ARTS MINISTER LAUNCHES MUSEUMS

ARTS AND CULTURE IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

ARTS MINISTER LAUNCHES MUSEUMS & GALLERIES MONTH AT THE HAYWARD

By David Prudams

Shows a photograph of Estelle Morris delivering a speech into a microphone, from behind a lecturn. She is holding her hands together and out in front of her. Photo: Estelle Morris kicked off Museums and Galleries Month by stressing the importance museums have in their communities. Photo: Jon Pratty

Arts Minister, Estelle Morris launched Museums and Galleries Month (MGM) 2004 at the Hayward Gallery in London and used the opportunity to explain what a museum means to its community. Beginning on May 1, Museums and Galleries Month is the largest event of its kind in the world, with around 1500 institutions all over the country taking part. Organised by the Campaign For Museums and engage, the event offers the UK's museums and galleries a chance to bring their treasured collections to a wider audience. Speaking at the Hayward, Estelle Morris used her experience of a visit to an exhibition launch in Sunderland to explain the role a museum plays in the life of a community. "It was their gallery and their museum, showing things that were about their history - and they were proud," she said. "These were people who don’t have money, don’t have degrees, but had a sense of who they were. I thought in some ways that summed up the preciousness of what museums and galleries have to offer to our society." They were, she added, "celebrating, as a community, what they were all about." This was proof, the minister explained, of the success that initiatives such as Renaissance in the Regions and free entry to national museums are achieving. "There are lots of people in positions of power who don’t quite get what museums and galleries are," she said, "they think they're quite a nice place to take the kids on a Sunday, but not actually a cog in the wheel of UK Plc." It is estimated that around 10 million people will visit their local museum or art gallery during this year’s museums and galleries month.

However, it’s not just the quantity of people making use of the UK’s cultural institutions, but who they are and that is what, according to Estelle Morris, makes them an indispensable asset. "45% of the children that are coming have never been before and about 50% of people involved in outreach community work have never been before," she said. "When I’m trying to justify something I say imagine what it would be like if it wasn’t there. Imagine what life would be like if museums and galleries weren’t there, we wouldn’t be able to learn from them, we’d have no sense of the higher standing of mankind and that we are part of something greater, something bigger." Speaking to the 24 Hour Museum, Loyd Grossman, chairman of the Campaign for Museums and co-chair of MGM, welcomed the minister’s comments. "It’s very important to have a minister who realises that museums and galleries are not a marginal issue, but that they are absolutely at the centre of society," he said."We don’t have a society unless we have healthy museums and galleries and she realises that and articulates it." This year, with the 200th anniversary of steam in mind, MGM is centred around the theme of travel and is fittingly sponsored by Eurostar whose 10th birthday also falls this year. Throughout May, UK museums, galleries and heritage sites will be putting on special events, workshops and exhibitions to celebrate the occasion.

WE'LL MEET AGAIN - EVACUEES REUNITED AT IWM NORTH

Shows a black and white photograph of Second World War child evacuees on a station platform about to board a train to the right of the picture. Photo: three million British children were evacuated during the Second World War. Courtesy of the Evacuees Reunion Association.

An era down the line from being billeted with tagged luggage on unfamiliar platforms, former evacuees are to be re-united at a different station in their lives. The Evacuees Reunion Association is holding a free drop-in event at Imperial War Museum North, Manchester. The reunion will begin with an opening speech by the Lord Mayor of Manchester, Cllr Audrey Jones, who was herself an evacuee during the Second World War. Chairman of the Evacuees Reunion Association (ERA), Dr Martin Parsons will be speaking throughout the afternoon. Other items will include live 1940s music and an audio-visual show.

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