Opinion
Museums should be campaigning for cultural rights for all
On 3 April this year, there was an international outcry when the Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei was arrested on charges of alleged “economic crimes”. London’s Tate Modern placed a large sign on its building demanding that China “Release Ai Weiwei”. The artist was eventually freed on 22 June. So is everything OK now? …
Overcoming the fear of tackling sensitive issues
An exhibition exploring the history of Broadwater Farm is now on at Bruce Castle Museum in Tottenham, north London. That it is on at all is a testament to the courage of the museum and the council in facing, passively at least, what they fear most: sensitive issues. No matter what the achievements before or …
Museums need to make the loans process easier
Over the past five years of work on collections at the Museums Association (MA), I’ve championed increased loans between museums and to other public venues as one of the primary means of improving use of collections. But even compared with disposal, loans has been a tricky subject on which to find agreement and to see …
Letters
Over 50s need not apply… I feel that I have to make some kind of comment regarding what seems to be the current trend in recruitment across the museum and gallery sector. I was made redundant in November 2010 from my post as curator of a small accredited independent Scottish museum, after seven years of …
Letters
I was there: the significance of community history We were very interested to read Louise Gray’s article on museums and festivals and echo the benefits of targeting these events for engaging those harder-to-reach audiences. In Leeds, we too have a large music festival and see this as a great opportunity for engagement, but have taken …