Museums and heritage

Plans to de-list a statue of the transatlantic slave trader Edward Colston so it can be permanently housed in a museum are set for approval by Bristol council.

The Grade II-listed statue was toppled by protesters in 2020 before being plunged into Bristol Harbour. It was included in a temporary exhibition at the city's M Shed Museum but has been out of public view since January 2022.

Bristol City Council's development control committee will vote on 21 February on a proposal to delist the statue.

If approved, the statue will be part of an exhibition on protest that due to open next month.

The move follows a public consultation by the We Are Bristol History Commission, which found 80% of Bristolians agreed it should be placed in a museum.

According to a council report, Bristol City Council Conservation said a statue of Colston returning to its plinth was "not a reasonable expectation" due to the possibility of "civil unrest".

Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees said: "I remain in support of the view that the best place for the statue is in a museum where its context, and that of what it represents to many communities, can be appropriately shared with diverse audiences."
 

An art gallery in Great Yarmouth that opened three years ago has been put on the market after failing to cover running costs once its grant funding ran out.

The Great Yarmouth Preservation Trust (GYPT), which owns the Yare Gallery, said that rising costs of wages, utility bills, maintenance and insurance led to the gallery's closure last year after its grant funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the government's Culture Recovery Fund ran out.

The trust received £176,800 across two Culture Recovery for Heritage funding rounds.

Bernard Williamson, Chair of GYPT, told Eastern Daily Press: "The trust received no support or subsidy from the local authority or other bodies.

"The regeneration benefits of such an asset are a huge drain on our resources and led trustees to put the building on the market.

"It is hoped that the gallery will, therefore, continue with a new owner."

The Yare Gallery opened in 2021 in a Grade II building that was purchased and restored in the early 2000s to create the Norfolk Nelson Museum, which closed in 2019. The property has gone up for sale for just under £300,000, and the funds will be used to support other local preservation trust projects.

Dorset Museum and Art Gallery needs to triple its current footfall to meet increased running costs following a £16.4m expansion.

Speaking to the BBC, Executive Director Clare Dixon said the organisation was facing a “critical time” as it has struggled to attract enough visitors to meet its costs since it reopened in 2021 after a two-year-long major reconstruction.

Dixon said Covid, the cost-of-living crisis, Brexit and the war in Ukraine had all impacted the museum’s finances.

She added: "The museum reopened in an unpredictable climate, with tourism plummeting and people not going out, so the impact that we hoped the transformation would have had obviously just didn't come to fruition.

"The building is incredible, the displays are beautiful, but the running costs are high.

"When you increase the size of a building, and you increase running costs, you need more people in to make it sustainable. This year is critical."

The museum was recently awarded a grant of £250k from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and a further £150k, spread over three years, from Dorset Council. The money will be used to boost marketing and fund a rebrand, underpinning exhibition costs and supporting learning and events.

Valence House Museum and Gardens in Dagenham will undergo £800k improvement works after securing external investment.

The restoration is backed by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and Arts Council England’s Museum Estates Development Fund, with match funding from Barking and Dagenham Council.

The project includes conservation works in the medieval moated enclosure to restore natural habitats and biodiversity, roof repair and conservation investigations into the medieval fabric of the Grade II* listed building. 

Councillor Saima Ashraf, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Community Leadership and Engagement said: “Barking and Dagenham is a growing destination with a diverse arts and culture offer, and we recognise the huge contribution the sector makes to our entire community.

“Our borough’s heritage gems... are much loved by the community, and despite the financial pressures we, like councils up and down the country, are facing, we’re committed to ensuring our heritage sites remain available for local people to enjoy.

“It’s really important we continue to secure external funding to invest in these important sites and ensure a wide range of arts and culture activity to meet the needs of not just the few, but the many.”

Woking Council will ask the government if it can use money provided for digital strategy to keep an arts centre open.

The BBC reports that the cash-strapped local authority was given £1m as part of the government's UK Shared Prosperity Fund in 2022 but now wants to reallocate £600,000 of that for other purposes, including £130,000 to keep The Lightbox museum and gallery open.

Under the plans, £30,000 would also be given to Citizen's Advice to help plan for the future, and £101,000 would be allocated to improving footpaths and car parks in outdoor spaces.

Will Forster, Deputy Leader at Woking Council, said the move would help minimise the impact of the council's financial position on communities and local businesses.

He added: "We've had to make some really tough decisions this year. I'm glad that by utilising this funding sensibly, we can show organisations like The Lightbox and Citizen's Advice that we value them and are willing to do everything within our gift to support them."

The decision to reallocate the money to six priority projects was made at a council meeting last Thursday (18 January), and government approval will now be sought.

The introduction of admission fees at all national museum sites in Wales due to “critical” financial pressures has an “air of inevitability”, a government committee has heard.

Deputy Minister for Culture Dawn Bowden told the Senedd’s culture committee that ending free entry was being considered as a way to generate income in the face of budget constraints.

In December, the Welsh government revealed plans for a curtailed cultural budget, handing a £3m cut to the National Museums of Wales and a 10.5% drop in funding to Arts Council Wales, suggesting cultural bodies need to "explore other sources of income".

Speaking at the culture committee, Plaid Cymru’s Llŷr Gruffydd said there was an air of inevitability about the introduction of entry charges.

Bowden told ministers: “It is not something that we would be considering or asking the museum to look at and to consider if it were not in a critical situation.

“The budget situation was such that this was an option that had to be on the table.

“Now, I'm not saying that that's where we will end up, but it would not be responsible of me to rule that out at this stage or to suggest to the museum they shouldn't be exploring that.”