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
Olivia Colling and Laura Smith have been appointed as co-directors of The Hepworth Wakefield, with Colling serving as Executive Director and Smith as Artistic Director. Both Yorkshire-born, they bring extensive experience from major institutions including Tate, V&A, the Design Museum, Whitechapel Art Gallery, Tate St Ives, Nottingham Contemporary and The Hepworth Wakefield. The appointments follow a thorough recruitment process led by an international executive search firm, with the board, Arts Council England and Wakefield Council representatives unanimously agreeing on their leadership proposal as the gallery approaches its 15th anniversary in 2026.
Three trustees have been appointed to The Imperial War Museums Board for four-year terms. The Prime Minister has appointed Rear Admiral Jeremy Bailey as Navy Trustee and Sir William Worsley as Estates Trustee, both serving from 1 February 2026 to 31 January 2030. Bailey brings over 30 years of Royal Navy experience including roles as Naval Base Commander and Director of Submarine Support before leaving the service as Rear Admiral in 2025, while Worsley is Chair of the Forestry Commission and former Government Tree Champion. The Secretary of State has appointed Samantha Washington as Media Trustee from 16 March 2026 to 15 March 2030; Washington has been a Sky News presenter since 2011 and recently completed an MSc from Oxford University Internet Institute specializing in digital technology, AI and the culture sector.
Openings & closures
The Graves Gallery in Sheffield reopens on Thursday 26 February with two new exhibitions following a short closure for redisplay. “When the Day is Done: New Paintings by Ryan Mosley” presents 20 new works by the internationally acclaimed Sheffield-based artist, whose early artistic development was shaped by visits to the Graves Gallery, while “Revolution, Revelation, Reinforcement: Queer Legacies in Sheffield’s Art Collection” explores LGBTQ+ expression across historic and contemporary artworks from the city’s collections, curated by Jon Sleigh with input from local LGBTQ+ communities.
Exhibitions
The Cold War, in the Shadow of the Bomb
Royal Signals Museum | Blandford Forum
Opening: 13 February 2025
The Royal Signals Museum in Blandford Forum presents a new exhibition exploring the Cold War period following World War II, focusing on the political and ideological struggle between Communism and the Western Allies. The exhibition features personal testimonies from soldiers who served on the front line and anti-nuclear activists who opposed the US air base at Greenham Common. Displays highlight the role of the Royal Corps of Signals in an era when communications expertise was vital during a time defined by nuclear arms race and the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction.
On The Line
People’s History Museum | Manchester
Opening: 21 March 2026 – Closing: 2 November 2026
Opening at People’s History Museum in Manchester, this exhibition marks the centenary of the 1926 General Strike and explores a hundred years of industrial relations in Britain. The exhibition presents photography from 1926 by amateur photographer Joe Short, oil paintings including ‘Taking Scabs To Work, Barking Hospital’ by S. Rushton and ‘The Past Is Another Country’ by David Rumsey, and protest banners including the Union and Victory banner from the Great Dock Strike of 1889 and the Grunwick Strike Committee banner. Objects on display include a full-scale Ambulance Strike Shelter from 1989-1990, the Deceptioncon robot costume from Amazon’s Coventry warehouse (2023-4), and materials documenting strikes including the 1972 Miners’ Strike, the Grunwick strike (1976-1978), the Ford Dagenham equal pay action (1968), and the Miners’ Strike (1984-1985).
Fairy Tales
British Library | London
Opening: 27 March 2026 – Closing: 23 August 2026
This exhibition at the British Library in London explores fairy tales through illustrations, pop-up books, manuscripts and puppets. Visitors journey through a cottage, mysterious woods and royal palace discovering characters and magical objects from stories worldwide. Items on display include Charles Perrault’s ‘Histoires du temps passé’, Mervyn Peake illustrations for the Brothers Grimm’s ‘Household Tales’, Arthur Rackham’s ‘Cinderella’, Disney concept artwork from ‘Cinderella’, Quentin Blake illustrations, Ivan Bilibin’s ‘Vasilisa the Beautiful’, Eric Carle’s ‘The Fisherman and his Wife’, Walter Crane’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’, puppets from the Little Angel Theatre’s ‘The Snow Queen’, Kay Nielsen’s ‘Hansel and Gretel’, Janet and Allan Ahlberg’s ‘The Jolly Postman’, and Lewis Carroll’s original manuscript of ‘Alice’s Adventures Under Ground’.
Soma Surovi Jannat: Climate Culture Care
Ashmolean Museum | Oxford
Opening: 28 March 2026 – Closing: 1 November 2026
The first UK solo exhibition of Bangladesh-based artist Soma Surovi Jannat (b. 1990, Dhaka) uses the Sundarbans forest and the Ashmolean’s collection as inspiration to reflect on environmental issues and the interconnectedness of nature and humanity. The exhibition features around 40 objects including various works on paper, a 30-foot-long scroll titled ‘Between the Sea and the Sky, Who Holds the Ground?’, and an ephemeral drawing ‘She Carries the River in Her Skin’ (2026) completed directly on the gallery wall. All works were created between 2023 and 2025 following the artist’s residency at the Ashmolean in 2023, and include ‘Resensitizing the Brown Narrative’ (2023), the eight-work series ‘Where Every Leaf Holds a Tale’ (2023-4), and ‘In A Timeless Sweet Land’ (2023).
Ashes to Fashion
Ulster Museum | Belfast
Opening: 27 February 2026 – Closing: 13 September 2026
The exhibition marks 50 years since a 1976 fire at Malone House destroyed the Ulster Museum’s entire costume and textile collection of around 10,000 items. It brings together approximately 120 objects spanning five centuries, including the Lennox Quilt from 1712 (the only surviving item from the original collection), a rare 1660s stumpwork embroidery casket donated by Lanto Synge in 2025, 18th-century silk gowns, and contemporary pieces by designers including Jonathan Anderson, Chanel, Elie Saab, Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen, Rodarte, Christopher Kane and Kindred of Ireland. The exhibition traces the recovery process and the work of curators beginning with Elizabeth McCrum to rebuild the collection through acquisition, donations and bequests.
Funding
Bow Street Museum of Crime and Justice has been awarded £118,428 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund for “Echoes from the Dock,” a project exploring the LGBTQ+ community’s relationship with criminal justice from Oscar Wilde’s 1895 appearance at Bow Street to the present day. The project will conserve the historic courtroom dock from Court No.2 where Wilde stood following his arrest and restore physical access for visitors, while co-producing a new exhibition with LGBTQ+ communities and partners including Mosaic Trust and Schools OUT that examines how criminal justice systems have shaped LGBTQ+ lives. The project launches in February 2026 with the exhibition opening in late 2026.
