British Museums

British Museum reveals that 2022 bequest from tycoon and former trustee was worth £123m

Joseph Hotung’s collection of hundreds of jades, as well as metalwork and early Chinese porcelain is one of the most valuable gifts the museum has ever received

Even restituted artefacts—like Benin bronzes—need export licences from UK, says arts minister

Formal requirement for government licences may well prove to be yet another obstacle to a loan agreement for the Parthenon Marbles

Museumspreview

Manchester Museum gets £15m revamp—and hires UK's first curator focused on Indigenous perspectives

Reopening this month, the English institution plans to explicitly deal with its links to colonialism and actively support repatriation

With the threat of cuts, unions get militant in UK museums—and their membership is growing rapidly

Workers are increasingly turning to collective bargaining, industrial action and representation by trade unions

Brutal cuts to London arts organisations as national funds are moved away from capital

“We’ve had to make invidious choices”, says Arts Council England’s chair, Nicholas Serota, as funding portfolio for 2023-26 announced

Museum Association demands that UK government invest in institutions as cost of living and inflation soar

Influential museum organisation calls for a new pay settlement, warning that workers face pay decreases "at the fastest rate for decades"

'A model for how a traditional museum can become relevant': Horniman Museum in London wins Art Fund's Museum of the Year Award

The institution was awarded the £100,000 prize—the biggest in the global museum sector—for its attempt to confront its colonialist roots

Museums in London start to shut down as Omicron wave sweeps capital

Natural History Museum closes due to front-of-house staff shortages caused by Covid-19

Conservative party donor John Booth appointed chair of London's National Gallery

Philanthropist succeeds Tony Hall, who stepped down following row over Princess Diana interview

Cash-strapped museums unable to stop treasures from leaving UK

Export licences likely to be granted on Italian roundel and German reliquary as institutions struggle with the fallout of the pandemic

Visitor figures: how many people are actually returning to London museums post-lockdown?

We asked English institutions to provide figures for the four-week period from 17 May to gauge current demand

Podcastspodcast

'Art is our spiritual oxygen': new shows to see in London and New York

We discuss Matthew Barney, Igshaan Adams, Eileen Agar and Louise Bourgeois

Hosted by Ben Luke. with guest speaker Louisa Buck. Produced by Julia Michalska, David Clack, Aimee Dawson and Henrietta Bentall
Sponsored byChristie's

The cost of the cuts: what now for UK museums as the Covid-19 crisis bites?

Museum directors in London and the regions are cutting jobs and slashing budgets, raising concerns for the post-pandemic future of the sector

Plans to build new Museum of Brexit move ahead with plea for funds and objects

Institution initially called the Museum of Sovereignty will present a balanced picture of the divisive EU debate, say founders

Art library and archives at London's Wallace Collection could close to public as part of cost-cutting plans

Petition against the move claims that management want to ‘orientate the museum to income generation’

Closure of London's Florence Nightingale Museum fuels fears that the pandemic will force smaller UK institutions to shut

Williamson Art Gallery & Museum in Birkenhead is also under threat of closure as part of cost-cutting measures by local council

Billionaire Leonard Blavatnik donates £10m to the Courtauld Institute of Art

Suite of galleries in refurbished Courtauld Gallery will be named after the Ukraine-born industrialist

Victoria and Albert museum to close for two days a week due to coronavirus financial crunch

Visitor numbers will take years to recover with a drastic impact on income, the London institution reports

Why us? European museums cry foul over second lockdown

Shops remain open in many countries even as museums are plunged once more into Covid-19 deep-freeze

First government grants for UK art spaces announced with £789,000 for London's ICA and £804,000 for Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Whitechapel, Whitworth, Mary Rose Trust and Photo London are also among the recipients for long-awaited Covid-19 rescue funds

UK museums are back open—but visitors are staying away

Our data shows that most major London art museums had many available booking slots for next-day entry despite operating reduced capacity

Fundingcomment

'Be commercially minded or lose future funding': UK government's threat puts museums in peril

In a letter leaked to The Art Newspaper, the culture minister Oliver Dowden tells directors they must raise their own funds during the pandemic—but how?

Podcastspodcast

Staff cuts: are museums protecting their workers?

Plus, curator Emily Butler on Rhea Storr's video art. Produced in association with Christie's

Hosted by Ben Luke and Margaret Carrigan. with guest speaker Hannah McGivern. Produced by Julia Michalska, David Clack and Aimee Dawson

Reform or reset? How cultural institutions are facing a reckoning over racism

US and UK museums have been accused of tokenism, hypocrisy and fake solidarity for rushing to declare support for Black Lives Matter. Where do they go from here?

'Alarmingly at odds with reality': museum directors attack Creative Industries Federation's report on impact of coronavirus

Report estimates virus is causing 9% drop in revenue, but chairman of the UK National Museum Directors’ Council says 50% loss is more accurate

Long lost families reunited: social media campaign uncovers the links between objects across UK museums

Galleries on lockdown connect online during coronavirus pandemic using #CollectionsUnited

UK museums put £500m projects on pause during the lockdown but plan to carry on

Enforced delay due to Covid-19 could add to millions of pounds of lost income in the sector

UK national museums could learn a lot from their regional cousins

When it comes to having a historian rummaging in their stores, smaller institutions tend to be more enthusiastic and accommodating

Southampton's new art space takes over tower of 700-year-old city gateway

Exhibition venue and heritage attraction inside Grade I-listed monument God's House Tower is called GHT