What future for Birmingham's museums?
Sat, Apr 19 2025 10:22
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What future for Birmingham's museums?
Saturday 10th May, 1.00 pm - 3.00 pm
Bosta Room, Cherry Red's Cafe Bar, 88-92 John Bright Street, Birmingham, B1 1BN
Free entry but please register via EventBrite
The Birmingham Museums Trust looks after eight museums and a collection centre. Two museums, Soho House and Museum of the Jewellery Quarter are completely closed and one, the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, is partially closed. Of the others, only the science museum, Think Tank, is open for a significant part of the week, Wednesday to Sunday. The others are open for two or three days, with Aston Hall’s opening further limited by Aston Villa home matches.
The Museums Trust buildings are beset by sewage ingress, failed heating systems, wiring issues, and roof damage. There are challenges with humidity and damp. Lower staffing levels have contributed to incidents where the collection has sustained damage.
Birmingham Museums collection is of over 800,000 objects including the finest collection of Pre-Raphaelite art in the world. Nearly 60,000 of the Museum collection’s objects are artwork. Decorative art and design objects in the collection give a strong sense of Birmingham’s past achievements and acclamations in this field. However, with two museums closed and a third only partially open, opportunities to view and enjoy the collection in the Birmingham Museums are limited. The Trust’s Collection report for the year 2023-24 points out that outside of Birmingham Museums, 9 million visitors were able to enjoy items from the collection. Some loans were made to the Barber Institute at University of Birmingham to ensure they could be seen locally, but the Barber Institute is also now closed for refurbishment.
Nevertheless, the 2023-24 Annual Report states that “we have begun a process of change engaging our workforce, trustees, stakeholders, community partners and the wider public, to rethink what a museum is…We will renew/reinvent our buildings and programmes to redefine the museum so that it is a catalyst for active citizenship, democratic renewal, and inclusive pride in Birmingham.”
What is the future for Birmingham’s museums? Is it further deterioration of the buildings’ fabric whilst volunteers are trained to take iPad pictures to create a digitised version of the collection? Will a £35 annual charge to see 5 museums be enough to raise the money to fix the three others and the Collections Centre? Is the vision set out in the report hubristic in the face of such challenges, misguided as to the role of a museum, or a sign of ambition which will help secure renewal and continuity? What else can be done to support Birmingham Museums and their collection?
Speaker: Councillor Robert Alden. Robert is on the Board of Trustees of Birmingham Museums. Robert is also the Councillor for Erdington (Conservative) and has been Leader of the Opposition in the Council since 2014. He will join us to share his views in a personal capacity and as a Conservative Councillor.
Chair: Rosie Cuckston, Salon Organiser
Reading:
Citizen's Jury urges Birmingham Museums to 'take risks and be bold', Museums Association Museums Journal, February 2025
Lotto Funding Bid Proposed to Fully Reopen Museum, BBC News, November 2024
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