London's Southbank Centre to receive £10m government funding boost

The UK government has announced a £10 million funding boost for London’s Southbank Centre as part of a broader £128 million investment package for 130 cultural venues nationwide. Administered by Arts Council England, the grant is earmarked for urgent infrastructure repairs, including fixing leaking roofs and modernizing rigging systems, coinciding with the center's 75th anniversary. Other major beneficiaries of the Creative Foundations Fund include the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art and Firstsite gallery.

The Guardian view on a much-needed boost for the arts: rebuilding England’s cultural landscape

The V&A East Museum is set to open in Stratford, London, marking a significant milestone for the East Bank cultural quarter. This £135m project joins the V&A East Storehouse and other major institutions in a transformed area of East London, aiming to attract younger and more diverse audiences through accessible art and design collections.

UK Considers Charging Museum Entry: Morning Links

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The UK government is considering a significant policy shift by exploring entry fees for foreign tourists at national museums to address a funding crisis in the arts. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy indicated that the proposal, alongside a potential hotel levy, follows a review of Arts Council England. Since 2001, UK national museums have been free to all visitors, a policy credited with boosting tourism, but current economic pressures are forcing lawmakers to reconsider this model.

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Arts Council England announced the results of the 2024-25 Cultural Gifts Scheme and Acceptance in Lieu initiatives, through which 32 artworks valued at nearly $80 million entered public collections. Highlights include Edgar Degas's pastel *Danseuses roses* (ca. 1897–1901) donated to the National Gallery, paintings by Max Liebermann and Max Pechstein given to the Ashmolean Museum, a historic desk used by Prime Ministers Benjamin Disraeli and Winston Churchill acquired by the National Trust, and 77 photographs by Bill Brandt donated to Tate. The report covers transfers from April 2024 to March 2025.

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The UK government has announced a £1.5 billion funding package for the arts, described as the biggest reset for the sector in a generation. Culture secretary Lisa Nandy said London-based national museums like the British Museum and National Portrait Gallery will receive £600 million but must extend their reach beyond the capital to serve audiences nationwide. The package includes £425 million for a Creative Foundations Fund, £160 million for local and regional museums, £230 million for heritage, and smaller allocations for libraries and national organizations. Meanwhile, Vienna will temporarily close several composer museums due to culture budget cuts, and Jean Cooney has been appointed executive director of Creative Time.

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The British Museum's proposal to redesign its forecourt with two permanent security pavilions and a Mediterranean-style garden has drawn opposition from conservation groups. The Georgian Group and the Victorian Society argue the additions would disrupt the historic symmetry and formal setting of Robert Smirke's 19th-century Greek Revival building, urging Camden Council to reject the plan.

English museums should only charge tourists if digital ID checks in place, UK politician says

Labour peer Margaret Hodge has detailed her proposal to introduce admission fees for overseas tourists at England’s national museums, stipulating that such a move must be preceded by a universal digital ID system. Speaking to a parliamentary committee, Hodge argued that without digital verification, museum staff might resort to profiling visitors based on appearance, which would undermine community cohesion.

Work by Edgar Degas among £59.7m haul of art donated to UK public collections in exchange for tax benefits

Works by Edgar Degas and Ben Nicholson are among the artworks donated to UK public collections through the government's Acceptance in Lieu (AIL) and Cultural Gifts Schemes (CGS) between April 2024 and March 2025. The total value of objects gifted reached £59.7 million, settling £39.3 million in tax. Degas's pastel *Ballet Dancers* (1888) was allocated to the National Gallery in London, settling £7.9 million in tax, while three paintings by Ben Nicholson went to Kettle's Yard in Cambridge and a fourth to Pallant House Gallery. Other donations include 73 photographs by Bill Brandt to Tate, a Vanessa Bell still life to the Charleston Trust, and works from the Radev Collection.

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UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy announced a £1.5 billion arts funding package on Wednesday, urging London-based national institutions like the British Museum and the National Portrait Gallery to extend their reach across the country. The package includes £600 million for national institutions, £425 million for a Creative Foundations Fund supporting capital projects at arts venues nationwide, £160 million for local and regional museums, £230 million for the heritage sector, £27.5 million for public libraries, and an additional £80 million for national portfolio organizations. Nandy praised the Royal Shakespeare Company’s outreach as a model and framed the investment as the largest reset in the arts for a generation, comparable to post-World War Two cultural rebuilding.

Arts funding gap in the north must be closed | Letters

Two letter writers to The Guardian criticize the UK government's arts funding imbalance, highlighting that London receives disproportionate investment compared to northern England. Christine Baranski points out that £135m was spent on the V&A East in London while the Tate in Liverpool has been closed for over two years and the Albert Docks cultural area appears neglected. Sharon Maher notes that Arts Council spending is roughly £57 per Londoner versus £28 per person in the north, and argues that future national museum outposts should be located in the north.

Advocates for Incarcerated Protest Removal of Artworks from UK Courts

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A report from the independent monitoring body Lay Observers revealed that government contractor Serco ordered the removal of artworks from court custody suites in England and Wales. The artworks, created by inmates at Doncaster prison, were commissioned by the Prisoner Escort and Custody Services to brighten the often bleak, underground holding areas where detainees await court appearances.

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Wiltshire Council has launched a public consultation on a new planning document aimed at protecting Stonehenge from future development, less than a year after the controversial A303 tunnel project was canceled. The draft supplementary planning document, created with input from Historic England, the National Trust, and the English Heritage Trust, will guide decisions regarding the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site, with a public comment deadline of June 17 and potential adoption in October 2025.

Government gives East of England culture and arts venues £6.6m

The UK government has announced a £6.6 million investment in arts and culture venues across the East of England to support essential infrastructure upgrades and renovations. Key beneficiaries include Firstsite in Colchester and Snape Maltings in Suffolk, which are receiving significant grants for building repairs and environmental control systems. Other recipients range from the Natural History Museum in Colchester to the Wysing Arts Centre, with funds earmarked for everything from HVAC improvements to restoring Grade II listed structures.

Ministers consider charging tourists to access UK national museum collections

UK government ministers are exploring the possibility of charging international tourists for entry to the permanent collections of national museums. This proposal is part of a broader search for long-term funding solutions for the arts sector, outlined in the government's response to the Arts Council England review led by Margaret Hodge. The review also prompted commitments to simplify funding applications and protect the Arts Council from political interference.

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A campaign group called Freedom in the Arts (FITA) has threatened to sue the University of Leicester in the UK over its “Trans-Inclusive Culture” guidelines for museums and galleries, demanding their removal. The guidelines, published two years ago by the university’s Research Center for Museums and Galleries (RCMG), aim to help cultural institutions create inclusive spaces for transgender people. FITA, co-founded by choreographer Rosie Kay and former Arts Council England staffer Denise Fahmy, argues the guidance misrepresents the legal definition of “sex” under the Equality Act 2010, following a UK Supreme Court ruling that “woman” and “sex” refer only to biological women and biological sex. The group claims the guidelines could encourage unlawful policies, such as allowing toilet access based on gender identity, and discriminate against staff with gender-critical beliefs.

Brutalist home of England's first National Black Art Convention saved from demolition

The University of Wolverhampton’s School of Art building, an eight-story Brutalist landmark completed in 1969, has been granted Grade II listed status by the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport, saving it from demolition. The building hosted the first National Black Art Convention in 1982, a pivotal event in the British Black arts movement, and is closely tied to the Blk Art Group, whose founding members include Keith Piper, Marlene Smith, and Claudette Johnson. The listing follows a campaign against the university's redevelopment plans, supported by a petition with over 6,600 signatures.

How UK museums are rallying to support trans communities following supreme court ruling on biological sex

Following the UK Supreme Court's 16 April ruling that the terms "woman" and "sex" in the Equality Act refer only to biological sex, UK museums are publicly reaffirming their support for transgender communities. The Museum of Transology, which houses the world's largest collection of trans, non-binary, and intersex artefacts, had recently marked its tenth anniversary with the exhibition Transcestry at Central Saint Martins' Lethaby Gallery. Smaller institutions like London's Vagina Museum quickly posted statements of solidarity, while larger bodies such as Arts Council England await a revised code of practice from the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Club for working-class art professionals expands from London to northern England

The Working Arts Club (WAC), a London-based organization supporting art professionals from lower socio-economic backgrounds, is expanding to northern England. Its new chapter will launch in Manchester on March 24, with plans for regional programming and online events. Founder Meg Molloy emphasizes that class barriers in the art world are systemic, not confined to London.

New report reveals increasing inequality in arts and culture

A new report from the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre (Creative PEC) reveals growing inequality in the arts, culture, and heritage workforce and participation in England following the Covid-19 pandemic. The study provides detailed data at the Local Authority level, highlighting disparities in access for both workers and audiences.

One of England's oldest human-made structures given protected status by Historic England

Historic England has granted protected status to the Dudderhouse Hill long cairn in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, a 5,000-year-old Neolithic structure likely older than Stonehenge. The cairn, one of England's earliest human-made structures, had suffered damage in 2023 when stones were removed to enhance a nearby walkers' cairn, prompting a scheduling application. It is now a Scheduled Ancient Monument, recognized as a nationally important archaeological site.