United Kingdom

UK Labour leader Keir Starmer pledges to turn the arts from a ‘luxury’ to a ‘necessity’

The head of the opposition party was speaking at the Labour Creatives Conference in London

UK art market feeling the heat as anti-money laundering legislation ramped up

HMRC has been issuing more regular fines and putting into force intensive checks, making art-related businesses sweat

Brian Griffin, photographer of rock stars and construction workers, has died aged 75

Best known for his album covers for bands including Depeche Mode, the UK photographer was influenced by the heavy industry of the Black Country where he grew up

'Shameful waste of money'? New King Charles portrait causes controversy

Official photograph by Hugo Burnand depicts monarch in full military regalia and will be offered to every UK public body in £8m scheme

UK arts funding: Nottingham institutions under threat as Windsor & Maidenhead pledges to maintain arts services

Austerity continues to bite for art galleries and museums as non-statutory cultural budgets are slashed

UK local council wants to cut all arts funding in latest austerity move

Suffolk County Council wants to slash £500,000 for culture, which could put local museums at risk

Visitor numbers for UK museums show signs of recovery

Figures for the first half of 2023 show an increase over the year before, although still below their pre-Covid peaks

Natural causes: artists address climate crisis in inventive ways

With world temperatures hitting record highs this summer, a plethora of exhibitions in London and beyond explore our relationship to the planet

'Never trustee an MP: why politicians should stay off boards of cultural institutions'

The "arm's length" principle, which frowns on political meddling in museums, is being eroded by policy hawks, writes artist and activist Bob and Roberta Smith

'These journeys should be remembered': Victorian stone benches for migrant workers are given listed status

Travellers' Rest stones were installed between Liverpool and Manchester for travel-weary Irish labourers

Labour’s education revolution will put the arts and culture centre stage

The UK's shadow culture minister sets out the Labour party's plan for arts and culture if they win the next election

Lucy Powell. UK Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Diaries of the UK's first female professional astronomer acquired by Bath's Herschel Museum

The revealing handwritten memoirs of Caroline Herschel, the first woman to receive payment from King George III for her interstellar discoveries, has been acquired by the museum that was once her home

Britain's oldest piece of carved wood discovered in layer of peat

The large piece of oak is around 6,000 years old–2,000 years older than Stonehenge

Stormzy, Doreen Lawrence and Lucy Bronze: National Portrait Gallery reopens with a focus on the new faces of Britain

After a three-year closure and £41m redevelopment, the London institution aims to better acknowledge the UK’s history and diverse population

National Portrait Gallery should become a dispersed museum

The gallery—and the other big London museums—should be sending their vast collections around the country instead of hiding them in basements

Simon Jenkins

Munstead Wood, a masterpiece of Arts and Crafts, is acquired by the National Trust

Government funding helps acquire Surrey house and garden that launched the global careers of the architect Edwin Lutyens and the garden designer Gertrude Jekyll, whose home it was for nearly 40 years

Leaderscomment

'In the age of AI, putting creativity at the heart of education is more important than ever'

The UK Labour Party is gearing up for the next election and should be talking about how we are educating children

Trio of Salvador Dalí sculptures to headline UK summer art festival

Shrewsbury Arts Trail in the west of England has secured the works on loan from the Swiss-based Dalí Universe

Bonhams closes gender pay gap by 39%, but Sotheby’s and Christie’s lag behind

UK’s public institutions continue to provide a greater degree of equity—though this is not even across all pay brackets

Do you really need a degree to secure a low paid job in a UK museum?

"Keyboard warriors" are calling out unfair recruitment practices at cultural institutions

Art marketanalysis

What lies behind the demise of British art and antiques fairs?

The problematic trend could reflect a wider international problem for the art market

Trove of coded letters written by an imprisoned Mary Queen of Scots are cracked

Around 55 messages composed by the monarch reveal her condition under captivity and negotiations for her release

London operating theatre—the oldest in Europe—goes under the knife for major restoration

Victorian hospital will re-create the original skylight that aided innovative treatment of “working and deserving” women

Museum of London to close ahead of relocation to Smithfield Market

Institution will reopen in 2026, with Fabric its first "nightclub in residence"

Pressure on British Museum to ditch BP mounts following UK's record summer heatwave

Temperatures might now be cooling, but tensions around the London institution’s ties to the oil giant are reaching boiling point

England’s Coronation tapestries: the right royal story behind the lavish, 500-year-old textiles

Could the historic pieces make an appearance at Westminster Abbey when Prince Charles succeeds the Queen?

Booksreview

Tales of tragedy and heroism: book of photographs bring England’s shipwrecks to vivid life

Volume comprises superb black-and-white images of 68 shipwrecks off the notoriously treacherous south-west coast, beginning in 1871

Booksreview

New book reveals how women artists in the 'Age of Revolutions' confound stereotypes

This statistics-driven investigation shows that many of the hundreds of women exhibiting in London and Paris between 1760 and 1830 eschewed the still-life

Awardsnews

Cornelia Parker, Isaac Julien and Chila Burman among UK arts figures awarded in Queen's Birthday Honours

Three cultural figures have been appointed Companions of Honour, the highest award, including the art critic Marina Warner

Eleven royally arty things to do in the UK over Queen Elizabeth II's platinum jubilee weekend

From Sex Pistols album covers to a tower moat full of flowers, here are the best exhibitions, installations and events to check out over the long bank holiday