Last chance ⏰ Esmée Fairbairn Communities and Collections Fund | Impact research: invitation to tender 📝 As part of our review of the Communities and Collections Fund, we’re commissioning research to help us shape where we target our future funding. Submit your tender to us by 10 November 👇

Q&A | ‘Appealing to the love of future generations is the most powerful incentive for action’ Kirsten Walker talks to us about the Nature + Love project, which will be unveiled next year at the Horniman Museum & Gardens Read: https://ow.ly/9wQl50XorJi

News | Museum sector bodies welcome curriculum recommendations Review of England's curriculum proposes removal of EBacc and core enrichment offer for every pupil Read: https://ow.ly/vF1y50XoiFp

News | British Library chief executive steps down amid strike action – board member takes over as interim director after resignation of Rebecca Lawrence Public and Commercial Services Union

News | National Coal Mining Museum strike to continue into new year – dispute prolonged after mine guides reject new pay offer from museum UNISON

Analysis | The new temporary exhibitions playbook 🎭 The landscape for exhibitions is evolving and today's audiences are driven by the proposition, not the poster. Museums need to meet people where they are and make the experience worth the effort, finds @geraldinekadams.bsky.social.

News | ‘Bad Bridget’ archival research project inspires Hollywood movie – study exploring lives of Ireland’s emigrant women led to groundbreaking exhibition at Ulster American Folk Park

News | Galleries join forces to ‘remember nature’ – initiative involved 17 arts organisations across England

News | Historic England adds 138 new sites to its Heritage at Risk register – charity says that 129 sites have been 'saved' in 2025

News | V&A East Museum announces opening date and first exhibitions – long-awaited east London venue will welcome the public through its doors in April 2026

News | Funding gives museum leaders in Scotland more time for future planning – Museums Galleries Scotland awards £600,000 via new Leadership Capacity Fund

Analysis | Debate intensifies around human remains 💬 Amid growing sensitivity about the treatment and display of remains, there are calls for new guidance to help museums find the right approach.

News | Tributes paid following death of Scotland’s ‘powerhouse’ curator Elspeth King – social historian remembered for her work to expand working-class collections at People’s Palace in Glasgow

News | Petition launched to save Walsall Leather Museum – council plans to relocate museum but campaigners fear it could close for good

News | Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration to open next May – venture to take up residence in former waterworks in Clerkenwell, London

What does your museum's journey to net zero look like? ⬇️ Join us at Building Foundations: Transforming Facilities Management to take part in a practical workshop offering realistic advice on how you can approach decarbonisation alongside climate adaptation in order to be more sustainable.

News | Welsh Museums Festival takes joy as its theme More than 50 museums and galleries across Wales are taking part in the week-long celebration Read: https://ow.ly/5ywW50XjGjp

News | National Museum Cardiff asks public to decide name of new woolly mammoth Three possible names selected for 3D-printed skeleton out of 1,400-plus suggestions. Read: https://ow.ly/airG50XjGit

News | Art Fund research proves that viewing art is good for the human body ‘Genuinely surprising’ study shows that original art benefits three different body systems all at once Read: https://ow.ly/XKc150XjGh1

News | Shuar people seek repatriation of ‘shrunken heads’ in UK collections Delegation expresses wish for return of ceremonial tsantsas along with self-representation in displays https://ow.ly/TCUB50XjGaa

Esmée Fairbairn Communities and Collections Fund | Impact research: invitation to tender 📝 As part of our review of the Communities and Collections Fund, we’re commissioning research to help us shape where we target our future funding. Find out more and submit your tender to us by 10 November.

One week until we head to the Science Museum for Members Together: England 📍 Find out what the MA's been up to, network with colleagues and take a peek behind the curtain at the Science Museum when you join us at our free event, exclusively for members. Browse the programme and book your place 👇

News | Museums are not ‘secret vaults’, say world’s museum leaders Directors at major institutions defend principle of open access but say Louvre heist has ‘shaken us to the core’ Read: https://ow.ly/zZEZ50XiBUO

News | V&A commission marks next phase of Ghana partnership Unity sculpture developed with Manhyia Palace Museum in Kumasi Read: https://ow.ly/qTPW50XhpqA

News | Council introduces entry charge at Museum of Oxford despite objections Local stakeholders warn that decision to implement £4 charge comes with ‘more risk than reward’ Read: https://ow.ly/6txl50XhpnI

Opinion | Trans pride in the museum 🏳️‍⚧️ Margaret Middleton on how Manchester Art Gallery has opened its doors to transgender communities.

News | Pink Ball raises £2.5m for British Museum but comes under fire from climate activists and Greek government – institution hails inaugural event a success and says money will be used to support international work

Tender opportunity 💡 As part of a review of the Esmée Fairbairn Communities and Collections Fund, we're commissioning some impact research to explore where our funding has most impact.

News | Scottish museums secure funding for essential building works – Museums Galleries Scotland has awarded 17 museums a total of £862,000 through its Repair and Adaptation Fund

News | Museums on alert for ‘smash and grab’ raids after Louvre jewel heist – leaked report shows concerns that Paris museum had failed to modernise its security systems

None of the important work that museums do can happen without the facilities work that goes on behind the scenes. Join us at our facilities management event where delegates will have the chance to share their own experiences and hear more about innovative practice: https://ow.ly/ZyKs50XfA8y

News | Reversing car causes ‘substantial damage’ to Shakespeare family home – conservation work could cost millions, The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust warns

News | Ironbridge Gorge transfer was urgent, says culture secretary – National Trust takeover secures site’s future but will mean ‘difficult decisions’ about staffing and volunteers

News | Hunterian returns ancestral human remains to South Africa Ceremonies held in Scotland and South Africa to mark repatriation Read: https://ow.ly/rkG350XecZI

News | Galleries at Frieze pledge support for sustainability charity – the Gallery Climate Coalition is to receive a percentage of sales from participating galleries

News | Call to widen global access to public domain heritage – Creative Commons Open Heritage Statement aims to promote open access through advocacy and practical solutions

News | Courtauld secures £30m donation – money from the Reuben Foundation will help London arts institute develop a new campus

News | Belfast Historic Waterfront and Dudley join Heritage Places scheme – six new areas will benefit from £200m investment initiative

Opinion | Why is participation in museums so difficult? Ideas and practices of participation have boomed in museums over the last 20 years, says Helen Graham, associate professor at the University of Leeds.

How has collections practice evolved since 2019? 📈 It’s been six years since we published Empowering Collections, and now we need your evidence to show how practice has moved, where it hasn’t, and what new challenges those who work with collections face. Find out more and submit by 11 December 👇

News | British Museum in bid to raise £3.5m for rare gold Tudor pendant – heart-shaped piece is a rare surviving artefact from marriage of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon

News | Paul Hamlyn Foundation fund closes to new applicants due to ‘volume of demand’ – Arts Fund grants will only be awarded to existing grantees and reconsidered applications until April 2027

News | Strikes loom at national institutions – @britishlibrary.bsky.social and Tate workers plan walkouts as industrial action continues at National Coal Mining Museum (@ncmme.bsky.social) @pcsunion.bsky.social @unison.org.uk

Q&A | ‘It’s the biggest show that’s ever been done on Miller but we could have filled it eight times over’ 📸 Curator Hilary Floe discusses Tate Britain's exhibition about photographer Lee Miller.

News | Experience Barnsley wins #FamilyFriendlyMuseum Award 2025 – Black Cultural Archives also recognised for its social justice work with young people Kids in Museums

News | Oxford’s History of Science Museum announces revamp – museum receives planning and Listed building consent for project

Well, our day of tours around Cardiff and South Wales has now finished! Thanks for sticking around with us and we hope you enjoyed making the most of our final day in this wonderful city. Safe travels home, everyone 👋 #Museums2025

Perthyn — Belonging at the Museum of Cardiff 🫂 #Museums2025

Waiting for our underground tour at Big Pit National Coal Museum 🔦 #Museums2025

News | Royal Academy of Arts expands collection galleries – anonymous donor backs gallery’s free-to-visit spaces