A museum for today: how BMAG connects past and present

In recent weeks, articles in the Telegraph (paywall), and follow-up pieces on the BBC website and the Birmingham Post have criticised ‘leftist curators’ for the ‘politicisation’ of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BMAG). These articles claim that a recent refurbishment has left ‘50,000 artworks and objects missing’ from display, and that, in the gallery’s central Round Room, ‘poorly executed contemporary artworks hang in place of the true masterpieces’.

The articles imply that art historians in Birmingham are horrified by the new displays at BMAG. As art historians with research expertise on Victorian art, design and exhibition culture, and twentieth-century British art and regional collections, we would like to offer an alternative perspective.

When BMAG opened in 1885, its Round Room featured contemporary art by local and international artists, and portraits of local celebrities; it was envisaged as a place to celebrate local identity and Birmingham’s role in the wider world. Today’s Round Room recaptures this vision, displaying art by local and international contemporary artists, as well as works by celebrated eighteenth- and nineteenth-century painters. Local celebrities are less prominent than they were in 1885.

As it nods to its Victorian antecedent, BMAG manages to be both historically rooted and locally relevant, as well as global in its outlook. We couldn’t find anything we thought was poorly executed - though that is of course, subjective - but we did see work by Turner-Prize winning artist Lubaina Himid, who is currently representing Britain at the Venice Biennale.

Historical art has not been forgotten at BMAG. The revamped Pre-Raphaelite galleries showcase an internationally renowned collection, some of which is on display for the first time in decades. They are the product of serious art historical research, partly funded by partnerships with the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. This research has established the significant global connections that can be traced through Victorian art in the collection and beyond.

Collaborative research into the Pre-Raphaelite collections is just one example of BMAG’s commitment to new and innovative curatorial research. Over the past decade, Birmingham Museums Trust has, along with many of our regional civic collections, pioneered new curatorial approaches by working more closely with local communities.

Community consultation, co-curation and co-production projects have enriched the civic contract between the museum and its publics. As the new Pre-Raphaelite galleries show, these projects have brought to light fascinating stories about the amazing diversity of objects, practices, people, places, and histories that make up the museum.

Birmingham Museums Trust’s work in this field is sector-leading. Birmingham Museums Citizens’ Jury, the first of its kind in the UK, won the Museums Association’s Best Museums Change Lives Project Award in 2025, a Commendation for Innovative Practices from the European Museum Academy Awards, and was joint winner of the 2026 Museums + Heritage award for Sector Impact. All this has been achieved against a backdrop of increasing financial pressure within the museums sector. A 2024 survey of levels of public investment in museums published by the Arts Council shows that between 2022-2023, museums in the West Midlands, on average, received the lowest level of local authority investment in England (£1.68 per capita, compared to the highest spend of £5.46).

Our research shows that, despite ongoing resource pressures and political crosswinds, civic museums such as BMAG continue to play an essential role in the preservation of cultural heritage. New curatorial approaches are key to fulfilling this civic mission: far from representing a ‘loss’ or ‘dumbing down’, they serve to diversify the range of objects on display. They tell more complex and inclusive stories, ensuring museums are relevant to their many audiences, local, national and international.