That’s a wrap on 2025! 🎁 We’re logging off now for our festive break and we’ll be back at our desks on Monday 5 January 2026. Wishing all our friends and colleagues in the museum sector a merry Christmas and a happy new year 🎉

News | Culture ‘key to sustainable economic growth and healthy communities’ Paper calls on government to formally measure role of culture in UK economy

News | Welsh Government announces £9m in major funding boost for culture Fifteen projects have received grants to help build capacity

Don't forget this date: the next round of the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation Communities and Collections Fund closes on 21 January 2026 📆 If your project is using museum collections to improve inclusion and equitable working with community partners, we want to hear from you in the new year 👇

Merry Christmas and 2025 in review 🎄 We’re here for your enquiries until 24 December, but we’d like to take this opportunity to wish a merry Christmas to all our friends in the museum sector. Find out more about what we got up to this year: https://ow.ly/z7ha50XM9rr

Opportunity | Become an AMA mentor 🤝 We're now recruiting mentors for our Associateship of the Museums Association programme. You'll have the opportunity to support fellow sector professionals in realising their potential as they progress through the award. Find out more and apply by 2 February 👇

News in brief | Latest news from across the sector 📰 🎨 Accreditation scheme redesign 🏭 Barbican revamp approved 📽️ New home for animation collection And much more 👇

News | Four in 10 heritage sites report intentional damage to their property Survey finds acts like vandalism, graffiti and arson are the most common type of heritage crime

News | Export bar placed on rare union jack that survived Battle of Trafalgar UK buyer sought for £450,000 war-torn flag

News | Next Tate director must address gallery’s ‘existential crisis’ Workers who went on strike earlier this month highlight internal divisions

Opinions | Championing photography through local networks 📸 Partnerships are vital for Photoworks and its work with communities, writes Juliette Buss.

Programme now online for Breaking Barriers: Radical Curatorial Practice 🧪 Join us on 28 January for case studies and panel discussions from the experts behind groundbreaking exhibitions and programmes across the UK 💥 Browse the speakers and sessions – then book from £36 👉 https://ow.ly/IoXJ50XLmPm

Opinion | Ancestors’ dignity cannot wait for repatriation 💬 The Horniman's Heba Abd el Gawad on the ethics of storing human remains.

News | Celebrating 250 years of Jane Austen 👒 Museums around the UK commemorate the birth of one of England's favourite writers

News | Overseas entry fees, a new NPO model and a long-term plan for museums: Our breakdown of the Arts Council England review We round up the key implications for museums and reactions from across the sector. #ArtsCouncilReview #ArtsCouncilEngland

“I don't see why wanting to make the history in our museums more comprehensive and inclusive is a radical pursuit.” In this episode of Radical Museums, Simon Stephens interviews E-J Scott, who founded the Museum of Transology in 2014: https://ow.ly/RYYW50XKYNe

News | Art Fund awards £1.3m to museums and galleries for collections work Twenty-nine institutions receive grants in final round of Reimagine fund

Our director Sharon Heal has responded to today's publication of the independent review of Arts Council England. Look out for a full analysis on the review and museum sector reaction in Museums Journal Online tomorrow.

Opportunity | Become an MA rep for Wales 👋 Representatives are a vital link between the MA and our members, helping to keep us in touch with what's happening on the ground. You'll get some great benefits, including a free place at our annual conference 🎟️ Find out more and apply by 27 January 👇

News | Louvre closed to visitors after workers vote to strike Industrial action partly in protest against ticket price rise for non-European visitors

News | Parliamentary group urges museums to take action on human remains MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy says sector must find an ‘ethical and accountable way forward’ in House of Commons briefing

Last chance to apply to our Fast Track AMA programme 🏎️ If you've got more than 5 years' experience in the sector, you could complete your Associateship of the Museums Association in as little as 12 months. Find out more about our flexible professional development award and apply by 17 December 👇

Become a member of our Wales stakeholder committee 📍 We're looking for 3 members to join our Wales stakeholder committee, working with and reporting to our Nations Committee and board to support and deliver our priorities, campaigns, policies and advocacy. Find out more and apply by 27 January 👇

News | Major research project to explore inequalities in museum attendance University of Leicester announces four-year initiative to address sector’s engagement and benefit gap

Nominations are now open for our 2026 board election ☑️ We're looking for two new trustees, one in Northern Ireland and one in Wales. Our board members help to shape the strategic direction of the MA – and the sector. Find out more about the role and benefits, then make a nomination by 27 January 👇

News | Culturally significant objects stolen from Bristol Archives Police release CCTV of suspects in robbery of more than 600 British Empire artefacts

Tender opportunity | Anti-racist Museums Programme: Global majority evaluator 📝 We're looking for an evaluator from the global majority to help develop a deliberate approach to positionality and supporting wellbeing in the MA’s ARMP. Find out more and submit your application by 12 January 👇

News | Food Museum among 11 organisations named as living heritage support hubs Submissions open for UK-wide inventory of intangible cultural heritage

News | British Museum-led team finds earliest known proof of human fire-making Artefacts from Barnham Paleolithic site in Suffolk to be accessioned into museum’s collection

Deadline extended | Revisiting Empowering Collections 2025: call for evidence 📢 You've now got until 5 January to get together with your colleagues and submit your organisation's response to our review of Empowering Collections, our 2019 report. Find out more – we want to hear your thoughts 👇

Tender opportunity: Workshop facilitator, wellbeing and ableism 👤 We're looking for someone to facilitate two round table sessions exploring the impacts of ableism on wellbeing within the museum sector and then summarise the findings in a short report. Find out more about this research and apply 👇

News | Artist Nnena Kalu celebrates #TurnerPrize win Victory is important for learning disabled artists, according to the organisation that supports the winner

Congratulations to Nnena Kalu, winner of the #TurnerPrize 2025 🎉 Museums Journal had a wonderful time at the award ceremony in Bradford.

Profile | ‘I’ve been to prison several times. It’s no big deal’ Our guest editor Gary Younge meets restitution activist Mwazulu Diyabanza, who explains why he is taking the law into his own hands.

News | Royal Engineers Museum seeks duplicates of valuable D-Day files lost in van theft Almost 2,000 technical documents relating to Mulberry Harbours destroyed in criminal incident

Museums Journal: Europe After Empire | A whole new world 🌍 The Wereldmuseum Amsterdam has been working with artists and other creative practitioners to explore the impact of Dutch imperialism, but Carol Ann Dixon says more needs to be done to empower its own staff to contribute to change.

“Museums, to me, conjure up an image of being sanitised, stuffy places that only middle-class and upward people go to.” Listen to episode 1 of Radical Museums season 3 now, where Sharon Heal travels to Belfast to meet with the ACT Initiative's William Mitchell: https://ow.ly/YyyA50XGeuM

News | Deaf Heritage Centre to transition to new leadership The British Deaf Association to ‘protect and develop’ museum and its collections

Programme announced for Moving on Up 2026 🚀 Thinking ahead to next year and in need of a career boost? Look no further: MoU is here to motivate you towards making a change – and an impact. Find out more and book your place from as little as £36: https://ow.ly/7Wga50XFJWs

Museums Journal: Europe After Empire | What’s in a name? 🔎 Tracing ancestry through a surname uncovered a complex history shared by many, writes Rachel Ama Asaa Engmann.

News | Dumfries and Galloway Council proposes closing four museums Sixteenth-century Castle of St John in Stranraer is among the sites at risk of closure

News | Closed River & Rowing Museum seeks new homes for its collections Henley institution calls for sector-wide expressions of interest for ethical transfer of objects

Last chance to apply | Could you be one of our south-east England reps? 👤 Reps are a vital link between the MA and our members, helping to keep us in touch with what's happening on the ground. You'll also enjoy some great benefits – including a free in-person place at our annual conference 👇

Opinion | When charity law meets restitution Two experts explain the new legal provisions making it easier for some museums to return artefacts on moral grounds.

News | How can museums realise the potential of creative health practice? New research from the Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance and GEM (Group for Education in Museums) highlights impact of pilot project on participants

Museums Journal | Artes Mundi: how the biennial impacts partner venues 🤝 Florence Hallett on how the UK’s biggest art prize is being seen all over Wales. #ArtesMundi11

News | Architects shortlisted for National Gallery project – six firms are in the running to design a new wing for London museum

Podcast fans: Radical Museums season 3 begins next week 🎙️ Sharon Heal and Simon Stephens are back on the road, travelling across the UK to chat with sector changemakers at the cutting edge of museum practice. Listen to our teaser and subscribe on your platform of choice 👉 https://ow.ly/8l2R50XBNLe

News | Young V&A wins European museum prize Meanwhile nominations are now open for the European Museum of the Year Award 2027.

Join us tomorrow at the National Museum of Scotland for Members Together: Scotland 👋 We'll be networking, sharing updates from the MA and hearing more about the Scottish sector – and joining us is free for all members 🎉 Book your free place 👇