In brief

Culture minister for England, Ed Vaizey, has confirmed plans to stage a second UK City of Culture festival in 2017. The UK-wide initiative provides a platform for cities to showcase their cultural offer with a year-long programme of events.
The inaugural festival is to launch in 2013, with Derry as the first host city. 


The Imperial War Museum in London is to close for six months to upgrade its facilities, in time for the centenary of the outbreak of the first world war in 2014. The £35m revamp will involve the entire lower-ground floor being devoted to the war. The museum and research centre are to close to the public in January 2013 and reopen in time for the summer holidays. 


The British Olympic Association plans to build an Olympic Museum in east London after this summer’s games. The £10m museum will open in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in 2014. It will feature interactive displays, sports-related objects and memories from the three London Olympics.


Damien Hirst has confirmed that the public gallery he is developing will open in 2014. The south London gallery, which is intended to bring Hirst’s extensive personal art collection out of storage, will span a terrace of three listed buildings and incorporate six display spaces and a cafe. Hirst has collected more than 2,000 pieces of contemporary art, including five Francis Bacon paintings and works by Banksy and Jeff Koons.