Museums & Heritage

Arts Council England review: reforms, endowment funds and tax incentives

Labour peer Margaret Hodge, who led the report, has suggested new funding proposals based on philanthropic giving

Museumscomment

Comment | When did US museum design get so boring?

While art-museum architecture remains vibrant across the globe, many US institutions are both uninspiring and unwelcoming

Art Fund awards £1.2m to 29 UK museums to support ‘innovative’ projects

Charity's “Reimagine” programme will fund a variety of initiatives, from developing a new model for provenance research to preserving digital heritage

56 participating artists, duos and collectives revealed for 2026 Whitney Biennial

The exhibition, co-curated by Whitney Museum of American Art staffers Marcela Guerrero and Drew Sawyer, will feature artists from 25 states and Puerto Rico, plus “places marked by the reach of US power”

London's Brutalist Barbican Centre to close for £240m renovation

The building, which houses three gallery spaces, will close for a year from June 2028

San Antonio Museum of Art repatriates nine antiquities to Italy

The artefacts, most dating from the 4th century BC, include a terracotta statue of a woman and elaborate red-figure vessels

Maria Balshaw to step down as Tate director

Balshaw will see out her nine-year tenure by co-curating the largest-ever survey of the artist Tracey Emin in spring 2026

Taichung’s new ‘Museumbrary’ expands Taiwan’s culture credentials

The cutting-edge institution, which opens tomorrow, fuses museum and library in decommissioned military airport

Made in LA biennial contemplates wildfires and immigrant arrests

The Hammer Museum hosts 28 artists' projects while looking back on a tumultuous year in California’s biggest city

Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman and Venus Williams will co-chair 2026 Met Gala

The celebrity style luminaries will preside over the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute's star-filled fundraiser alongside Anna Wintour

UK police hunt suspects in ‘high-value’ Bristol museum heist

More than 600 objects were stolen from the collection of the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum, which closed in 2008

Vancouver Art Gallery gifted 131-work private collection from Hong Kong

The gifted works, by 78 artists, date from the 1950s to today and will be featured in an exhibition in 2027

Bright sparks: humans made fire 350,000 years earlier than previously thought, research reveals

Archaeologists discovered Palaeolithic fire-making tools in a field in the east of England

Admission to MoMA PS1 will be free for all starting next year

From 1 January 2026 onward, MoMA PS1 will be the largest admission-free museum in New York City, thanks to a gift by philanthropist Sonya Yu

Canadian Museum for Human Rights’ planned exhibition on displacement of Palestinians sparks outpouring of support and criticism

The museum's upcoming “Palestine Uprooted: Nakba, Past and Present” has the support of Canadian Palestinian organisations and some Jewish groups, but has been denounced by others who fear it “will ignore key issues”

Despite controversy, designs for Notre Dame’s new windows go on display in Paris

Stained-glass works by the French artist Claire Tabouret will replace the original windows, which suffered no damage in the fire that destroyed the cathedral’s spire

Gunmen stole works by Matisse and Portinari from Brazilian library in brazen daytime heist

The 13 works, stolen from the Mário de Andrade Library, were part of a show organised in collaboration with the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo

‘An entertainment pavilion on bones’: new Russian museum opens in occupied Mariupol

Officially known as Pole Bitvy (Battlefield), Russian state media has described the space as an “interactive art facility”

Louvre staff vote to strike, citing failures of management and building maintenance

It was yesterday revealed that that a water leak in the museum's Egyptian antiquities department had damaged hundreds of books

Disruption expected at British Library as hundreds of workers strike over pay

The Public and Commercial Service union says library staff face “increased poverty and debt, with a concurrent rise in health issues”

Lima’s historic city centre to be restored after years of earthquake damage and abandonment

The ambitious Lima 2035 project will revitalise the Peruvian capital’s architectural heart, a Unesco World Heritage Site, for its 500th birthday

Ancient Etruscan monster gets new state-of-the-art home in Florence museum

Fearsome 2,400-year-old sculpture of a chimaera has been reinstalled in a dedicated gallery at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Firenze

Did Qatar’s Courbet acquisition short-circuit French export licence process?

The Realist masterpiece ‘Le Désespéré’ is on long-term loan to Musée d’Orsay

Seven bullet holes discovered in Marseille basilica's Madonna and Child

The hidden holes in the gilded copper statue, located on top of the French city's Notre-Dame de la Garde, were inflicted by German troops during the Second World War

London's National Gallery announces £750m fundraising drive towards new wing and expanded collection

The gallery has also revealed the architecture firms shortlisted to design its planned extension

Jorge Pérez donates more than 80 photographs to the Pérez Art Museum Miami

The works by Marina Abramović, Ana Mendieta, Cindy Sherman, Vik Muniz and others are the subject of an ongoing special exhibition

Louvre to raise ticket prices by 45% for most non-EU visitors

The Château de Versailles and the Château de Chambord have also announced new pricing structures

Courtauld launches art history teaching fund amid £82m redevelopment

The announcement follows a new report which revealed a sharp decrease in the numbers of schools teaching art history

Comment | A decolonial wind? Hurricane Melissa decimated western Jamaica’s colonial buildings

Although it spared Kingston, the storm caused $9bn in damage and wiped out most of the heritage buildings and museums in the areas it touched

Where will Labour government’s local reforms leave England’s cash-strapped museums?

Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ planned overhaul of regional councils promises stability, but delivers confusion for the cultural sector