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 Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre in Buckinghamshire has appointed a new director ahead of a capital programme. Dan Feeney, currently interim director of the South Ken Culture Quarter, joins the museum later this month.
Ross McMillan has been appointed as the next Chair of the Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions (ASVA). McMillan is head of destinations at Scottish Canals and ASVA’s current vice-chair. He will take up the role following the AGM in January 2027, succeeding Paul Nixon, who retires from the Board after completing his maximum term.
Openings
The Museum of Liverpool’s auditorium has been renamed the Sir Ken Dodd Auditorium, unveiled by Anne, Lady Dodd at a dinner held by the Ken Dodd Charitable Foundation. The foundation has become National Museums Liverpool’s first Principal Partner, with its support focused on the House of Memories dementia programme, work with young people and the Museum of Liverpool itself.
The Peace Museum in Bradford is to reopen this month after the completion of a major capital investment project. Backed by £400,000 extended City of Culture funding from DCMS, it will open on Saturday 14 November 2026, revealing objects never previously shown, opening up more of the collection to the public.
The Peace Museum sets reopening date after redevelopment project
Exhibitions
Uprising In The Wake
Barbican | London
Opening: 25 January 2027 – Closing: 3 May 2027
The Barbican presents ‘Uprising In The Wake’, a free, un-ticketed exhibition exploring the interconnected histories of Black activism in London, from the formation of the African Association in 1897 to the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020 and beyond. Featuring photography, sound, archival ephemera, film and a curated library, it includes Phil Lewis’s photographs of the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, a screening of ‘Progress’ (1968), and interactive elements inviting visitors to contribute to a collective soundtrack and a ‘What Next?’ wall.
Inside Aardman: Wallace & Gromit and Friends
V&A Dundee | Dundee
Opening: 19 March 2027 – Closing: 29 August 2027
V&A Dundee presents ‘Inside Aardman: Wallace & Gromit and Friends’, coming to Scotland for the first time, taking visitors behind the scenes of Aardman Animations including Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run, Shaun the Sheep and Morph. Over 150 objects are on display, including large-scale models, sets and storyboards from Aardman’s archives, alongside interactive activities covering storyboarding, character design and set lighting.
Interwoven: Stories of Women, Textiles and Art
York Art Gallery | York
Opening: 5 February 2027 – Closing: 6 June 2027
York Art Gallery presents ‘Interwoven: Stories of Women, Textiles and Art’, a contemporary textile exhibition drawing on the Gallery’s collection and loans, featuring artists including Anna Perach, Lubaina Himid and Magdalena Abakanowicz. Shown alongside is ‘Relative Ties’, touring from the Women’s Art Collection at Murray Edwards College, Cambridge, following three generations of the Nicholson family and including Mabel Nicholson’s ‘Nancy in the Tartan Frock’ (c.1910), recently rediscovered in a private collection.
Funding
The Design Museum’s Future Observatory programme, with the Arts and Humanities Research Council, has awarded £70,000 each to four UK practices to develop low-carbon prototypes using biomaterial and bioregional supply chains, chosen from 140 applicants. The recipients are Searo Labs for a seaweed-based earplug, WeCanMake for a community-built timber housing system, SY Ecofit for insulation made from phytomining waste and Local Works Studio for fermented insulation from food crop by-products, with funding running until July 2027.
Museums Galleries Scotland has awarded £513,386 through its Museum Futures programme, run with the Scottish Government and The National Lottery Heritage Fund, to help museums trial new ways of working and build financial resilience. The largest grants go to Trimontium Museum in Melrose (£197,411) for AR experiences and an immersive cinema, City of Edinburgh Council (£97,986), Glasgow Life (£85,000) and Linlithgow Museum (£47,625) for a Star Trek exhibition celebrating Montgomery “Scotty” Scott, alongside Ullapool Museum and 22 microgrant recipients.
Tate has been awarded £1.4m from the AHRC’s Collaborative Doctoral Landscape Awards to fund 12 new studentships over four years from October 2027, working with academic partners across the UK. The programme builds on more than 20 years of collaborative doctoral research at Tate, which has informed its exhibitions, acquisitions and conservation work, with co-supervisory opportunities for university researchers now open and student recruitment beginning in spring 2027.
