Senior figures from V&A Dundee, Tate and RMG recognised in New Year Honours

The director and former chairwoman of V&A Dundee are among the museum and heritage professionals recognised in the 2019 New Year Honours. 

Philip Long, who has been the director of Scotland’s newest cultural landmark since the early stages of its development, received an OBE for services to culture. Lesley Knox, who stepped down as chairwoman of V&A Dundee last summer, was awarded the same distinction. 

Long said: “It is a great honour to be awarded an OBE, and one which I am thrilled to receive on behalf of everyone who has contributed to the creation of V&A Dundee.

“V&A Dundee has always been an ambitious project from its very earliest stages. I am incredibly proud of everything the team behind the museum has achieved in establishing this major new international centre of design.”

Also recognised on this year’s list was Ann Gallagher, who stepped down as director of collection, British art, at Tate last year. Gallagher received an OBE for services to museums and contemporary art.

The former director of Royal Museums Greenwich, Kevin Fewster, received a CBE for services to museums and maritime history. Tim Marlow, the new chief executive of London’s Design Museum, was recognised with an OBE for services to the arts. 

An OBE also went to Elaine Griffiths, co-founder of The Monastery, a charitable trust set up to support the restoration of Gorton Monastery in Manchester, a previously endangered World Monument site. 

Two artists were among those to receive some of the highest honours, with a knighthood going to Steve McQueen, the Oscar-winning director and former Turner Prize winner. McQueen's current exhibition of Year 3 school portraits is on display at Tate Britain. The ceramicist Magdalene Odundo, whose work is currently being shown at Hepworth Wakefield, was given a damehood for services to art and arts education. 

There were MBEs for people across the museum and heritage sectors, including: Marilyn Scott, director of the Lightbox gallery in Woking, for services to arts, culture and heritage in Surrey; Mohamed Ashraf Ali, head of projects at the British Muslim Heritage Centre, for services to community relations; Peter Burke, voluntary education adviser at Historic Houses, for services to heritage education; councillor Philip Davis, heritage champion at Birmingham City Council, for services to heritage; Fiona Gale, former county archaeologist for Denbighshire, for services to heritage in Wales; Helga Edström, senior policy adviser at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, for public service; Richard Tuffrey, principal regeneration officer (design and conservation), High Peak Borough Council and Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, for services to heritage; and Raymond Burrows of the Ulster Aviation Society, for services to the heritage sector and the community in Northern Ireland. 

A BEM was awarded to Penelope Woodley, a longstanding volunteer at Timespan heritage centre in Helmsdale, Sutherland, for services to art, heritage and the community.