Museums and heritage

More than 80 people from heritage, arts and climate backgrounds have written an open letter to the British Museum calling on it to remove BP’s name from its lecture theatre.

The move would send “a powerful message” about fossil fuel sponsorship, supporters said, calling on the museum’s director Hartwig Fischer to enact the change before he steps down next year.

Fischer announced the decision to resign his eight-year role last month, stating that he wanted to focus on the “rescue and preservation of cultural heritage in times of climate crisis, conflict, war and violence”, the Guardian reported.

The museum chose not to renew its 27-year sponsorship deal with the energy firm this year, stating that there were “no other contracts or agreements in effect between the museum and BP”.

Tate, National Portrait Gallery, Royal Shakespeare Company, Scottish Ballet and Royal Opera House have all ended funding partnerships with the company in recent years, to the approval of environmental campaigners.

Signatories calling on Fischer to change the name of the theatre include photographer Nan Goldin, climate scientist Bill McGuire, writer Gaia Vince, climate justice activist and mental health advocate Tori Tsui, the director of the Brunel Museum Katherine McAlpine and archaeologist and author David Wengrow.

“Just as cultural institutions around the world have removed the Sackler family name as evidence of the harmful ways their money was made came to light, the damning evidence of BP’s past – and present – can no longer be ignored,” they wrote to Fischer in a letter organised by Culture Unstained.

“Renaming the lecture theatre would send a powerful message about the future the museum wants to see… You would be demonstrating the kind of climate leadership that is now so urgently needed.”

The letter acknowledged that its writers welcomed the news that the museum’s existing sponsorship deal with BP had come to an end this year and urged Fischer to “pledge that the museum will accept no further funding from sponsors or donors involved in fossil fuel production”.

Art Fund is investing in programmes designed to support museums and galleries through touring and partnership working on exhibitions.

The Weston Loan Programme with Art Fund will continue for another three years following a £1m grant from the Garfield Weston Foundation, taking the partnership to its 10th anniversary in 2027. 

The scheme enables smaller museums to borrow significant works from major collections.

Meanwhile, a new UK-wide programme that will engage and involve underrepresented audiences with museum collections through touring exhibitions, Going Places, is launching its first phase this month.

The scheme will establish five networks of three to five small to mid-sized museums, with each network developing bespoke touring exhibitions.

The initiative will sit alongside other Art Fund-supported initiatives such as ARTIST ROOMS, which presents the work of high-profile international artists in solo exhibitions drawn from a national touring collection jointly owned by Tate and National Galleries of Scotland.

“Through our growing range of support for collaborative initiatives, Art Fund recognises the value of touring and sharing collections as one of the most inclusive and sustainable ways of bringing art to new audiences,” Director Jenny Waldman said.

Historical ‘dress up’ costumes aimed at adult visitors are due to be introduced at 11 English Heritage sites this summer.

The move is in response to research commissioned by the charity and conducted by the University of Kent that found adults have more active imaginations than children.

The study “directly refutes the commonly held belief that we become less imaginative as we get older”, the charity said.

Researchers from the university’s School of Psychology asked more than 470 people aged between four and 81 to imagine how unfamiliar historical objects could have been used. 

The answers were assessed based on characteristics including the number of unique responses and how close the guesses were to the object’s actual function.

As age increased, people were more likely to imagine uses that were closer to the actual function of the objects, but they were also more likely to give original answers and to provide more detail.

Meanwhile, adolescents and young adults came up with a larger number of suggestions spanning a wider range of categories than other age groups, suggesting that different age groups have different imaginative strengths, researchers said.

The research “shows that our imaginations continue to grow and change, even throughout adulthood, with the over 60s actually showing the most originality,” said Dr Angela Nyhout, Assistant Professor at the University of Kent’s School of Psychology, who led the research team.

“Adults’ imaginations can be just as vivid as children’s, but what they already know about the world constrains their imagination in some cases and enhances it in others. We just need the freedom of the right environment and opportunity to explore the limits of our imagination, and historical places are a perfect place to do this.”

English Heritage has used these findings to inform its One Extraordinary Summer events programme, for which it will introduce both hands-on history sessions and historical adult dress-up opportunities, with costumes including Roman togas, Medieval chainmail, Victorian suits and Tudor gowns, as well as WWII uniforms. 

At Whitby Abbey in Yorkshire, which inspired Bram Stoker’s Dracula, adult visitors will be invited to don vampire capes and accessories.

The 11 sites offering the costume will be Bolsover Castle in Derbyshire, Boscobel in Shropshire, Corbridge Roman Town in Northumberland, Dover Castle in Kent, Eltham Palace in London, Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire, Osborne on the Isle of Wight, Pendennis Castle in Cornwall, Witley Court in Worcestershire, Whitby Abbey in Yorkshire and Wrest Park in Bedfordshire.

The Jewish Museum in London has closed its current site in Camden as part of plans to sell the building and reopen in a new location.

Trustees of the museum, which receives £224,000 a year from Arts Council England (ACE) as part of the National Portfolio for 2023-26 announced the plans in early June. 

It hopes to reopen in a larger new home within the next five years.

Nick Viner, chair of trustees, told the BBC: "It's been an incredibly tough decision, but the museum has always found it difficult to be financially sustainable even though it's had some huge success with exhibitions.

"We are planning to do several temporary displays in London and beyond all whilst we think about how we can engage communities online with our collections."

A Lottery grant of almost a quarter of a million pounds is a “crucial moment” in the history of Milton Keynes Museum, its director says.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund award of £222,850 will be used to develop new displays at the independent museum, which this year celebrates its 50th anniversary.

The displays will highlight the history of Milton Keynes, from early plans to the stories of local people. 

Museum Director Bill Griffiths said: “It will be a crucial moment in the development of the museum, which is a jewel in the crown of the new city.

“It brings us so much closer to sharing Milton Keynes' rich history – both ancient and modern – with people from all over the country and beyond.”

He added: “Milton Keynes is a special place with a special story, and this grant will take us nearer our dream of telling that story in glorious detail. We are thrilled.”

The Welsh Government has shared plans to showcase Wales’ national contemporary art collection in galleries across the country.

Arts Council of Wales, Amgueddfa Cymru and the National Library of Wales will collaborate on sharing the work across the network of venues which include Aberystwyth Arts Centre and Newport Museum & Art Gallery.

Meanwhile, a digital platform, featuring around 25,000 images, has been launched to support the initiative, while plans to develop an anchor gallery acting as a prominent public face for the national contemporary art gallery continue.

Proposals for a national contemporary art gallery were first explored in 2018 and committed to in the government’s draft budget in 2021. 

Work is currently underway to find a host for the anchor gallery, with local authorities in Wrexham, Swansea, Merthyr Tydfil, Newport and Cardiff being invited to develop their plans for the space further.

“The national collection belongs to everyone in Wales,” Deputy Arts Minister Dawn Bowden said.

“The new model will allow people to explore the collection within their own communities, whilst also ensuring more people across Wales, the UK and even internationally can have improved access to the national collection.”

“It will help to boost the visitor economy, support local businesses and jobs, and put Wales on the map internationally.”