Appointments
Vanessa Eke has been appointed as the new Chair of Kids in Museums, a charity working with museums to make them welcoming to children, young people and families. Eke previously worked in the publishing industry, before serving as MD of Nielsen Media Research and Adex International and most recently Managing Director of language translation service LanguageLine Solutions.
Heritage of London Trust has appointed Sir Laurie Magnus as its new chair beginning April 2023. Magnus is currently Chairman of Historic England, and a Trustee of English Heritage Trust, having overseen its “de-merger” from Historic England in 2015 to become a charity.
Abbie King has been announced as the Chief Operating Officer at The Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, in a newly created role for the organisation.
Former Tank Museum manager announced as COO of Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust
Professor Clare Anderson, Lance Batchelor, Sir Stephen Deuchar, Murdoch MacLennan, William Nye and Professor Andrew Thompson have been appointed as Trustees of the Royal Museums Greenwich.
Exhibitions
Queer Britain’s debut exhibition “We Are Queer Britain” openes this week. It marks the 50th Anniversary of the UK’s first Pride March with objects from the museum’s archive and loans from the Charleston Trust, the Museum of London, the National Justice Museum and the Bishopsgate Institute as well as many individuals. Some of the key objects exhibited include Oscar Wilde’s Reading Prison cell door; as well as a 1909 copy of De Profundis, his posthumously released letter from Reading Prison in 1897; log books showing moving records of the LGBT+ helpline Switchboard; recently discovered erotic work by Duncan Grant.
A new exhibition at the Design Museum this October will survey the Surrealism movement and its effect on the design of decorative arts, interiors, fashion, photography and film. ‘Objects of Desire: Surrealism and Design 1924 – Today’ will feature 350 objects will be on display, from Man Ray and Salvador Dalí to Sarah Lucas and Dior.
A new exhibition of four installations by acclaimed sculptor and artist Peter Walker is to be unveiled on 27 July 2022 at Liverpool Cathedral. ‘Being Human’ – the latest collaboration between the artist and Cathedral, aims to encourage visitors to reflect on who they are as individuals and human beings.
A new Second World War exhibition exploring recently uncovered stories of women on Tyneside and people who came to Tyneside from the African and Caribbean diaspora during the Second World War as part of the war effort has opened at Discovery Museum in Newcastle, and will run until 25 September 2022. Stories of Service: Tyneside’s home front during the Second World War shares new research gathered as part of a wider national partnership with Imperial War Museums (IWM) and the Second World War and Holocaust Partnership Programme (SWWHPP) which aims to learn more about underrepresented local stories to make sure they are recorded for future generations.
Funding
Hull City Council has been awarded £150,000 from The Wolfson Foundation to support the refurbishment of the city’s Maritime Museum basement, part of its recent £1.5m heritage grants round.
Hull’s Maritime Museum expansion advances with Wolfson Foundation funding
Poole Museum has also received funding from the Wolfson Foundation. £200,000 has been donated to support ‘Shipwreck’, one of the Museum’s three new maritime galleries which will open to the public as part of a redeveloped offer in 2024.
The Brunel Museum has been awarded a grant of £1.85m from The National Lottery Heritage Fund for its Reinvented project, which will restore its existing Engine House and create a new Welcome Pavilion ahead of 200-year celebrations in 2025.
