Opinion
Letters
Extinct: natural history keepers in West Midlands Am I the only reader concerned by the unprecedented loss of natural history expertise from museums operated by local government, especially county services? When I joined Coventry’s Herbert Art Gallery & Museum in 1990 there were about 10 traditional keepers of natural history in the region. Over the …
Vox pop
In light of a national museum advertising a freelance education post at less than £8 an hour, are museums exploiting freelancers?
Strategy for Scottish museums is vital
Since the end of 2010, following a ministerial announcement, Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS) has been involved in the process of developing a national strategy for Scotland’s museums and galleries and is working towards becoming the national development body for the sector. The Museum Strategy Group, with wide representation from the sector and chaired by Fiona …
On rabbit holes and forced marriages
Remember it’s ok to fail, was the first thing I was told when I started working for the Norwegian Museum, Library and Archive (MLA) Authority in 2007. I remember thinking how cool it was to work in a place where failure was seen as a necessary part of development work – pushing innovation and breaking …
Collections need to be put back centre-stage
The long established and peculiarly English notion that science and technology are off the scale of the cultural spectrum feels as strong as ever. And now museums are under the auspices of Arts Council England (ACE), which in turn is answerable to Ed Vaizey as minister for culture in England. Another minister, David Willetts, is …
Letters
Creating a contemporary museum habitat The recent closure of my local Habitat in Harrogate was a big come down for me, as a once stylish environment was reduced to a bargain basement full of half empty shelves and scrappy handwritten signs. As a museum curator with a passion for the development of domestic interiors and …