Museums and heritage

A statue of the transatlantic slave trader Edward Colston will go on display at Bristol's M Shed museum after councillors rubberstamped the move yesterday (21 February).

The Art Newspaper reports that Bristol City Council's planning committee removed the statue’s Grade-II listing as part of the process for making it part of the museum’s collection.

The statue was toppled by protesters in 2020 before being plunged into Bristol Harbour. It was included in a temporary exhibition at the M Shed Museum but has been out of public view since January 2022.

A city-wide survey by the We Are Bristol History Commission found that 80% of respondents were supportive of the statue going on display at M Shed.

The commission’s chair, Professor Tim Cole of Bristol University, said: “I was pleased to see that the planning committee approved the officer's report recommending that the statue enter permanently into the museum collection. 

"Museum display emerged overwhelmingly in the conversation we — as a history commission — had with the city in 2021 as the most appropriate site for this contested and complex object."

A law that would have allowed the restitution of artefacts on moral grounds will not apply to national museums and galleries, the government has confirmed.

Currently, most national cultural collections in England are prohibited from deaccessioning items. However, sections 15 and 16 of the Charities Act 2022 would have allowed trustees to request permission from the Charity Commission if they felt there were moral grounds to make a voluntary transfer of property.

The government says the bill's potential consequences were not made clear when it was passed by parliament. The relevant section was suspended in 2022 to allow the government more time to consider it.

In January, Arts and Heritage Minister Lord Parkinson wrote to the Charity Commission clarifying the government's position on the bill.

Parkinson said: "The potential consequences of these provisions were not made clear by the Law Commission when the bill was introduced and were not the subject of parliamentary scrutiny or debate during the passage of the bill.

"The policy of HM Government is that national museums and galleries should continue to be bound by their governing legislation, precluding them from resolving to restitute objects from their collections other than in the limited and specific circumstances expressly provided for in legislation.

"To that end, we will specifically exclude those national museums and galleries from the commencement of sections 15 and 16 of the act."

When the full act comes into force later this year, non-national organisations will be able to make smaller restitutions without consulting the Charity Commission, except where the recipient is located outside the UK.

Plans to de-list a statue of the transatlantic slave trader Edward Colston so it can be permanently housed in a museum are set for approval by Bristol council.

The Grade II-listed statue was toppled by protesters in 2020 before being plunged into Bristol Harbour. It was included in a temporary exhibition at the city's M Shed Museum but has been out of public view since January 2022.

Bristol City Council's development control committee will vote on 21 February on a proposal to delist the statue.

If approved, the statue will be part of an exhibition on protest that due to open next month.

The move follows a public consultation by the We Are Bristol History Commission, which found 80% of Bristolians agreed it should be placed in a museum.

According to a council report, Bristol City Council Conservation said a statue of Colston returning to its plinth was "not a reasonable expectation" due to the possibility of "civil unrest".

Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees said: "I remain in support of the view that the best place for the statue is in a museum where its context, and that of what it represents to many communities, can be appropriately shared with diverse audiences."
 

An art gallery in Great Yarmouth that opened three years ago has been put on the market after failing to cover running costs once its grant funding ran out.

The Great Yarmouth Preservation Trust (GYPT), which owns the Yare Gallery, said that rising costs of wages, utility bills, maintenance and insurance led to the gallery's closure last year after its grant funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the government's Culture Recovery Fund ran out.

The trust received £176,800 across two Culture Recovery for Heritage funding rounds.

Bernard Williamson, Chair of GYPT, told Eastern Daily Press: "The trust received no support or subsidy from the local authority or other bodies.

"The regeneration benefits of such an asset are a huge drain on our resources and led trustees to put the building on the market.

"It is hoped that the gallery will, therefore, continue with a new owner."

The Yare Gallery opened in 2021 in a Grade II building that was purchased and restored in the early 2000s to create the Norfolk Nelson Museum, which closed in 2019. The property has gone up for sale for just under £300,000, and the funds will be used to support other local preservation trust projects.

Dorset Museum and Art Gallery needs to triple its current footfall to meet increased running costs following a £16.4m expansion.

Speaking to the BBC, Executive Director Clare Dixon said the organisation was facing a “critical time” as it has struggled to attract enough visitors to meet its costs since it reopened in 2021 after a two-year-long major reconstruction.

Dixon said Covid, the cost-of-living crisis, Brexit and the war in Ukraine had all impacted the museum’s finances.

She added: "The museum reopened in an unpredictable climate, with tourism plummeting and people not going out, so the impact that we hoped the transformation would have had obviously just didn't come to fruition.

"The building is incredible, the displays are beautiful, but the running costs are high.

"When you increase the size of a building, and you increase running costs, you need more people in to make it sustainable. This year is critical."

The museum was recently awarded a grant of £250k from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and a further £150k, spread over three years, from Dorset Council. The money will be used to boost marketing and fund a rebrand, underpinning exhibition costs and supporting learning and events.

Valence House Museum and Gardens in Dagenham will undergo £800k improvement works after securing external investment.

The restoration is backed by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and Arts Council England’s Museum Estates Development Fund, with match funding from Barking and Dagenham Council.

The project includes conservation works in the medieval moated enclosure to restore natural habitats and biodiversity, roof repair and conservation investigations into the medieval fabric of the Grade II* listed building. 

Councillor Saima Ashraf, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Community Leadership and Engagement said: “Barking and Dagenham is a growing destination with a diverse arts and culture offer, and we recognise the huge contribution the sector makes to our entire community.

“Our borough’s heritage gems... are much loved by the community, and despite the financial pressures we, like councils up and down the country, are facing, we’re committed to ensuring our heritage sites remain available for local people to enjoy.

“It’s really important we continue to secure external funding to invest in these important sites and ensure a wide range of arts and culture activity to meet the needs of not just the few, but the many.”