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
Seven new Trustees have been appointed to the National Museums Liverpool Board by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, each serving four-year terms. Appointees include Peter Duffy (Mony Group CEO), Lord John Grantchester (House of Lords member and former Everton FC director), Sue Harris (audit partner, Champion Accountants), Nigel Lowe (retired chartered engineer), Michelle Cox MBE (registered nurse and Royal College of Nursing Fellow), Kathryn Luke (Liverpool FC Director of Ecommerce Trading), and Professor Clare Milsom (Liverpool John Moores University COO and academic palaeontologist). Four trustees begin their roles on 19 January 2026, with the remaining three joining on 1 May 2026.
Openings & closures
Major construction work is now underway at The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery after Stoke-on-Trent City Council signed a £5 million contract with Seddon to transform the venue. The museum will reopen in stages from 28 March 2026.
Exhibitions
War Craft
The Fitzwilliam Museum | Cambridge
Opening: 24 February 2026 – Closing: 23 August 2026
War Craft is a free display at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, bringing together objects made, adapted and treasured during conflict, spanning from the Napoleonic Wars to the ongoing war in Ukraine. Objects on display include newly acquired ‘trench art’ such as brass shell cases carved by Chinese labourers and transformed into ornate vases engraved with dragons, decorated and repurposed coins, and drawings and prints by J.M.W. Turner, Paul Nash, C.R.W. Nevinson and John Singer Sargent, alongside poetry by Siegfried Sassoon. The display is on view in Gallery 14 and no booking is required.
Everyday Objects Transformed by the Conflict
The Peace Museum | Bradford
Opening: 5 March 2026 – Closing: 24 May 2026
Developed by Healing Through Remembering, this exhibition brings together loaned objects and owner-written labels representing a range of views and experiences of the conflict in and about Northern Ireland. It does not present a single version of history, instead allowing people from various backgrounds to speak in their own words. Previously shown in over 50 venues across Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, and the Basque Country since 2012, this marks the first time the exhibition has been displayed in England.
The Last Letter of Mary, Queen of Scots
Perth Museum | Perth
Opening: 23 January 2026 – Closing: 23 April 2026
This free exhibition at Perth Museum in Perth displays the last letter written by Mary, Queen of Scots in the hours before her execution on 8 February 1587. It is the first time in modern history the fragile letter has been seen north of Edinburgh, and the longest it will be on display for a generation. The exhibition runs for three months from 23 January 2026.
Guerrilla Girls
Charleston | Firle
Opening: 1 April 2026 – Closing: 6 September 2026
This exhibition presents key works by the anonymous feminist collective the Guerrilla Girls, who have challenged inequality in the art world for more than four decades. Using graphic language, humour and statistics, the collective expose the power structures that shape whose work is seen, valued and collected. The exhibition is placed in dialogue with the Hogarth Press, drawing connections between Virginia Woolf’s early 20th-century publishing experiments and contemporary strategies for using text and image to confront power structures.
Funding
The National Lottery Heritage Fund has announced an investment of over £10m in seven places across the UK.
