The weekly feature rounds up the latest updates in museum appointments, openings, funding and new exhibitions from across the UK.
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Appointments
The Natural History Museum has appointed Sarah Addezio as Programme Delivery Director for DiSSCo UK, the £155 million, 10-year programme to digitise the UK’s natural science collections. Addezio brings experience leading complex, multi-partner programmes and joins as the initiative moves from mobilisation into large-scale delivery across its UK-wide partnership.
The Exhibitions Group has appointed Ben Pearce as its new executive director, its first salaried role in this position, from next month. Pearce, previously interim executive director of artist charity Outside In, will lead the organisation’s next phase of growth following three years of Arts Council England funding.
The Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery have elected Ina Sarikhani Weston as Chair of the Board of Trustees. The new appointment will take up the position in October 2026 when the current interim chair, Professor Shearer West’s term comes to an end.
Openings & closures
Hull Maritime Museum will reopen on Saturday 8 August following a £20.4m transformation, with free tickets now bookable. The reimagined museum features 25 galleries, including newly displayed treasures such as a scrimshaw whale tooth and a 15-foot flag telling the story of Hull’s whaling ship the Truelove.
Exhibitions
Punk to Pop
V&A South Kensington | London
Opening: 13 March 2027
Punk to Pop examines the creative explosion across music, art and fashion from 1972 to 1985, tracing a story from glam rock and disco through the emergence of punk subcultures to a global pop culture primed for the digital age. The exhibition features around 300 objects including stage costumes, photography, music videos and designs, with artists ranging from the Sex Pistols and Joy Division to Wham! and the Eurythmics. It explores how a generation of self-determined artists responded to austerity and political turbulence, sparking cultural change alongside rapid technological advances.
South Asia Now: Fashion. Art. Design.
V&A East Museum | London
Opening: 24 April 2027
V&A East Museum presents ‘South Asia Now: Fashion. Art. Design.’, bringing together more than 200 works across art, fashion, architecture and design from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Described as the first major international exhibition to showcase contemporary creativity from across South Asia, the show includes rare loans, new commissions and works shown in the UK for the first time.
Vivienne Westwood & Jewellery
V&A Dundee | Dundee
Opening: 26 March 2027
This exhibition explores the role of jewellery in defining the Vivienne Westwood look, tracing the design house’s history of jewellery from the start of her career to the present day. The show examines Westwood’s use of jewellery as a means of expression, drawing on historical reference and subversive design. The V&A Dundee presentation also highlights Vivienne Westwood’s connection to Scotland, incorporating archive looks that reflect her affinity for Scottish textiles and culture.
The Potter’s Canvas: Ceramics and Painting in the 20th Century
Hatton Gallery | Newcastle upon Tyne
Opening: 19 September 2026 – Closing: 16 January 2027
This exhibition examines how 20th-century British ceramicists used drawing, painting and mark-making to transform the surface of clay, pairing ceramics from the Shipley Art Gallery with paintings and prints from the Hatton Gallery’s own collection. Featuring over 70 works, the exhibition includes ceramics by Bernard Leach, Lucie Rie, Hans Coper and Alison Britton alongside paintings and prints by Patrick Heron, William Scott and Victor Pasmore. Works on loan from the Laing Art Gallery are also included, and entry is free.
Michael Landy: Future Ruins
Sir John Soane’s Museum | London
Opening: 14 October 2026 – Closing: 17 January 2027
A selection of Michael Landy’s drawings depicting iconic buildings in ruins, brought together for the first time at the museum that inspired the series. Works include new and recent watercolours and pen drawings imagining structures such as the New York Stock Exchange, Chatsworth House, Mar-a-Lago, and Sir John Soane’s Museum itself in states of decay and overgrowth. The exhibition places Landy’s work in direct dialogue with Joseph Michael Gandy’s 1798 watercolour ‘Architectural Ruins: A Vision’, held in the museum’s own collection, which first inspired the series.
Tim Walker’s Fairyland: Love and Legends
National Portrait Gallery | London
Opening: 9 October 2026 – Closing: 7 February 2027
This major exhibition by photographer Tim Walker presents around 250 specially created portraits celebrating Queer culture, community and activism spanning over fifty years. Curated by Susanna Brown and designed by Shona Heath, the exhibition features figures from Queer history alongside contemporary activists, performers and international music stars. Sitters include Ian McKellen, Miriam Margolyes, Isaac Julien, Chappell Roan, Lady Gaga and Boy George, with portraits set against white backgrounds alongside large-scale staged scenes.
A Historic Farewell: Art as Witness to the Lying-in-State of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
Houses of Parliament | London
Opening: 14 July 2026 – Closing: 2 October 2026
This free exhibition in Westminster Hall brings together works by six artists invited to observe the Lying-in-State of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022. The displays span oil paint, pencil, printmaking, embroidery, film and sculpture, alongside preparatory materials being shown for the first time. Tickets must be booked in advance via the UK Parliament website.
Mystery Academy: School for Young Detectives
The Story Museum | Oxford
Opening: 18 July 2025
The Story Museum opens ‘Mystery Academy: School for Young Detectives’, an interactive exhibition celebrating the history and variety of the detective genre. The exhibition was co-designed by the Museum’s Story Curators, a group of Oxfordshire-based young people aged 12–16, working alongside the Museum’s professional production team. Visitors can explore a fictional detective boarding school featuring a forensics lab, a library, and a hidden door in a bookcase, alongside object loans including early fingerprint kits and a concealed camera.
Mary Anning – Fossil Hunter
Dorset Museum & Art Gallery | Dorchester
Opening: 30 January 2027 – Closing: 2 May 2027
Guest curated by bestselling author Tracy Chevalier, this exhibition commemorates the life and legacy of pioneering palaeontologist Mary Anning (1799–1847), 180 years after her death. The exhibition centres on the two key arenas of Anning’s life — the beach and the town of Lyme Regis — featuring fossils she discovered, a cast of the first Ichthyosaur skull she found as a child, letters, drawings, and a recreation of the Anning family fossil shop. Highlights include the only known portrait of Mary Anning, Denise Dutton’s original maquette for the Lyme Regis statue, and a recreation of a Jurassic beach in which visitors can discover hidden fossils.
Funding
Museums Galleries Scotland has awarded over £129,584 to 12 museum organisations across Scotland through the latest round of its Small Grants Fund, supported by the Scottish Government. The funded projects, including a witchcraft history podcast at Ullapool Museum and accessible display cases at the University of Dundee, aim to boost audience engagement, education, and accessibility.
