Review of the year

Blunders

Two years behind schedule and £23m over budget, West Bromwich arts centre, the Public, finally opened in June. Six months later the £62m project still hadn't opened its gallery space. Apparently, the centre now needs ever more money. It's all been a rather… public debacle.

In January, National Gallery art handlers dropped Marcia, a Renaissance painting by Beccafumi that had been part of the Renaissance Siena show. An internal investigation into handling procedures was launched and the painting has been restored and rehung.

Disposals

After much wrangling and soul searching the Watts Gallery in Surrey sold two paintings, Jasmine by Albert Moore and the Triumph of Love by Edward Burne-Jones, at auction in June for £1.5m.

Caitlin Griffiths, the Museums Association's head of professional issues, said it showed there were exceptional circumstances when disposal could take place, but it was not to be undertaken lightly. The gallery said it was the only viable solution to secure the future of the collection.

Temporary exhibitions

This year was not short of blockbusters for Museums Journal reviewers to attend. The British Museum followed its terracotta army exhibition with Hadrian: Empire and Conflict, which our reviewer classed as "demanding, but very worthwhile".

By contrast Tutankhamun at the O2, one of the most hyped exhibition around, was described as muddled by our reviewer.

At the Victoria and Albert Museum exhibitions ranged from Cold War Modern and Supremes both of which received favourable reviews. China Design Now was criticised though for being "place-making propaganda".

But among all the offerings from the big nationals, two exhibitions in less high-profile museums stood out. One was Lindow Man: A Bog Body Mystery at Manchester Museum, which our reviewer said gave a "real sense that this is a community museum and that the community is engaged in truly public history".

The other was Helmand: The Soldiers' Story at the National Army Museum. It was shortlisted for the Art Fund Prize and our reviewer said it showed how content generated by users can be "employed in a moving and insightful way".

See pink box below for links to the relevant Museums Journal reviews

Acquisitions

One of the biggest acquisitions of the year was the cost-price donation of dealer Anthony d'Offay's collection to the Tate and the National Galleries of Scotland. D'Offay gave the 725 works, valued at £125m, to the two galleries for a knock-down price of £26.5m.

The collection consists of Artist Rooms, dedicated to individual artist's work, which will tour to 11 venues, ranging from the New Art Gallery Walsall to the Pier Arts Centre in Orkney, from spring next year. The 50 rooms include work by Ron Mueck, Ed Ruscha, Andy Warhol, and Joseph Beuys.

Closures

In the same month that culture secretary Andy Burnham launched the Find Your Talent scheme, offering children five hours of culture a week, Southwark council in London pulled the funding from the Livesey Museum for Children. Campaigners are still trying to save the museum.

Other museums facing hard times included the Coors Museum in Burton on Trent, which closed in June, and Gwynedd Museum and Art Gallery in Bangor, which was nearly shut because of council cuts until campaigners successfully called for a rescue package.

Disputes

National museums were thrust centre stage for the wrong reasons when staff decided enough was enough and protested against poor pay deals. It was a mess. Deals were late and then were imposed on staff.

Museums involved included the National Gallery, the British Museum, and the Science Museum. Unions asked museums to look for more money. National Gallery staff had an additional area of contention; it takes 18 years to reach the top of a pay band. A resolution is still to be reached.

New museums

With lottery money for big capital projects drying up, it's perhaps unsurprising that 2008 was not the year for opening high-profile museums and galleries.

The largest was the £20m Leeds City Museum, although Charles Saatchi would not reveal how much his new Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea cost to develop. But Museums Journal reviewers have been all over the UK covering smaller museums that have achieved a lot for relatively little.

The revamped Falconer Museum in north-east Scotland looked great and the Grace Darling Museum in Northumberland was described as a "gem".

Scarborough's Rotunda Museum received a lot of praise: "An all-too-rare example of a small but almost perfectly formed local museum that is sure of its purpose, confident and generous in its expertise and focused not on ticking boxes but on inspiring audiences."

Among all the positives, there were inevitably a few shockers, most notably the new Movieum in London's County Hall, which was slammed as "cheap" and "ill-conceived".

See pink box below for links to the relevant Museums Journal reviews