The weekly feature rounds up the latest updates in museum appointments, openings, funding and new exhibitions from across the UK.
Museum Moves is supported by DJW Projects Limited: DJW Projects Limited. DJW Projects Limited is recognised as one of the UK’s leading forces in the audio-visual industry, providing creative lighting, Audio Visual and multimedia solutions globally to achieve the ultimate technological experience, using sound, lighting, vision and interaction.
Appointments
David Mann, director of the Scottish Maritime Museum, is to retire after 12 years at the helm of the nationally recognised maritime heritage collection. He will be succeeded by Matthew Bellhouse Moran, current Executive Director of the Unicorn Preservation Society, Dundee, and Vice Chair of Museums Galleries Scotland.Mann will step down on Friday 28 March. He was appointed Acting Director of the Scottish Maritime Museum in 2012 before becoming Director and a Trustee in 2013.
The National Portrait Gallery has announced the appointment of a new curatorial and collections director. Dr Flavia Frigeri will oversee the curatorial, collections management, archive and library departments.
National Portrait Gallery appoints curatorial and collections director
Dorset’s Tank Museum has announced the appointment of Nick Booth as the museum’s Head of Curatorial Services, a newly created role. Booth will join the museum later this month from the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, where he is currently Collections and Learning Director.
Curator Eleri Lynn has returned to Historic Royal Palaces, serving as the charity’s new chief curator.The fashion and textiles expert, author and curator will return to Historic Royal Palaces, where she previously served as curator of collections from 2013-2021.
Openings & closures
The permanent Lord Ashcroft Gallery at IWM in London is set to close from June 2025. The museum is preparing for the development of new displays in its place, exploring the past 80 years of post-Second World War conflict. Lord Ashcroft wrote on X that the decision was “sad”, and urged visits before its closure.
Lord Ashcroft ‘sad’ as IWM announces closure of namesake gallery
Exhibitions
The Cartoon Museum in London presents ‘Cats in Cartoons’, featuring over 100 works from iconic artists including Louis Wain, Axel Scheffler, and Ronald Searle, exploring beloved feline characters such as Garfield and Bagpuss. The exhibition also highlights Battersea Dogs and Cats Home’s work protecting feline welfare through staff interviews and behind-the-scenes insights. The exhibition runs from 5 April 2025 – September 2025.
Tullie will present ‘Winifred Nicholson: Cumbrian Rag Rugs’, a new exhibition showcasing almost 40 artworks including rare rag rugs designed by Nicholson and crafted by local women from rural Cumberland, alongside paintings and archival material. The exhibition highlights the interplay between art and craft, featuring pieces dating from the 1920s including ‘Animal Squares’, ‘The Sun and the Moon’, and ‘Four Storks’. The exhibition runs from 05 April 2025 – no end date provided.
Rozelle House Museum and Galleries in Ayr, Scotland presents ‘Wish You Were Here’, celebrating hundreds of postcards from the South Ayrshire Collection featuring local landmarks and beach scenes. Visitors can explore original postcards, view large-scale projections, and design their own postcards as part of the family-friendly activities including the Tiny Tam the Rozelle Mouse holiday theme. The exhibition runs from 22 February 2025 – 18 May 2025.
The King’s Gallery in Edinburgh presents ‘Royal Portraits: A Century of Photography’, featuring nearly 100 rarely seen photographs, negatives and archival materials spanning from the 1920s to present day. Highlights include a photograph of Queen Elizabeth II on the Highlands landscape of Balmoral by Julian Calder, Cecil Beaton’s portraits, and recent work by Jamie Hawkesworth of Queen Camilla. The exhibition runs from 28 February – 7 September 2025.
Cornwall Museum & Art Gallery presents ‘Portraits of St Petrocs’, a group exhibition paying tribute to the clients, staff, and volunteers of Cornish homelessness charity St Petrocs. Over forty new works by local artists capture the unique personalities and stories of their subjects through a variety of mediums and styles. The exhibition runs from 01 March 2025 – 29 March 2025.
Temple Newsam House in Leeds presents ‘Inspired by Temple Newsam’, an intervention featuring works by multiple artists from Leeds Fine Artists. The exhibition showcases pieces responding to the house’s history, architecture, grounds and nationally recognised collection of fine and decorative arts. The exhibition runs from 25 April 2025 – 21 September 2025.
Tate Britain presents ‘Art Now: Hylozoic/Desires’, featuring a new installation titled ‘The Hedge of Halomancy’ by artist duo Himali Singh Soin and David Soin Tappeser. The exhibition includes a 23-minute film installation set in a salt-encrusted frame and an embroidered tapestry ‘Mokshapat’, which interweave real and imagined histories around the British Empire’s 4,000km Inland Customs Line barrier. The exhibition runs from 28 February 2025 – 25 August 2025.
London’s National Portrait Gallery presents Stanisław Wyspiański: Portraits, showcasing 16 of the Polish artist’s most remarkable portraits, many never seen outside Poland. Works on display include Kazimierz Lewandowski (1898), Józio Feldman (1905), Maternity (1905), Irena Solska (1904), Helenka’s Head (1900), and Self-Portrait before Death (1907). The exhibition is part of the UK/Poland Season 2025, running from 27 March 2025 – 13 July 2025.
Funding
The Natural History Museum in London has backed 12 regional cultural venues to run events and activities related to what it calls the ‘planetary emergency’ of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. The museum is providing grants ranging from £2,500 to £10,000, to the organisations as well as resources including content from its new Fixing Our Broken Planet gallery.
Natural History Museum funds regional venues to drive climate awareness
