AttrActions & museums


Scottish National Portrait Gallery director appointed


National Galleries Scotland director-gen- eral John Leighton has announced that Christopher Baker is the new director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. Baker will take up his new position on 1


August and succeeds James Holloway, who announced his retirement in January. Having previously served as curator at


Christ Church Picture Gallery in Oxford between 1997 and 2003, Baker has held the post of deputy director at the Scottish National Gallery for nearly 10 years. Details: http://lei.sr?a=t4a7M (.pdf)


Art Fund Prize shortlist revealed


Te Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery in Exeter and West Yorkshire’s Hepworth Wakefield are among four sites shortlisted for the Art Fund Prize 2012. The Scottish National


Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh and Guildford’s Watts Gallery are the two other institutions in the running to claim this year’s £100,000 prize, the win- ner of which will be revealed at the British Museum – last year’s winner – on 19 June. Earlier this year, a 10-strong


Te Hepworth Wakefield contemporary art attraction opened last year


longlist for the tenth annual Art Fund Prize was revealed and comprised four newly-opened museums – including the £35m Hepworth Wakefield, which was designed by David Chipperfield Architects. Meanwhile, the Royal Albert Memorial


Museum and Art Gallery; Watts Gallery; and the Scottish National Portrait Gallery all


Eureka!’s existing gallery will close in November


£200,000 grant for new Eureka! gallery scheme


Monaco-based Stavros Niarchos Foundation has awarded £200,000 towards the cre- ation of a new £2.9m gallery at Eureka! Te National Children’s Museum in Halifax. Te latest award means the attraction has


now raised £2.4m towards the Me and My Body project, which is primarily funded through a £1.45m Wellcome Trust grant. It is expected work will commence in


November, with the existing gallery to close for the duration of the scheme. However, the museum itself will remain open. Read more: http://lei.sr?a=b6n4C


EDF Energy plans new Sizewell B visitor centre


UK energy supplier EDF Energy has sub- mitted plans for the creation of a temporary new visitor centre at Sizewell B nuclear power station on the Suffolk coast. Suffolk Coastal District Council will


decide the fate of the Parsons Brinckerhoff- designed project, with the Sizewell B visitor centre due to open in late summer. An existing mobile cabin building to the


north of the site will house the visitor cen- tre, which will operate for four years until a permanent attraction is developed. Details: http://lei.sr?a=I5E3M


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underwent multi-million pound refurbish- ments that were completed last year. Art Fund director Stephen Deuchar said:


“Tese four offer the perfect snapshot of the best of our museums and galleries - dynamic, forward-thinking, inclusive and diverse.” Details: http://lei.sr?a=I4e7E


NMS and Bath museum share sector award


National Museums Scotland (NMS) and Bath’s Holburne Museum have been declared joint winners of the 2012 Museums and Heritage award for Permanent Exhibition. Both attractions underwent


large-scale redevelopments last year, with NMS investing £46.4m in the transformation of the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh. Other winners at this year’s


awards – held at London’s 8 Northumberland event space – included The Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust (Classic Award); and Historic Royal Palaces for its All the King’s Fools exhibition at Hampton Court Palace (Educational Initiative). The Once Upon a Time exhibition at Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Stoke


NMS invested £46.4m in overhauling the National Museum of Scotland


won the award for best project on a lim- ited budget, while London’s Natural History Museum was handed the prize for best tempo- rary exhibition for its Sexual Nature exhibit. Details: http://lei.sr?a=n0j2m


MGS members support governance changes


Museums Galleries Scotland’s (MGS) transi- tion to a National Development Body (NDB) has moved a step closer after governance changes were backed by its members. Te majority (82 per cent) of the organisa- tion’s members voted in favour of the shake-up,


Read Leisure Opportunities online: www.leisureopportunities.co.uk/digital


which is a “key milestone” in the process to becoming the NDB for the Scottish sector. Alterations to the constitution and gover-


nance were required to meet recommendations set out in a Museums Tink Tank report. Read more: http://lei.sr?a=s3r8Y


Twitter: @leisureopps © CYBERTREK 2012


image: hepworth wakefield


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