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
Andrew Lovett OBE is among two appointments to the Arts Council England Board. Lovett has previously served in roles at Lake District National Park, York Museums, STEAM – Museum of Great Western Railway in Swindon, and the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Newcastle-Gateshead. He started his current role as Chief Executive of Black Country Living Museum in August 2009. Lovett, alongside fellow appointee Phil Stokes, will serve a four year term commencing 01 December 2024 to 30 November 2028.
Openings & closures
The People’s Story Museum is set to reopen to the public on Monday 2 December after a temporary closure. The museum, run by Edinburgh council, had been temporarily closed due to staff shortages but was also set to close over autumn and winter to save costs.
Exhibitions
A new display at the Museum of Liverpool examines life inside Taveners, Liverpool’s historic sweet factory. Through a collection of photographs, the exhibition “Sweet: The Taveners Story” highlights the workers behind the company’s famous confections, including boiled sweets and caramels. The display runs from 16 November 2024 to 23 March 2025.
A major new exhibition chronicling the childhood of beloved Sheffield artist Pete McKee opens at Weston Park Museum this November. ‘The Boy with a Leg Named Brian: Memoirs by Pete McKee’ features over 90 of McKee’s works, including paintings, prints and sculptures, capturing key moments and memories from his formative years in the 1970s. Visitors can explore vibrant displays celebrating the era’s clothes, games, music and popular culture, and even play classic arcade games. The exhibition runs from 29 November 2024 to 2 November 2025.
The British Library has announced its upcoming exhibitions in 2025. Among the newly announced upcoming exhibitions is ‘Gardening (working title)’, which explores the transformative power of gardening in Britain, featuring items ranging from an Anglo-Saxon herbal remedy collection to contemporary artworks. The exhibition delves into how gardening impacts people, communities, and the environment, with sustainability guiding the design and build. Runs from 2 May – 10 August 2025.
V&A Dundee is to present the Scotland exhibition from the 18th Venice Architecture Biennale, A Fragile Correspondence, featuring creative responses by architects, artists, and writers mapping three Scottish landscapes. The exhibition explores the complex relationship between land, architecture, and language, seeking new ways of working in connection with the land. A Fragile Correspondence will be on display from 22 November 2024 – 29 February 2025.
The first major retrospective of Sheila Fell’s work in over 30 years will be held at Tullie Museum and Art Gallery in Carlisle, showcasing close to 100 works from private and public collections with support from the Weston Loan Programme with Art Fund. The exhibition features paintings, prints, and drawings spanning Fell’s entire career, with a focus on the themes of Cumberland, learning and influences, and her legacy. Sheila Fell: Cumberland on Canvas runs from 23 November 2024 to 16 March 2025.
This spring, Tate Modern will celebrate the life and career of artist Leigh Bowery (1961-1994). The exhibition will bring together Bowery’s bold, sculptural costumes, paintings, photography and videos to explore his impact on art, fashion and popular culture. Visitors can expect to see outfits created in collaboration with Nicola Rainbird and Mr Pearl, as well as portraits by artists like Lucian Freud. The exhibition will chart Bowery’s journey from his hometown of Sunshine, Australia to the nightlife scene of 1980s London, culminating in his experimental music and performance work. ‘Leigh Bowery!’ will run from 27 February to 31 August 2025 at Tate Modern in London.
The Freud Museum London has opened the exhibition ‘Women & Freud: Patients, Pioneers, Artists’, featuring manuscripts, images, objects, visuals, and film footage that bring to life the many women who featured in Freud’s history. The exhibition will stretch through the museum’s rooms, telling the story of both the women in his life and those affected by his practice. Runs from 30 October 2024 to 5 May 2025.
Dulwich Picture Gallery has announced its programming for 2025, among which is an upcoming exhibition featuring the work of contemporary artist Rachel Jones, known for her exploration of identity and self through vivid colours. The exhibition will continue Jones’s work from her previous show at the Museum of African Diaspora in San Francisco, while also drawing on the museum’s own collection. It will run from 10 June to 19 October 2025.
The Holburne Museum is to present the first exhibition in the UK by Diedrick Brackens, featuring the artist’s large-scale, vibrant, hand-crafted tapestry works exploring African American and queer identity, and American history. Four key works by Brackens will be on display in the museum’s Ballroom Gallery, depicting imagined scenes suspended between the past and the future. Runs 24 January – 26 May 2025.
