Opinion
Vox pop
Where should responsibility for museums in England lie after the abolition of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council?
Letters
Stonehenge: it’s a lot more than a visitor centre that is at stake Maev Kennedy makes light of the government’s decision to withdraw £10m funding from the Stonehenge project. The media response has, understandably, focused on the building side of the project – the visitor centre. What has not been mentioned are the environmental improvements …
What Barack Obama can teach museum managers
There are more books and articles published and courses organised about leadership than any other sub-discipline of business. We have our fair share in the cultural sector. This year I attended a Cultural Leadership Programme leadership facilitation skills course run by Action Learning Associates. Its aim was to provide support in developing leadership skills – …
The government has put the lid on advocacy so it’s time for a bit of DIY
The political and economic landscape has changed, and the advocacy environment has changed with it. As a sector we have historically depended on our quangos to advocate on our behalf (the likes of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council and English Heritage). And they’ve been obliging. But as a consequence of the Tories’ localism agenda, …
Letters
Supporting tomorrow’s curators today is crucial for our collections This letter is prompted by the very welcome points made by Stephen Deuchar regarding curatorial expertise and Maurice Davies regarding collecting at a time of financial crisis. Important positions, but there is a risk that these positions unintentionally polarise the situation on the ground, creating a …
Letters
Putting natural history collections on the museum map I read your correspondent’s contribution on this topic of natural history collections, Why do museums neglect the public’s favourite heritage?, with interest. The Natural History Museum (NHM) saw an underlying rise in visitor numbers of more than 500,000 between 2005 and 2008, and a further big increase …