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 National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN) has appointed Andrew Baines as its new Executive Director of Museum Operations. Baines, who has been with NMRN for 13 years in various roles, most recently served as Associate Executive Director: Heritage and Strategic Programmes. In his new position, Baines will contribute to developing a new strategy for the Museum and plans to engage with teams across all sites.
Bletchley Park Trust, the charity that looks after heritage attraction Bletchley Park, has a new Chair of the Board of Trustees. Jacqueline de Rojas CBE will join the trust from next month, bringing with her extensive experience in the technology sector.
Openings & closures
Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, part of a group of Shakespeare family homes in Stratford-upon-Avon, is to become a year-round attraction after a successful trial reopening earlier this year. The historic attraction in Shottery will now remain open this winter and will operate a 12-month opening model from 2025.
Exhibitions
The National Galleries of Scotland presents “Dürer to Van Dyck: Drawings from Chatsworth House”, featuring nearly 50 rarely seen drawings by renowned European artists such as Albrecht Dürer, Hans Holbein the Younger, Peter Paul Rubens, Rembrandt van Rijn, and Anthony van Dyck. The exhibition includes a recently recovered double portrait of Rubens and van Dyck by Erasmus Quellinus II, showcasing works from the Devonshire Collections spanning 1500 to 1700. The exhibition runs from 9 November 2024 – 25 February 2025 at the Royal Scottish Academy building in Edinburgh.
The RAF Museum Midlands has announced ‘Cold War Spies Week’ this October half term, featuring interactive spy-themed activities. Visitors can solve a murder mystery, board the Nimrod ‘Spy in the Sky’ aircraft, follow a Spy-Hunter Trail, and participate in Lego Spy Racers. The activities run from 26 October 2024 – 3 November 2024.
Announced as part of the 2025 programme at the National Maritime Museum is ‘Pirates’, which will trace the changing depictions of pirates through history, showcasing material from 18th-century literature to 1980s haute couture. Objects on display will include artefacts related to famous pirates such as Edward ‘Blackbeard’ Teach, William Kidd, Anne Bonny and Mary Read, as well as items illustrating piracy across the globe. Runs from March 2025.
The exhibition ‘Mike Kelley: Ghost and Spirit’ at Tate Modern showcases the American artist’s works, spanning his entire career. It features key pieces such as “The Poltergeist” (1979), “More Love Hours Than Can Ever Be Repaid” (1987), and installations from the “Kandors” series (1999-2011). The exhibition runs from 3 October 2024 – 9 March 2025.
The memorial artwork ‘For Your Tomorrow – the People’s Tribute’, featuring 1,475 silhouettes representing servicemen killed on D-Day under British Command, goes on display at Stowe Gardens this week. The installation includes figures of two nurses and 50 French resistance fighters, with each life-sized figure made by volunteers using recycled materials. The exhibition runs until 11 November 2024.
Stowe Gardens installs almost 1,500 lifesized silhouettes ahead of Remembrance Day
Brighton Museum has unveiled “Speaking Solidarity”, a poetry installation created by SussexUniMAH, the Faculty of Media, Arts Humanities at the University of Sussex. The exhibition features poems responding to museum artefacts, including Maria Jastrzębska’s “I am the swimmer” inspired by the Harriet Elphinstone-Dick Automata. Visitors can experience the interactive installation in the Fashion & Style gallery from today until 5 January 2025.
Funding
A project conserving artwork at the Tates is among the first tranche of 31 projects to share £37 million from the Research Infrastructure for Conservation and Heritage Science (RICHeS) programme from UKRI, designed to boost UK heritage science and conservation capability. More details here.
