Appointments
The Association of Independent Museums (AIM) has elected three new trustees. Charlotte Morgan, Collaborative Programmes Manager at Cornwall Museums Partnership; Liz Power, Director of the London Museum of Water and Steam; and Camellia Stewart, Head of Commercial Programmes and Collection Partnerships for Art UK were appointed to the board following its AGM in June.
Eureka! Science + Discovery and Eureka! The National Children’s Museum has announced a new Chair to their Board of Trustees. Jane Rice-Bowen, who has been a member of its Board of Trustees since 2017, takes over from Alison Hope, a longstanding Trustee of 13 years who was acting as Interim Chair.
Harewood House Trust has announced Darren Pih as its first Chief Curator and Artistic Director. In the new role, Pih will lead the charity’s exhibition programme, and care for the museum’s collection of painting, decorative interiors, furniture and porcelain.
New senior appointment at Harewood House Trust to bring ‘art into dialogue with the heritage’
Openings
Gladstone Pottery Museum is to reduce its opening days until October, as part of an external project thought to be the start of production of The Great Pottery Throw Down. The museum has been the location for the popular show in previous years. The council says that Gladstone’s opening times for the week will be announced on the museum’s Facebook page every Monday until the end of October.
In international news, New York press reports that former Las Vegas club owner Robert Frey has signed a 10-year lease for a 30,000-square-foot space in Soho called The House of Cannabis, set to open in Autumn 2022.
Exhibitions
Prison arts charity Koestler Arts has announced that its fifteenth Annual UK Exhibition, in partnership with the Southbank Centre, will be curated by Chinese contemporary artist, documentarian, and activist, Ai Weiwei. Freedom 2020 takes place this October at Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre. Inspired by a visit to the Koestler Arts building and the artworks inside, Weiwei said the exhibition will “present the forest, not just a branch that comes from it”.
The Fitzwilliam Museum’s next exhibition is claimed to be the first major exhibition to display money used as a public canvas for political and social rebellion. ‘Defaced! Money, Conflict, Protest’ presents a world history of protest from the last 250 years through defaced coins and banknotes recently acquired for the Fitzwilliam by its curator Dr Richard Kelleher. Opens 11 October until 8 January 2023. (Pictured above)
Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) presents a new exhibition by designer and illustrator Samantha Bryan. Working from her garden studio in Mirfield, West Yorkshire, Bryan has produced a new body of work for her exhibition at YSP, which will feature in the main Visitor Centre this autumn. 17 September until 23 October 2022.
A medieval plaque discovered in a field in Oldham, Greater Manchester, has been acquired by Manchester Museum, and will be on public display when the museum reopens in February 2023. It is the first Mosan plaque known to have been discovered in the northwest of England, and will be first shown at Gallery Oldham from 9 September to 1 October 2022 as part of The Oldham Histories Festival.
Last year artist Marina Abramović took a residency at the Pitt Rivers Museum in preparation for an exhibition at Modern Art Oxford. That residency has now led to her Gates and Portals exhibition at Modern Art Oxford and an installation featuring new work by the artist at the Pitt Rivers Museum, both opening in Oxford in September 2022.
The British Motor Museum will host ‘Jaguars at Gaydon’ on Saturday 3 September 2022 which will celebrate its milestone centenary. The show, now in its third year, is a joint show between the British Motor Museum and the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust (JDHT) in conjunction with the Jaguar Breakfast Club.
Funding
A total of 46 UK museums and arts organisations have been selected to take part in a $30 million (£24.9 million) Digital Accelerator Programme from Bloomberg Philanthropies, which is designed to assist in improving technology projects within cultural institutions.
Bloomberg Philanthropies programme to support museum’s digital projects
Image: W**kers of the World, Churchill Fiver Reboot imitation banknote, 2020. Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge , Presented by Art Fund. © W**kers of the World
