A wave of museum and heritage site reopenings, milestone celebrations and transformative projects will shape the cultural landscape in 2025, kicking off with Bradford’s year as City of Culture and National Science and Media Museum at its heart.
The Bradford museum begins the year with its £6m reopening on 8 January, whilst the V&A East Storehouse launches in May, providing public access to 500,000 collection items and preceding the David Bowie Centre for the Study of Performing Arts, housing an 80,000-piece archive.
Tate Modern’s 25th anniversary celebrations in May will feature the return of Louise Bourgeois’s landmark sculpture ‘Maman’, alongside new acquisitions and free exhibitions exploring ecological themes and future visions.
These developments come as several institutions navigate funding challenges, with National Museums Liverpool seeking £10m for its Waterfront Project, whilst multiple heritage sites including Newhaven Fort, the Leas Lift in Folkestone, and Glencoe Folk Museum complete extensive restoration works.
Bradford City of Culture begins
The National Science and Media Museum in Bradford has announced it will reopen on 8 January. Closed in June 2023 for works readying it for Bradford City of Culture in 2025, it was previously set to reopen this Summer. The £6m capital project called ‘Sound and Vision’, suffered delays caused by the construction of a new lift and will open later in the year.
To kick-off the City of Culture year, the museum’s reopening will be celebrated on Saturday 11 January with A Grand Day Out; a special partnership with Aardman animations including screenings of Wallace & Gromit, and model making workshops.A new temporary exhibition David Hockney: Pieced Together opens on 15 January, showcasing the artist’s use of film and photography.
National Museums Liverpool’s Waterfront Project begins
From 6 January, National Museums Liveroool’s International Slavery Museum and Maritime Museum are closing for essential maintenance works, ahead of a major redevelopment project which is now subject to it finding £10m in funding.
The redevelopment of the museums is part of National Museums Liverpool’s Waterfront Transformation Project. While planning permission was granted as recently as October 2024 for the project, Advisor reported last November that £10m earmarked for the project by Sunak’s government was now under review by Labour. It’s one of six ‘Nationally Significant Projects’ labelled by the Conservatives, alongside the likes of the National Railway Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum Dundee, and Leeds’ Poetry Centre, which are having previously committed government funding reviewed.
New chair at Museums Galleries Scotland
Also on January 6, Museums Galleries Scotland will officially welcome Duncan Dornan as Chair of the Board. Dornan’s appointment, first announced last year, will see the new Chair bring experience as Head of Museums and Collections at Glasgow Life, where he served from 2013 until his retirement last August .
Museums Galleries Scotland appoints former Glasgow Life lead as Chair
Historic England-backed youth-led history projects begin across the county
More than 20 youth-led heritage projects across England, funded by Historic England, kick off in January as the organisation aims to engage young people with local cultural history. The projects, funded through the ‘History in the Making’ programme, will run for 18 months.
Each project will be co-created with young people aged 13-25, with a particular focus on under-represented communities. Among the projects receiving funding are: a new mural on Newcastle’s Byker Wall estate; a podcast series documenting the history of Masjid Ibrahim mosque in Newham; and an augmented reality trail exploring King’s Lynn’s queer histories.
Historic England funds youth heritage projects across country
Newhaven Fort reopens on 15 February. The East Sussex heritage attraction has announced its opening programme of events, following the completion of the £7.5m restoration of the 19th century site.
Newhaven Fort to reopen next February after £7.5m restoration
The V&A East Storehouse opens
The V&A East’s working store and free visitor attraction, V&A East Storehouse,is to open to the public on 31 May 2025. The new location houses over half a million works, and will allow visitors self-guided tours, interspersed with experiential installations and over 100 small, curated displays embedded into the collection stores.
The David Bowie Centre for the Study of Performing Arts opens
Within the V&A East Storehouse, set to open in May, will be a collection of 80,000-item David Bowie archives. Included will be handwritten lyrics, letters, original costumes, Bowie’s own instruments, album artwork and awards. The centre is expected to open on 13 September 2025.
V&A secures Bowie’s 80,000-item archive, plans 2025 exhibition
Tate Modern marks 25th anniversary
Tate Modern will mark its 25th anniversary this May, with celebrations running May 9-12. Free events music, performances, talks, and making studios are expected as part of the celebrations. It is set to showcase new acquisitions alongside returning iconic pieces.
Among them, Louise Bourgeois’s 10-meter spider sculpture ‘Maman’ returns to the Turbine Hall after 25 years. It anchors a trail of 25 key works, including Mark Rothko’s Seagram murals and contemporary installations. Two new free exhibitions will open: ‘A Year in Art: 2050’ exploring future visions, and ‘Gathering Ground’ examining ecological and social justice through international artists’ works.
The Goodwood Art Foundation opens
Opening Spring 2025, a new destination for contemporary art in the UK is expected to open its doors. The Goodwood Art Foundation will “feature the work of internationally acclaimed artists set amid a stunning natural landscape, offering an inspiring and enriching experience for all”, the organisation said.
We’re excited to announce that the Goodwood Art Foundation will open its doors in Spring 2025. Building on the Estate’s long history of supporting art and delivering world-class visitor experiences, it will showcase the work of the very best international artists and curators, set against an environment crafted by leading landscape designer, Dan Pearson OBE. Its intention is to build a legacy of culture, wellness and learning long into the future.
Expected in 2025
A new £46m Queen Elizabeth Memorial
Late last year the Government has opened a competition to find a design for a new permanent memorial to The Late Queen.Architect-led multidisciplinary teams have now been asked to submit their experience, before a selected shortlist will be asked to create concept masterplans for the site within St James’s Park, London. The shortlist is expected to be announced in spring 2025 and the winner in early summer 2025.
Competition launched to design £46m Queen Elizabeth II memorial
The Leas Lift, located in Folkestone, Kent, is one of the last remaining water-balanced lifts in the UK. In 2023 the Grade II* Listed heritage attraction secured more than £8m in funding, much of which came from The National Lottery Heritage Fund. The restoration is expected to conclude this year, and the doors to the historic passenger lift are set to open in 2025.
Glencoe Folk Museum reopens
Based in the Scottish Highlands, Glencoe Folk Museum closed in October 2023 as it began a £2.2m restoration project, and this year is set to reopen to reveal the work it has been carrying out. Its collection, displayed across two 19th Century croft cottages, has been redesigned byMather & Co, and Peter Drummond Architects. An exact date is yet to be set for its reopening, which is expected in Summer.
