Manchester Museum has announced impressive plans ahead of its reopening later this month, with a new focus on diversity and inclusion.
The museum, which is part of the University of Manchester, has been closed since August 2021. Its highly anticipated reopening on 10 February is the latest in ambitions to level up culture in the North.
One of its most exciting additions is the new South Asian Gallery, a partnership with London’s British Museum. This is the first permanent gallery of its kind in the country, and highlights the rich cultural heritage and contributions of the city’s South Asian diaspora.
The gallery features features a rickshaw imported from Bangladesh, decorated by communities in Manchester, and a World War I uniform belonging to one of the South Asia Gallery Collective’s great-grandfathers.
The Lee Kai Hung Chinese Culture Gallery is another new addition that will offer visitors an opportunity to learn about of migration in the city, while the Belonging Gallery will be led by the museum’s first-ever Curator of Indigenous Perspectives, Alexandra P. Alberta. This promises to provide another platform for diverse perspectives and narratives.
The Museum Celebrates series is another testament to the commitment to diversity and inclusion. This will bring a variety of events to the museum, including an Iftar for Ramadan on 29 March and a celebration for the Sikh-Hindu festival Vaisakhi on 13 April. All visitors to the museum will be able to participate in these celebrations and learn more about the different cultures represented in the city.
Museum director Esme Ward said: “Our events and collaborations are more imaginative, caring and inclusive than ever before.
“2023 is set to be the most exciting year in the museum’s long history and we hope as many people as possible will join the celebrations – there really is something for everyone.”
The rest of the new programme is no less enticing. Free tickets are currently available for Golden Mummies of Egypt – an international phenomenon that is returning to Manchester until 31 December after a tour to the US and China.
Egyptologist Dr Campbell Price is the exhibition’s curator. He said: “All the 107 objects are from our own collections, including 8 mummified people.
“This is not just an exhibition about ancient Egypt in general, it’s quite focused. It’s about Egypt in the Greco-Roman period – Egypt ruled by the Ptolemies [a royal dynasty during the Hellenic period] for the last three centuries BCE, and then under Roman rule for the first few centuries AD.”
There is also a new dinosaur display, and a thought-provoking lecture series called Museum Meets. The Museum Lates series will give visitors the chance to experience the museum after dark, with a film night planned for 8 March and a number of other events throughout the year.
In addition to its commitment to diversity and inclusion, the Manchester Museum is also proud in its efforts to promote sustainability and make a positive impact on the environment. This is the world’s first Carbon Literate museum, meaning that it has been committed to recycling and reusing as much material as possible during its renovation.
2023 is set to be a culturally significant year for the city of Manchester, not only with the reopening of the museum, but also with the launch of new venues like Factory International and the Co-op Live.
To learn more, visit: manchestermuseum.co.uk.
