News
Legal ruling over ivory sale could have consequences for museums
Experts warn of 'unsolicited donations' as collectors and dealers struggle to sell artworks
Bayeux Tapestry arrives in UK overnight accompanied by police escort
Tapestry undergoing checks after ‘monumental effort’ to ensure safe passage
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Analysis
Can Subject Specialist Networks find a way to sustain themselves?
SSNs are a vital way for museum collections experts to share knowledge, but a lack of funding and no strategy to support them has seen some fall by the wayside
‘How many times can we transform?’: Change alone won’t solve the museum funding crisis
Support for the sector to ‘transition towards more sustainable business models’ is good news, but it must be underpinned by a systematic approach, says Bethany Rex
Opinion
‘Just don’t let it turn into Disney’: Why brand partnerships need a better test
Commercial associations are becoming more accepted in the culture sector – but authenticity is vital, says Guy Turton
Ten years after the Brexit vote, museums still need space to talk about its impacts
The legacy of leaving the EU is more complex than either critics or supporters of Brexit assume, says Kirsty Warner
A glass display case isn’t always enough
Greenland’s situation demands a new response, says Ujammiugaq Engell
In practice
Case study | Addressing missing narratives through public programming
Katherine Green shares community collaboration for Music is Black exhibition at the V&A East
Guide | How to deal with hazards in your collections
Helena Jaeschke shares practical advice to help museums tackle the problems of hazardous objects
Case study | Dealing with collections hazards during a move
The Museum of Gloucester shares lessons from a large decant project
Spotlight | Creating family-friendly trails
Holly Black shares practical tips on planning impactful trails
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Features
‘Power has shifted’: Northern Ireland’s community-led museums
A growing number of heritage projects are allowing local people to explore and share their own stories rather than having others speak for them. By Simon Stephens
Making an archive sing
Simon Stephens visits the Red House in Suffolk, the former home of composer Benjamin Britten and his partner, the singer Peter Pears
People
Q&A | ‘I don’t think I ever thought we could ask to borrow The Haywain’
Emma Roodhouse, curator of Walking Constable’s Landscape, talks about the enduring quality of the artist’s work in the year that marks the 250th anniversary of John Constable’s birth
Q&A | ‘We have to bear our memory. Even if it is a nightmare, it should belong to us’
Museums Journal sits down with China's most famous dissident, Ai Weiwei, to talk history, rebellion – and his hopes of being forgotten
Profile | ‘Museums shouldn’t be afraid of income-generation’
Rebecca Atkinson talks to Sarah Hayes, the director of the Birmingham Conservation Trust and the Coffin Works, about breathing life into heritage buildings in the city
Q&A | ‘Frederick Horniman’s legacy lives on today – but in a world that is very different’
Director of content Peronel Craddock tells us about the Horniman’s plans for the future as it celebrates its 125th birthday
Reviews
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Watch and listen
Radical Museums | S3E4: Nelson Cummins
Simon Stephens travels to Glasgow to meet Nelson Cummins, curator of legacies of slavery and empire at Glasgow Museums
Radical Museums | S3E3: Marian Gwyn
Sharon Heal speaks to Marian Gwyn, whose transformative initiative has worked to diversify and decolonise local museums in Wales
Radical Museums | S3E2: E-J Scott
Simon Stephens travels to south London to interview E-J Scott, founder of the Museum of Transology
Radical Museums | S3E1: William Mitchell
Sharon Heal meets William Mitchell, project director for the Action for Community Transformation (ACT) Initiative in Belfast
Radical Museums | S2E4: Agrippa Njanina
Sharon Heal travels to Belfast to meet Agrippa Njanina, a community engagement officer at National Museums Northern Ireland
Radical Museums | S2E3: Ken Paranada
Simon Stephens meets Ken Paranada, the curator of art and climate change at the Sainsbury Centre
Europe after empire
Europe after empire
Gary Younge introduces a series of articles that explore how decolonisation is being approached in European museums
‘Return the bones. Empty the museums’
Museums need to address the issue of the ancestral remains in their collections with transparency, openness and accountability, argues Dan Hicks
A whole new world
The Wereldmuseum Amsterdam has been working with artists and other creative practitioners to explore the impact of Dutch imperialism, but Carol Ann Dixon says more needs to be done to empower its own staff to contribute to meaningful change at the organisation
Representations of Blackness at Vienna’s Belvedere Museum
How Tayla Myree is bringing a much-neglected discussion to the public with her tour exploring Black iconography in the museum's artwork
We are committed to publishing accurate, engaging, challenging and constructive content on the issues, ideas, debates and practices that help museums serve the public better.
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