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 Secretary of State has appointed Alex Ely as Chair of the Museum of the Home for a term of four years, commencing on 23 March 2025.
Architect Alex Ely appointed chair of the Museum of the Home
Two Historic England employees have been promoted to chief executive of the organisation, sharing the role. Claudia Kenyatta CBE and Emma Squire CBE will become the chief executive of Historic England as a job share following the retirement of Duncan Wilson in October 2025.
Openings & closures
The Museum of Cannock Chase in Staffordshire has closed permanently, part of a move by Cannock Chase Council to close a £1.3m budget gap for the 2025/26 period. Plans for its closure were first announced late last year. The museum held a closing event last week before doors were shut.
Exhibitions
Over 600 items from Wes Anderson’s meticulous archives will be displayed at the Design Museum in London, including the 3-metre wide model of The Grand Budapest Hotel, Oscar-winning costumes, puppets, and the director’s handwritten notebooks. The exhibition ‘Wes Anderson: The Archives’, the first major museum retrospective of the filmmaker’s work, runs from 21 November 2025.
The original red sign from the first Morley’s chicken shop in Sydenham will be displayed in the ‘Hanging Out’ installation at London Museum‘s new Smithfield home. Celebrating social spaces that bring London’s communities together, the sign’s acquisition coincides with the cult fried chicken brand’s 40th anniversary in 2025. The new museum, set to welcome over 2 million visitors annually, will open its permanent galleries from 2026.
The exhibition ‘Every Step of the Way’ showcases works by 33 regional artists who have captured their personal experiences of walking the South Downs Way, with pieces including paintings, printmaking, sculpture, land art and textiles. The structure follows the 11 sections of the national trail guide, with featured artists including Fiona McIntyre, Jon Edgar, Howard Phipps and Simon Hitchens. Created in partnership with The Ramblers Association, the exhibition runs at The Gallery in The Arc, Winchester from now until 16 July 2024.
An exhibition about the science of sustainable food production and consumption will open at the Science Museum in London this summer. More than 100 historic and contemporary objects will be displayed, including 3,500-year-old bread, the first Quorn burger, beef steak grown outside a cow, and cricket burgers. The exhibition runs from 24 July 2025 – 4 January 2026.
A new exhibition ‘Thirst: In Search of Freshwater’ at Wellcome Collection explores humanity’s vital connection with freshwater through over 125 objects including contemporary artworks, historical artefacts, and meteorological records. The exhibition is organised into five distinct sections—Aridity, Rain, Glaciers, Surface Water and Groundwater—featuring works by artists such as Gideon Mendel, Raqs Media Collective, and Karan Shrestha. This free exhibition runs from 26 June 2025 – 1 February 2026.
The works of Irish artist Daphne Wright explore passing time and identity through several new sculptures in ‘Deep-Rooted Things’, the latest exhibition in the Ashmolean NOW series. Features include the major work ‘Sons and Couch’, ‘Fridge Still Life’, and collections displayed alongside selected pieces from the Ashmolean Museum’s historic collection, including plaster casts and Rachel Ruysch’s ‘Forest Floor’ Still Life of Flowers. The exhibition runs from 13 June 2025 – 8 February 2026.
The upcoming exhibition ‘Austen and Turner: A Country House Encounter’ at Harewood House brings together rarely displayed works of Jane Austen and JMW Turner to celebrate 250 years since their births, featuring Turner’s North of England sketchbook, his travelling watercolour paint set, and Austen’s handwritten Sanditon manuscript alongside first editions of her novels. Contemporary artists Lela Harris and poet Rommi Smith will create new works responding to the exhibition’s themes, which runs from 2 May 2025 – 19 October 2025.
‘Morris Mania’ explores how William Morris’s iconic botanical patterns have permeated global popular culture, from submarine seats to Nike trainers. The exhibition at William Morris Gallery features over 125 objects from international collections, including public donations and a newly-commissioned film showing Morris designs in cinema and television. The exhibition runs until 21 September 2025 in London.
Funding
Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS) has announced that £150,029 has been awarded to thirteen organisations across Scotland through the most recent round of the Small Grants Fund.
