Government 'furious' with National Gallery of Ireland
PLUS: RA axing 60 jobs due to "serious financial challenge”
Friday 28 February 2025 | news from museums, galleries, heritage and art, including:
Tim Burton breaks Design Museum records 🖤
British representative for Venice Biennale revealed 🇬🇧
Lord Ashcroft dismayed at Imperial War Museums 🎖️
Happy Friday — where did February go?!
I’m ending the month with three tidbits from me.
Firstly, this March is a huge month for huge exhibitions. There are many highlights to choose from (and I’m still MASSIVELY behind on visiting February’s shows) but my top three are: Grayson Perry taking over the Wallace Collection to mark his 65th birthday, the fascinating drawings of the great Victor Hugo going on rare display at the Royal Academy, and — my number one — a landmark first UK exploration of the sensation portraits of the sensational Edvard Munch at the National Portrait Gallery. Let me tell you, I cannot wait.
Secondly, Arts minister Sir Chris Bryant and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport have launched the “first ever government minister podcast.” It promises to explore “the impact, innovation and opportunity in the UK’s creative industries.” The first episode is with actor Adrian Lester, but a future episode will include the Director of the British Museum, Nicholas Cullinan.
I like Chris Bryant. Many in the sector do and he’s doing a good job, but this feels… a bit weird. Maybe it will offer hard-hitting and incisive assessments of the state of the culture industry in Britain. Maybe interviewees will feel able to speak freely about the dire state of funding. Maybe Cullinan will say, yeah, the government’s National Insurance hike is draining his museum’s finances like nearly all cultural institutions across the country. Maybe. Call me old fashioned, but, however well intentioned, I prefer my media not to be direct from the government. I’ll stick to the Rest is Entertainment on my commute thank you very much.
Finally, this is a hugely exciting newsletter to send as it’s the very first one being emailed to over FIVE THOUSAND of you. Yes, I’ve hit 5k and what really does feel like a massive milestone — not least because all of you would fill the Shepherd's Bush Empire two-and-a-half-times (!!).
As always, thank you for reading each and every week, and thank you for spreading the word which has been the main way this little side-hustle publication has grown. Because you keep reading, I keep bringing you the biggest, best and latest news on museums, galleries, heritage and art, from the UK and all around the world.
And if you want to help me celebrate with a pint (or two), you can donate as always right here in just a few clicks.
— maxwell
Top stories 🚨
RA facing “serious financial challenge”
The Royal Academy in London plans to axe nearly a fifth of roles due to a “serious financial challenge.” 60 positions are earmarked to be cut and are now subject to a consultation.
Bosses have blamed “increasing costs and changing visitor behaviours.” They say they are “facing a material reduction in income from exhibition admission and other on-site sources of income.” Visitors in 2024 were less than half of pre-pandemic levels of 1.25 million — just 622,000 people came through the door. The RA receives no direct government funding.
Almost half of the roles up for redundancy are "current vacancies", which will "mitigate the workforce reduction" according to a spokesperson. This means only 30 current employees are at risk of losing their jobs.
But the IWGB union which represents some employees says they are “deeply distressed” by the plans. “This is the second wave of mass job cuts in recent years and highlights reckless mismanagement of an historic institution.” (Read more)
Chair says his museum is “too costly”
The future of the River and Rowing Museum in Henley-on-Thames hangs in the balance as trustees announce the venue will “cease the current operation” due to heavy financial losses.
While there’s no immediate plans to close — which had to be clarified after a slightly clumsy initial statement — trustees say the current model is “not viable in the long-term”. The museum was opened in 1998 in a purpose-built venue designed by Sir David Chipperfield.
Museum Chair David Worthington said the institution “was always too costly for its location and subject matter” and that a new “risky and expensive-to-execute” strategy to break even will be abandoned after the museum’s director Steve O’Connor said he was quitting last week.
They will now look at “all options, from all quarters” to secure its future. They have gone public “in order to see who can help.” (Read more)
“Fury” directed at National Gallery of Ireland
Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin has said it is “incomprehensible” that the National Gallery of Ireland purchased a €124,000 state-of-the-art painting scanner with public money but it’s never been switched on in eight years. He said the institution “has to answer for it.”
The X-ray scanner has remained untouched because a suitable room for it has not been found. It requires a room with lead-lining and there has been concern over the load-bearing capacity of the gallery’s spaces. The Deputy Prime Minister said his reaction to the gallery was “absolute fury.” One opposition leader said “Columbus found the New World faster than the National Gallery found a room to fit this particular scanner in."
The news came as spending by arts institutions in Ireland is at the centre of a political storm. Following last week’s newsletter reporting on the botched IT system by Arts Council Ireland, a new board will now examine the Council’s governance. (Read more)
UK news 🇬🇧
Flying the flag for Britain in Venice 🇬🇧
Turner Prize winner Lubaina Himid will represent Great Britain at the Venice Biennale in 2026. Himid said she “laughed out loud with both disbelief and pleasure” when she received the invitation. The British Council — who make the selection — hailed the 70 year old’s “vibrant, articulate and spatially dynamic artworks” and promised that Venice visitors will be “challenged and delighted in equal measure.” (Read more)
Lord Ashcroft dismayed at Imperial War Museums 🎖️
Lord Ashcroft has claimed Imperial War Museums “had not even the courtesy” to tell him it’ll close his namesake gallery housing the world’s largest collection of Victoria Crosses. The gallery opened after he loaned the items and donated £5m for its creation in 2010. He said he’d made plans to donate the medals — but suggested this was now in doubt. The museum said the gallery was being removed to make way for displays exploring post-WWII conflicts, including Iraq and Afghanistan. (Read more)
🔗 OPINION | The closure of the Lord Ashcroft gallery is a sad moment for the nation and the heroes it showcases | Lord Ashcroft for LBC
Tim Burton breaks Design Museum records 🖤
The Design Museum’s major retrospective on the career of director Tim Burton has become the most visited exhibition in the museum’s 35-year history. Over 171,000 people have so far experienced the show, and the demand means its run has been extended by five weeks. Burton said he was “blown away by the response.” The just-closed Barbie exhibition got 144,000 visitors, also making it one of the museum’s biggest ever. (Read more)
Jobs cut at brand new Blackpool museum ❌
Less than a year after opening, Blackpool’s £13m Showtown museum has cut 15% of its workforce and will have its operations overseen by the company that runs the nearby waterpark in order to ‘improve efficiencies’. The museum’s Chief Executive Liz Moss has resigned from her role. But Blackpool Council leader Lynn Williams said "There is no doubt that Showtown's future is secure in Blackpool.” (Read more)
Dundee arts venue will reduce programme 🏴
Dundee Contemporary Arts has said it’s “disappointed” that the SNP-run local council will cut its grant by 10%. While they are “relieved” more significant cuts were dropped and that they’ll no longer axe staff, they’ll “now need to make some changes to our programme.” The council’s new budget will also see Broughty Castle Museum reduce its opening hours and Dundee Science Centre get less money too. (Read more)
Global news 🌎
Egypt 🇪🇬
The decades-long saga of the Grand Egyptian Museum looks like finally coming to an end, as the date when it will fully open has been revealed. The foundation stone was laid in 2002, and while some spaces have been open since last year, the remainder will welcome visitors from 03 July, Prime Minister Mustafa Madbuli announced. There will be festivities in Egypt for several days to promote tourism. "This is a big event that the whole world has been waiting for," Madbuli said. (Read more)
USA 🇺🇸
The New Museum — Manhattan’s only museum dedicated exclusively to contemporary art — will reopen this autumn with double the gallery space thanks to a striking angular extension. The seven-storey extension is costing $82m (£65m). It’ll be named in honor of trustee Toby Devan Lewis who donated $30 million — the largest gift in the Museum’s history — to the project. The opening exhibition will see 150 artists explore what it means to be human in the face of technological change. (Read more)
France 🇫🇷
The Bayeux Tapestry will go off display for two years from this summer as the museum that shows it is set to close until October 2027 for a major renovation and conservation project. The venue’s reopening will be in time to mark the millennium of the birth of William the Conqueror. “In terms of economic and cultural influence, this is the most complex and ambitious project… ever undertaken by the Town of Bayeux.” mayor of Bayeux said. (Read more)
USA 🇺🇸
A massive bronze sculpture by Thomas J Price will soon stand tall in Times Square. At night, it will be seen with the artist’s stop-motion animations on the plaza’s famed billboards. It’s all to coincide with Price’s major show at Hauser and Wirth New York. The work — called Grounded in the Stars (2023) and standing 12ft tall — “is a composite fictional character, unfixed and boundless” Price said. (Read more)
News in brief
London art trail rejected
Plans for a London-wide art trail with a new commission in all 32 boroughs has been dropped despite unanimous backing by the city’s assembly. London’s deputy Mayor said there was no “resource to commission, deliver and maintain” it. (More)
Worsley bids farewell
The successor to historian Lucy Worsley at Historic Royal Palaces has been announced. Eleri Lynn — who once helped identify a missing dress of Elizabeth I — replaces the TV star as Chief Curator. (More)
Danish henge unearthed
An “extraordinary” timber circle believed to be over 3,500 and connected to Stonehenge has been discovered in Denmark. The “woodhenge” shows shared belief systems between Denmark and England. (More)
Fake or fortune?
Is the National Gallery’s Samson and Delilah painting really by Rubens? An art historian says they have sensational new research exposing it as a fake, highlighting its ‘bad craftsmanship’. (More)
Golden getaway
Police have released CCTV footage of the moment thieves rolled a £4.75m gold toilet artwork away from Blenheim Palace. Three men are on trial for the theft. Jurors have been told one searched for online news articles related to the crime. (More)
👀 Last week’s most clicked news story
— UK government announces £270m fund for England’s ‘crumbling’ cultural infrastructure
💻 New and updated on maxwellmuseums.com
— After 50 years, Victor Hugo's drawings come to UK in Royal Academy exhibition
📊 Last week’s poll results | Do you welcome the government's £20m funding boost for civic museums in UK?
— Yes. Finally, they listened! 65%
— It’s a sticking plaster at best 35%
📊 This week’s poll
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