Openings
Black Country Living Museum’s underground drift mine attraction has reopened after four years. A combination of the pandemic and works around the museum had forced the closure. Now renovations are completed visitors are school trips are being welcomed back.
The council has begun working onsite to repair the lodge that will become the first permanent space for the Museum of Homelessness. The museum has said it will sign a lease once the building is in a condition from which it can operate, and tentatively predicts it will open its doors around autumn.
Visitors to St Andrews can today gain access to the Scottish town’s highest vantage point, St Rule’s Tower as it reopens to visitors.Temporary access restrictions were put in place by Historic Environment Scotland (HES) to carry out high level masonry work in the face of accelerating climate change.
Historic St Rule’s Tower in St Andrews reopens to public following repairs
Exhibitions
Next month, a new exhibition at Weston Park Museum will explore hair and our relationship to it. Hair: Untold Stories, is the inaugural exhibition created for the Museums and Galleries Network for Exhibition Touring (MAGNET), supported by Art Fund, and was curated by the Horniman Museum and Gardens, in partnership with Goldsmiths, University of London, Tullie House Museum and Gardens and Sheffield Museums. Objects on display include a dress and shoes made of human hair by artist Jenni Dutton, clothing and jewellery made from hair by Naga people in India, and historic and contemporary hair jewellery made by Swedish women. Runs 10 February 2023 – 29 Oct 2023.
Yorkshire Sculpture Park will present Observation of Landscape, a new show by British watercolour artists Simon Palmer, in the YSP Centre. The exhibition will feature Palmer’s recent limited edition giclee prints of the artist’s home of Yorkshire’s moors, with narrow lanes and ancient trees serving as a point of inspiration. All of the works in the exhibition will be available for purchase from the location’s shop and online.
A free display at Liverpool Central Library will explore the history, culture and heritage of British Chinese communities. The exhibition will showcase artefacts, documents, clothing and photographs that focus on the city’s local Chinese communities and their contribution to its economic and cultural heritage. Inspired by the National exhibition, Chinese and British (18 November 2022 – 23 April 2023) which celebrates the lasting impact of Chinese communities in the UK, Liverpool’s display has been supplemented by a panel exhibition which includes content and images from The British Library. Running until 31 March 2023.
The Museum of London Docklands has announced ‘Fashion City: How Jewish Londoners Shaped Global Style’, a major exhibition focussed on the contribution of Jewish designers in London’s fashion history. It will be the first major exhibition in two decades centred on the museum’s Dress & Textile collection. The museum is now appealing to the public for the lost high profile designer outfits worn by rock stars and celebrities to add to the exhibition.
The Museum of London Docklands begins search for lost London rockstar outfits
Historic England has announced ‘Picturing High Streets’, a major outdoor photography exhibition touring England from March 2023. The exhibition showcases 60 winning photographs submitted by the public to celebrate themes including high street heroes and favourite hang outs. Selected from over 1,000 submissions by a judging panel including Wayne Hemingway MBE and artist Camille Walala, there will be opportunities to see the winning images in various forms across England, kicking off on 22 March.
The National Justice Museum has announced a new display created in collaboration with Artists in Residence at C2C Social Action, which supports individuals in the Criminal Justice System. Taking place in the Museum’s free Project Lab, the display is a co produced exploration on “how working collaboratively with nature in urban settings can be the catalyst for social change and empowerment”. Runs 30 January – 28 May 2023.
The National Portrait Gallery has announced its annual exhibition programme, which includes portraits of The Beatles taken by Paul McCartney, photographers Yevonde, Julia Margaret Cameron and Francesca Woodman, work by David Hockney, and paintings by leading Black artists.
Paul McCartney selfies among National Portrait Gallery’s reopening exhibitions
Funding
Four months before it reopens, Handel & Hendrix in London has been awarded a grant of £100,000 by the Wolfson Foundation towards its £3m restoration and expansion project, the ‘Hallelujah Project’.
Handel & Hendrix in London secures £100,000 ahead of reopening
Fourteen organisations are to share over £165,000 in the latest allocation of AIM’s New Stories New Audiences grants, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and National Lottery players across the UK.
