskets), Enungkuwa (fishing spears), Errumungkwa (armbands), and a group of dolls made from shells.

A 163-year-old totem pole has been returned from Scotland to the Nisga’a nation in British Colombia in what is thought to be the first transfer of its kind from a UK institution.

The Nisga’a Lisims Government and National Museums Scotland (NMS) agreed last December that the 11-metre the pole would be returned after nearly 100 years in Scotland.

It was acquired for the Royal Museum of Scotland in 1929 by the Canadian curator and ethnographer, Marius Barbeau, but NMS now accepts that the individual(s) who “sold” it to him did not have the authority to do so on behalf of the Nisga’a Nation.

Sim’oogit Ni’isjoohl (Chief Earl Stephens) said: “In Nisga’a culture, we believe that this pole is alive with the spirit of our ancestors.

"After nearly 100 years, we are finally able to bring our dear relative home to rest on Nisga’a lands."

The return of the pole is being described as “rematriation” in order to more closely align with Nisga’a matrilineal society.

The Scottish Government's External Affairs and Culture Secretary, Angus Robertson, said he "was pleased to have been able to provide the necessary ministerial consent to enable its return”.

A new centre dedicated to the anti-apartheid movement is to be created after securing a £1.2m grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The £3m project at Penton Street, a four-floor townhouse in Islington which is the former London headquarters of the African National Congress, will be called The Anti-Apartheid Legacy: Centre of Memory and Learning.

The building will be fully restored as part of the project to create a permanent exhibition exploring the history and legacy of the anti-apartheid movement, in particular the UK's central role in the struggle.

The building will have an accessible archive resource and study space. It will also create a programme of learning, volunteering and employment opportunities, and offer affordable workspaces to businesses, charities and community groups.

Professor Chris Mullard, Chair of the Liliesleaf Trust UK, which is responsible for the project, said it “enables a unique platform from which we will strive to reduce inequality and promote inclusivity through its programmes and events which empower as well as inform contemporary communities, and which work towards redressing longstanding imbalances in the perceptions and experience of UK’s multi-cultural heritage”.

The project has also been supported by the Mayor of London’s Good Growth Fund and Garfield Weston Foundation, as well as other funders.

A campaign has begun to raise the final funding required for the project.

The number of items allegedly taken from the British Museum’s collection by senior curator Peter Higgs is thought to exceed 1,500 and be worth tens of millions of pounds, according to an internal investigation launched this month.

Higgs was the museum’s curator of Greek collections, Greek sculpture and the Hellenistic period and was named last week by the Daily Telegraph and The Times as the prime suspect in the disappearance of artefacts from the collection.

He is thought to have sold many of the stolen objects on eBay over several years, beginning in 2016, often for fractions of their estimated value, the Art Newspaper reported.

A 2,000-year-old Roman object valued at £50,000 was allegedly sold for £40.

Higgs was dismissed by the museum earlier this year. He has not been arrested but the Metropolitan Police have confirmed they are investigating.

Christos Tsirogiannis, a UNESCO-affiliated expert in antiques trafficking, told The Economist the theft is “probably the worst case so far”. 

“No one expects that to happen in a museum”, he said.

The investigation comes at a time of fierce debate about the restitution of artefacts. The British Museum has long countered restitution claims by arguing it has a unique ability to conserve and preserve artefacts, pledging on its website “to ensure that the collection is housed in safety, conserved, curated, researched and exhibited”.

The controversy over the stolen items has led to Greek culture minister, Lina Mendoni, questioning the credibility of the museum: “When such incidents occur, there is obviously a question of safety and integrity [around] all of the museum's exhibits”.

She added the furore “reinforces the permanent and just demand of our country for the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles at the Acropolis Museum in Athens”.

Her comments were echoed by head of the Association of Greek Archaeologists, Despina Koutsoumba, who told The Independent her colleagues were “worried” about how many Greek items are missing from the museum.

Their comments were rebuked by Conservative MP Tim Loughton, who is Chair of the British Museum All-Party Parliamentary Group. He told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme the “blatant opportunism of the Greeks” was “particularly damaging”.

Meanwhile, a museum spokesperson has said: “We won't be commenting on any details of the thefts while they're subject to a police investigation”.

Research has revealed that 55% of UK galleries are unaware of Martyn’s Law, a new piece of legislation which requires them to consider the threat of terrorism and put mitigation measures in place.

The law was created in response to the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing, in which the assailant and 22 concert-goers were killed.

It is named after Martyn Hett, one of the victims of the attack, and is designed to ensure public safety by reducing the risk from terrorist attacks at public venues.

Research commissioned by specialist heritage insurer Ecclesiastical found that although details of the draft Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill were published in May, more than half of galleries remained unaware of its requirements.
 
The survey of 100 gallery decision makers found that 80% feel their organisation needs more support to prepare for the legislation coming into force.

Faith Kitchen, customer segment director at Ecclesiastical Insurance said: “Ensuring the safety of arts and heritage venues is paramount. We encourage galleries to familiarise themselves with the concepts and requirements of the forthcoming legislation.”
 
The Protect UK website provides information, tools and guidance to help galleries evaluate and mitigate terrorism risks.

The legislation is currently being scrutinised by the Home Affairs Select Committee in draft form. It is expected to be passed in spring of 2024.

The British Museum has said it will conduct an independent review of its security after items from its collection were found to be “missing, stolen or damaged”.

In a statement released yesterday [Wednesday 16 August], the museum confirmed it has dismissed a staff member over the loss of several artefacts, with a police investigation now underway.

The majority of items in question were small pieces kept in a storeroom, including gold jewellery and gems of semi- precious stones and glass, dating from the 15th century BC to the 19th century AD.

None of the items had been on public display and were kept primarily for academic and research purposes.

The independent review into the museum’s security will be led by former trustee Sir Nigel Boardman and Lucy D’Orsi, Chief Constable of British Transport Police. 

The museum’s statement says the pair will make recommendations regarding future security arrangements at the museum and “kickstart - and support - a vigorous programme to recover the missing items”.

British Museum Chair George Osborne said the museum's trustees learned of the thefts “earlier this year”.

“Our priority is now threefold: first, to recover the stolen items; second, to find out what, if anything, could have been done to stop this; and third, to do whatever it takes, with investment in security and collection records, to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” he added.

Director Hartwig Fischer said it was a “highly unusual incident”.

“The museum apologises for what has happened, but we have now brought an end to this – and we are determined to put things right. 

“We have already tightened our security arrangements and we are working alongside outside experts to complete a definitive account of what is missing, damaged and stolen. This will allow us to throw our efforts into the recovery of objects.”

A museum charting the history of glass production has reopened following a £1m refurbishment.

The World of Glass in St Helens celebrates the Merseyside town's "proud history" of glass production, executive director Pete Frost said.

Originally opened in 2000, the museum has been refurbished as part of wider investment in the town from the government's Town Deal Fund.

The museum is built alongside the town's Sankey canal and around a Grade II-listed tank house on a network of tunnels originally used for heat and airflow.

The refurbishment includes updated, interactive exhibits designed to add "a layer of hands-on engagement" for visitors.

As well as exhibits telling the story of glass making, the museum holds a collection of thousands of glass objects from around the world.

Curator Hannah Billinge said: "It is an important collection that is one of a kind."

Entry to the museum is free.