Media museum downturn
The National Media Museum in Bradford (pictured above) suffered an 18 per cent fall in visitor numbers last year. The museum attributed the drop to ‘staycationers’ visiting the coast during the recession and said its summer holiday programme had not been as popular as previously. The museum is seeking funds for a London gallery, which it hopes to open in 2011.
Art Fund Collect finalists
The finalists for Art Fund Collect, the annual £75,000 Arts Fund/Crafts Council curator’s prize, are: Aberdeen Art Gallery; Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter; Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead; Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; Manchester Art Gallery; Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester; Mima in Middlesbrough; Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; Plymouth City Museum and Gallery; Harris Museum & Art Gallery, Preston; and York Art Gallery.
Old books made available
The British Library has teamed up with Amazon to make 65,000 mainly out-of-print 19th-century titles available on its CreateSpace print-on-demand service. They can also be downloaded on to Amazon Kindle reading devices.
Treasure finder charged
The first prosecution for failing to report Treasure has ended with the finder of a 14th-century silver piedfort being told to hand it over to magistrates. The coin was taken to Ludlow Museum in January 2009 for identification and its finder told to report it under the Treasure Act. But they failed to do so within the statutory 14 days. They received a conditional discharge and ordered to pay £25 costs.
