Intruders at Tate St. Ives
News round-up: New government arts bailout / National Gallery dispute resolved
maxwell museums friday briefing - 5 March 2021
Happy Friday. There are just (just!) 73 days to go until museums in England can reopen. That’s 1752 hours, or 6,307,200 seconds, or (and this is my favourite wtf stat) 20% of the whole of 2021. Puts it all in perspective.
There’s some very varied and interesting news in this week’s friday briefing so we’ll get straight on. BUT, if you missed my magazine edition earlier this week with my interview about anti-racism and the new careers programme at Somerset House, then you can catch up here. And don’t forget to send this email to a friend and encourage them to sign up if it would be useful.
Let’s go!
Love museums? Then you’ll love my newsletter. I send a round up of museum news every Friday, and every two weeks a jam-packed edition of original features including interviews. Subscribe to get the next edition
The week’s top story
The biggest story of the week in the whole of the UK was Wednesday’s Budget, and museums and galleries breathed a sigh of relief the day before when it was confirmed the Chancellor would provide a new arts bailout. £300 million will go to extend the Culture Recovery Fund to continue supporting key national and local cultural organisations, and an additional £90 million was earmarked for government-sponsored National Museums and cultural bodies in England to help keep them afloat until they can reopen under the covid roadmap. The Art Newspaper
Why it matters
The industry body, the Museums Association, has broadly welcomed the new funding. The government hopes this cash allows venues to put aside worries about survival (for now) and to begin “planning and preparing” for reopening. And while museums are really struggling, this extra emergency funding will help many leaders sleep a little bit more easy. But the money was necessary. Museums have to wait a whole five weeks longer than commercial galleries to reopen under the roadmap out of lockdown, something that still provokes bafflement. Each extra week of closure was harming museum’s finances and some may have gone to the wall in this period. But when museums do reopen, they will only do so at 20% capacity meaning income won’t recover to anywhere near pre-pandemic levels. The question is, will the government be willing to hand out more emergency cash when even being open won’t be paying the bills.
The week’s other news
Mark your diaries. With museums (currently) allowed to reopen from 17 May, venues have started to confirm new exhibition dates. Tickets can be booked for Epic Iran and Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser from 19 May at the V&A; the most expansive exhibition of Barbara Hepworth’s work in the UK since her death opens on 21 May at the Hepworth Wakefield; David Hockney’s new iPad drawings will now be unveiled on 23 May at the Royal Academy; and masterpieces from the National Portrait Gallery will be shown on loan (nearly a year late!) at the National Maritime Museum from 28 May.
Caught on camera. Police have issued an appeal after two people “up to no good” were caught on CCTV inside the very much closed Tate St. Ives gallery. Questions for Tate’s security surely? Cornwall Live
Hurrah! Museums in Germany can reopen from Monday - and the news came as a shock to them. But there are many, many strings. The Art Newspaper
100-year row. A century-long dispute (due to a contested will) between the National Gallery and the Hugh Lane Gallery has been resolved. A new agreement means more works by Manet, Monet and Renoir will be shared and rotated between London and Dublin. The Telegraph
The Banksy of Reading Gaol. Street artist Banksy has confirmed he was behind the artwork that appeared this week on the wall of the English prison where Oscar Wilde was an inmate. He revealed the news via a video on his Instagram, which you can see below. It’s already be viewed over 3m times. BBC News
Uffizi Diffusi. Italy’s Tuscany region is to be transformed into one big "scattered" museum in a bid to tackle over-tourism in Florence. The Director of the Uffizi has revealed plans to display its treasures in many towns and villages and across "at least 60, maybe even 100 exhibition spaces." I like the ambition. CNN
“prominence and urgency.” Artwork by six black artists - including Yinka Shonibare, Lubaina Himid and Frank Bowling - will be sent to primary schools around Wakefield so as to ‘tell black children they should expect to see themselves in galleries.’ It’s part of the Hepworth Wakefield’s School Prints project. The Guardian
Winnie under the hammer. A painting by *checks notes* Winston Churchill has been sold by *checks notes again* Angelina Jolie, for an artist record of over £8m. It was once owned by *one last time* Franklin D Roosevelt. How’s that for art A-list? Independent
“the book at the end of the bookshelf.” The Gothic masterpiece that is Wells Cathedral in Somerset will welcome a brand new work by Sir Antony Gormley later this year. It will occupy an empty niche below the north-west tower, and will join 300 medieval sculptures of saints and kings on the façade. The Art Newspaper
Sculpture with your shopping? Could the flagship Debenham’s store on London’s Oxford Street - now empty after the brand went bust - be turned into a massive art gallery? It could if new plans get the green light. With precisely zero commercial interest in taking over the building, there might not be many other choices. And this definitely would be more fun. Time Out London
Love museums? Then you’ll love my newsletter. I send a round up of museum news every Friday, and every two weeks a jam-packed edition of original features including interviews. Subscribe to get the next edition