Future Cities Forum's 'Cultural Cities' this November
Future Cities Forum is holding its discussion this November to look at how cities are expanding their cultural offers, in terms of new museum and exhibition openings as well as protecting their heritage for economic benefit and tourism.
UK City of Culture 2029 shortlist has just been announced and in further news, £14 million of funding to preserve historic sites at the heart of local areas. The new Museum of London is due to open next month and The National Gallery in London has publicised a new type of UK-wide touring exhibition called 'Collected' - a celebration of the art, heritage and cultural objects obtained for public museums, galleries, libraries and archives through the Arts Council England, administered Acceptance in Lieu and Cultural Gifts Schemes. In terms of running costs, a new announcement has been made on business rates from a court case involving the Natural History Museum.
London Museum
London is continuing to evolve its museum and exhibition offers. The new London Museum will open next month and represents a new vibrant offer as well as a major retrofit project, using the Capital's heritage to expand tourism and its cultural life and identity. How have the spaces in the former Smithfield market been designed to showcase objects from the history of the Capital and how will visitors and tourists react to the new museum?
Director, Sharon Ament, said at our discussion hosted by the Barbican Centre:
''We didn't set out to create a new model of a museum but it has happened within the response to it. The shape of it has been influenced by the different buildings of the site, the original Smithfield Market. We had to adjust ourselves to it and exploit the physical nature of those buildings. It has nine entrances with big public spaces that are not overwhelming, enabling the public to come in and engage and buy something.
'This is in our ground floor gallery called 'Our time', which covers one hundred years and this is where Londoners can come together. Time is our intellectual organising principle. There is a basement cold store, open trading floors, slopes for horse and cart deliveries and our gallery names like deep time, past time, future imagined time etc will correspond to these physical layers. In terms of presentation, it is something that goes beyond co-curation and diminishes the barriers in a museum. It does away with the previous ideas of owning intellectual content with a new democratisation of it. That's different from the kind of communication you might find on social media. It is about facilitating deep insight and expertise from people and will help London think about itself. You do not need to be a curator to do that.
'In terms of being inclusive, the place itself and the location serves that. It is sited on a transport hub and therefore very accessible. It was built for market staff to come and go really quickly, designed like that by the Victorians originally on sustainability terms. We now need to think how we heat and cool it. There are passive heating systems put in by the Victorians, but we are going to be more demanding of our visitors than that. We are going to let people know if it is a jumper or t-shirt day, asking them to be more active, including their comfort levels.'
'Collected'
Arts Council England has announced the new UK-wide touring exhibition, which it says is 'kicking off at London’s National Gallery in May 2027, the Collected exhibition will subsequently tour to Wales (Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales), Scotland (National Galleries of Scotland) and Northern Ireland (Ulster Museum) throughout 2027 and 2028.
'Collected is composed of objects allocated to museums, galleries, libraries and archives across the nation through either Acceptance in Lieu or the Cultural Gifts Scheme – from a Picasso ceramic (Leicester Museum and Art Gallery) to Peter Doig’s At the Edge of Town (National Galleries of Scotland, 1968). Demonstrating the unique impact of these Schemes – which allow public collections to acquire significant art, culture and heritage objects for little or no cost - the exhibition is a reminder of the excellence and opportunities for public cultural engagement that both offer.
'It will showcase around 40 items out of the hundreds of allocations made over the years through these two government schemes. Demonstrating their impact in all corners of the UK and the range of museums, galleries, libraries and archives that have benefitted, Collected will be entirely made up of items kindly loaned by these organisations alongside allocations made to the National Gallery. Reflecting the core aim of both Schemes – bringing culture, heritage and art from private collections into public life – the exhibition will be free for all to access.
Acceptance in Lieu is a statutory scheme administered by Arts Council England. It allows those who have a bill of Inheritance Tax or Estate Duty to pay the tax by transferring important cultural, scientific or historic objects to the nation for public access and enjoyment. Material accepted under the Scheme is allocated to public collections across the UK. The Acceptance in Lieu Panel is a sub-Committee of the Arts Council’s National Council and advises relevant Ministers on all cultural items offered under the Scheme, including allocation of objects.
Objects are assessed for their importance in relation to their scientific, historic, or artistic interest. From the largest city gallery to smallest museum, many public museums, galleries, libraries and archives can use an Acceptance in Lieu allocation to bring outstanding culture to the communities they serve.
The Cultural Gifts Scheme was launched by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport in March 2013 as an important element of its expanding programme to encourage charitable giving and philanthropy in culture and the arts.
The Scheme is administered by Arts Council England and enables UK taxpayers to donate, during their lifetime, important works of art, archives, or cultural objects for the benefit of the public. In return, a reduction is applied to the donor’s corporation tax, income tax or capital gains tax liability, based on a set percentage of the value of the object they donate.
UK City of Culture 2029 Shortlist
The City of Culture 2029 shortlist has just been announced and includes Blackpool, Sheffield, Milton Keynes and Wrexham. The winning location will be announced in May. As reported by the BBC, each shortlisted city will now receive at least £125,000 from the government to do further work on their bid with the eventual winner will receive £10m to deliver a year of cultural events and activities drawing on its "local strengths and stories".
Milton Keynes City Council's Director of Place, Paul Thomas, took part in our Tower of London 'Cultural Cities' event last May and was asked about its unique approach to its bid, bringing technology innovation into its cultural offer:
'Milton Keynes as a city will be 60 next year. Most of the tables and chairs in this room are probably older than Milton Keynes is. But culture is not about history. It's not about time spent, I think it is about innovation, it's about growth, it's about opportunity. And that's the point we'll be making in our City of Culture submission. We're probably a couple of generations old, we're just getting started as a city. Yet we are still really successful.
'We are the fastest growing city in the UK. We are, according to The Times, one of the best places to live in the UK, which is a far cry from the classic, you know, you can't feed the cows and the roundabouts and other kind of disparaging thoughts and feelings from those people that don't know the city. So I'm not saying, nobody's got culture wrong, everybody has their own version of culture. Our version of culture has to be about newness and opportunity and growth. It can't be about history, it can't be about the classic amazing stuff that you can see out the window now.'
'History does inform, and a lot of the people that have moved into Milton Keynes as it's been growing bring their own history, bring their own culture, bring their own communities and they gather together. Bletchley Park and HMGCC (His Majesty's Government Communications Centre), which was intentionally very secretive and is now suffering from it because nobody knows where HMGCC is. If you count up, how many here know HMGCC? No, nobody. You've got GCHQ in Cheltenham. People are listening in on activity around the world, HMGCC make the tech for GCHQ. So they're the engineers behind all of our national security. 3,000 people working to the north of Milton Keynes. And they are a huge part of Milton Keynes and hugely important to the nation.
'We've got these little kind of treasures dotted around the city, and together they're kind of coming together to form the culture. But it isn't about history, it's (not) about Bletchley Park how invented the computer, that's now moved on so far from the original concept. National security has moved on, and we need to move on as a city.
'We're on the short list of new towns as well as the short list for City of Culture. And our pitch, if you like, to DCMS, to MHCLG, to HMT, to every civil government department is 'look at your kids, look at the way we're growing, back us, back us as a city, and then you can learn from us as you inform other new talents, because the whole nation needs to grow. The way you look at how it is growing at the moment and how that needs to kind of take the leaf out of our books.'
Paul was asked:
'Going back to the traditional sort of culture, bringing in Universal Studios Great Britain, when we were doing the forum over at the Milton Keynes council offices not so long ago the leader was getting terribly cross that he couldn't have a dedicated bus service to get from Milton Keynes directly out to Universal's planned theme park just to the south of Bedford.'
Paul responded:
'So the issue we've got is that Universal's Theme Park is being built south of Bedford, fifteen miles north east of MK, and it will be open in 2031, from 2031 onwards, it will have 8 million visitors, which is bigger than Disneyland Paris, and it's bigger (in visitor numbers) than the Tower of London. It's a different version of culture - it's roller coasters - and it's not everything you see outside today. The frustration that our leader had was that administrative boundaries are preventing what is quite an obvious route from Milton Keynes to the Universal theme park, where thousands of visitors each day will come into MK Central train station and need to get to the Park and we can't put the bus on because we don't have the franchising powers and those franchising powers wouldn't allow us to cross the boundary. So there's a bigger issue there with the way the UK government is so siloed that you can't do common sense things. So we will crack it, I will run a bus with Pete and he will be grateful for it.'
Tom Bird, CEO, Sheffield Theatres, also joined the panel to discuss the investment into the Crucible Theatre and how this might help Sheffield bid for the UK City of Culture 2029.He was asked whether people really know that Sheffield has 25,000 creatives in the city and whether the city should promote its levels of creativity more? He replied:
'Sheffield is an extraordinarily modest place. It has just an extraordinary cultural heritage and is an extraordinary kind of gift to the world. And some of the funding that we receive compared to overseas, for example, the Arts Council funding per head, I think we get six quid, Leeds gets 35 quid, Manchester gets over 50 quid, and London, even with its massive population, is, I think, well below 100 quid. And I think part of the reason for that inequality of funding, which must be addressed, is maybe not sharing enough funds. So it is important to make sure that we, as a city, and other cities like this, unashamedly kind of shout about the extraordinary kind of gifts that we've given to the culture of the UK.'
He was then asked about being on the long list for the UK City of Culture 2029:
' Sheffield is a city of culture already, but as a place I think we're still looking for ways to emerge from an extraordinary steel making heritage. It's a city of makers, every knife and fork on every table, you can turn it around and you can see these tiny letters, Sheffield. So we're a 'City of Makers' and that making has changed from making steel and making cutlery to making extraordinary culture and the City of Culture would just allow that to be recognised more and would allow us to accelerate that amazing progress.'.Future Cities Forum will be updating the cities approaches to their bids.
New £14 million funding for historic places
The Government has announced that local heritage and places of worship are to benefit from over £14m boost to help secure the future of historic places across England. The funding will support urgent repairs, conservation and essential improvements to historic buildings and places of worship across England, helping to safeguard them for future generations and ensuring they can continue to play an active role in their local communities.
The awards, from the first round of funding for 2026, support 74 projects across England, demonstrating the breadth of government’s investment in the historic environment, from heritage at risk and major historic buildings to churches, cathedrals, synagogues and other places of worship.
At our Tower of London event, Emma Squire, joint CEO at Historic England was asked to speak about the organisation's new Strategic Plan 2026 to 2031 and how it aims to ensure how the positive role of heritage is recognised and embedded in local plans and skills pathways.
'We just published our new strategy yesterday. And there are three priorities in that strategy that I think would speak to your question. They're around growth, because we really believe that heritage and growth goes hand in hand. Every generation can help make places where people want to be, where they want to live, work, visit and invest. They are around place making, so influencing spatial plans.
'Targeting our grants and communities to the utmost is very important. Working with community groups to make really special places. And then around convening the sector and trying to speak with one voice. And put together our policy and evidence and programmes and guidance to really support the sector. That's what we just did as a belief for the heritage agenda. It matters in its own right, for learning, for joy, for feeling connected to the place that you are in, but also that it can help and contribute to solving lots of societal challenges, whether that's housing supply, or community cohesion, or net zero through retrofitting the fifth of homes and the third of commercial buildings that are being built.
Business rates and free-to-enter museums
'Free-to-enter museums and galleries across England will benefit from significant reductions in their business rates valuations following a landmark legal case won by London’s Natural History Museum earlier this year, according to the Museums Association.
In an update to sector stakeholders, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) confirmed that the Valuation Office (VO) would no longer use a notional receipts approach to value free-to-enter museums for business rates purposes.
The change follows the outcome of a tribunal brought by the Natural History Museum against the VO.
The tribunal accepted the argument that the museum operates at a loss to preserve collections and remain open to the public, and should not be valued as though it were a profitable commercial property because no commercial tenant would take on such a letting.
Previously, the VO had used the receipts and expenditure method to estimate museums’ rateable values, analysing their income and expenditure. For free-to-enter museums with limited income beyond external funding, this included calculating “notional receipts” based on a potential admission charge and visitor numbers.
The approach was based on earlier Upper Tribunal decisions concerning museums. However, following the latest tribunal ruling, the VO will no longer use notional receipts to value museums and galleries where the method has been applied.
The VO was previously a separate government agency but was integrated into HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in April. An HMRC spokesman said: “A Valuation Tribunal decision on the National History Museum, which is free-to-enter, did not approve of the use of notional receipts in calculating its rateable value. This represents a change in rating case law which we must reflect across the museums and art galleries sector for properties where notional receipts have been used in the property’s assessment.
“Therefore, we will cease using ‘notional receipts’ for museums and art galleries, and consider only the actual receipts.”
Following the change, the VO is reviewing assessments that are currently valued as museums and art galleries, and will amend both the 2023 and 2026 rating lists by 31 March 2027. For the 2023 list, any resulting changes will apply from 1 April 2023.
The HMRC spokesman said: “The amendments will be communicated to the local council who will then be responsible for recalculating bills. The VO will contact individual ratepayers if their rateable value is amended.”
Museums that have already contacted the VO via the Check, Challenge and Appeal process (CCA) will be contacted through the CCA system as part of the review, the spokesman said.
The 2026 Rating List contains 1,165 museum and gallery properties with a combined rateable value of approximately £135m. DCMS expects the aggregate rateable value of the sector to fall significantly as a result of the change.
However, the impact on actual business rates liabilities will be smaller than the headline figure suggests, as many affected properties already benefit from charitable relief or discretionary relief granted by their local council.
And although many museums are likely to see their rateable value fall to £1, HMRC said some would retain a higher valuation where their receipts and expenditure showed a surplus. It said the VO will also use reliable rental evidence where available, which it considers the most accurate indicator of a property's rateable value.
DCMS said the change would nevertheless deliver meaningful savings for many free-to-enter museums and galleries.
The department acknowledged that museums had raised concerns about their business rates valuations over several years, and said the tribunal case had secured the clear precedent necessary to bring about the change.
The Natural History Museum was the first national museum to win a business rates tribunal, following earlier legal victories by three regional institutions: Exeter’s Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums (now North East Museums), and York Museum and Gallery Trust.
Join us for this important debate on cultural heritage and new expressions of city investment.
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