Forgive me, this is not my usual style of post... but my passion for pots & museums drives me to write this.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council is deleting ALL the posts at the multi-award winning Gladstone Pottery Museum.
At the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery - acknowledged as 'the finest collection of Staffordshire ceramics in the world' - BOTH Ceramics Curator posts are being deleted.
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| ***Potteries Museum & Art Gallery |
Here are links if you want to get involved...
There is also a lot going on in support of the staff and the museums on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
1.The PETITION: click UKChange if you would like to sign. At the time of writing (13 January 2022) nearly 20,000 people have signed the petition against the proposals.
2.EMAIL ADDRESS for Stoke-on-Trent City Council if you would like to make a direct comment by email budgetconsultation@stoke.gov.uk
3.COMMENT FORM for comments on the Budget 2022/2023 of Stoke-on-Trent City Council - click here> First you will see that the top of the page currently displays 'Beat the Cold' but page down for the relevant section to fill in the form for your thoughts on the proposals. If you wish to read the budget document click here> and download Budget Book 2022/2023 as a pdf to open in your pdf reader (where it should be easier to search rather than opening online). Page 19 is particularly relevant.
For context, I have worked in 4 of Stoke-on-Trent's museums, in curatorial roles, at Gladstone Pottery Museum, Spode Museum, Ford Green Hall and Chatterley Whitfield Mining Museum. For more click here>
Now here are some of my thoughts and comments:
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| ***Potteries Museum & Art Gallery |
Decades of expertise in ceramics will be lost.
Internationally important collections will be under threat.
Care, documentation and knowledge will be at risk.
Access will be limited.
Grants will be more difficult to get as Museum Accreditation may be under threat therefore limiting access to funding and other support.
Important national and international touring exhibitions which bring in admission income as well as visitors may not happen if specialist curators are not in place.
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| ***Potteries Museum & Art Gallery |
Stoke-on-Trent only exists because of its centuries old pottery industry. It has a unique heritage. It supplied the world. It deserves BOTH its different but complimentary pottery museums.
Today's pottery manufacturers still choose to be based in Stoke.
Studio potters have their studios here.
Clay College is here.
Ceramic raw material suppliers are based here.
Past and future thrive and work together here.
Council cuts may need to be made but this plan is clearly unimaginative. Targeting ceramics specifically, the very soul of the City, seems decidedly odd. Is it possible this is a weird vendetta against pots for some personal reason? There seems to be a big gap in understanding and logic.
I understand that this is Councillor(s) driven. But consider. What do they drink from, eat from, use in the bathroom, see in their favourite films, watch on TV, walk on, live in... ceramics from the unique Stoke-on-Trent, The Potteries, from teapots to toilets to tiles.
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| ***Gladstone Pottery Museum |
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| ***Gladstone Pottery Museum |
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| ***Gladstone Pottery Museum |
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| ***Gladstone Pottery Museum |
*** I have purposely left the captions off images to emphasise the point that we would not know the detail of what they represent without the curators and researchers and conservators and interpreters and volunteers who have specialist expertise and dedication to their roles at these museums, built up over decades.
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| Written on request of Gladstone Pottery Museum as a volunteer project 2018 |