Features

Going local

What do ideas of localism, volunteering, and community empowerment mean for museums and their audiences? Helen Weinstein reports

The Museum of…Our pick of the UK’s specialist collections

Instruments, astronomical and musical, are the focus of a museum dedicated to William and Caroline Herschel. By Geraldine Kendall

Great expectations

Many museums are hoping to banish hard times by attracting visitors to events celebrating the bicentenary of Charles Dickens's birth. By Deborah Mulhearn

Best in show

Joseph Grigely: 167 White Conversations, Alice in Wonderland, Tate Liverpool

All work and no pay

Internships often leave people feeling exploited and undervalued, and they can also threaten workforce diversity. Geraldine Kendall investigates

Spreading folk tales

Simon Costin has ambitious plans to create a museum dedicated to British folklore. Simon Stephens meets him

Text messages

Manuscripts can be revealing and thought-provoking objects but they are not easy to display or interpret. Deborah Mulhearn looks at some solutions

The Museum of… Our pick of the UK’s specialist collections

The British Golf Museum maps out how an east coast Scottish game conquered the world, writes Louise Gray

Taking the long view

After a career in politics and education, Baroness Kay Andrews is now focusing her energy on the needs of the heritage sector. Simon Stephens meets her

Best in show

John Atkinson Grimshaw: Reflections on the Thames, Westminster 1880 (Leeds Art Gallery) Guildhall Art Gallery, City of London

New horizens

Museums are responding to budget cuts by becoming more innovative and focused, as well as looking for partners from outside the sector, finds Maurice Davies

Ways of seeing

Should galleries allow the art to speak for itself or should they provide information and interpretation for visitors? By Sara Selwood