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Experts fear Stoke-on-Trent museum cuts will destroy local ceramics expertise


ByAmah-Rose Abrams

27 January 2022


Amah-Rose Abrams

27 January 2022

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The cuts would see changes to staffing and opening hours at Gladstone Pottery in Stoke-on-Trent

Leading figures in the museum, art and craft worlds are reacting to the proposed cuts and restructuring of the Potteries Museum and the Gladstone Museum by Stoke-on-Trent City Council with concerns that crucial expertise will be lost.

The plans, announced in early January, would mean one team running both institutions and the Gladstone Museum being repurposed as a film location for five months of the year, saving the council a potential £560,000 a year for the next five years. About 19 full-time staff would be cut across the city's museums service, while 5.5 new roles would be created. Among the loses would be two ceramics curator posts, which would be replaced with a single new role titled 'curator - contemporary collecting’ for a new or remaining curator.

‘One person managing what is a highly complex collection, with all its curatorial and conservational needs, would be spread thinly over the two sites,’ artist, educator and researcher Neil Brownsword told the Crafts Council. The Stoke-on-Trent based practitioner, who has worked with both museums over a period of years and is currently exhibiting work at the Potteries Museum, pointed out that museums are part of the ecosystem of ceramics in the city. ‘They facilitate research and provide the kind of grounding students need. The detailed history of place, scale and labour, the kind of identity the industry brings to the place is all rooted within those two museums. My worry is that once you get rid of expertise, it's very hard to replace.’

A petition, launched in response to the announcement from Stoke-on-Trent City Council currently has 21,876 signatures and is rising fast, and there have been widespread calls in the press and on social media asking the council to reconsider the proposals. Many echo Brownsword’s comments that one curator would struggle to handle the demands of a role of this level, which would typically encompass not only acquisitions but also international relations, loans, strategy and creative and logistical planning.

But Peter Knot, area director of Arts Council England, asserts that the proposals are not set in stone. ‘Stoke City Council’s plans are currently at the consultation stage, and we await the outcome of these proposals,’ he said in a statement. ‘Arts Council England recognises the value that culture, and creativity brings to Stoke-on-Trent and the surrounding areas, which is why Arts Council has made Stoke-on-Trent a priority place.’

Once you get rid of expertise, it's very hard to replace


Neil Brownsword, artist, educator and researcher

The ceramics industry in Stoke-on-Trent goes back over three hundred years and is famous worldwide, attracting tourists, academics, students and professionals to visit the city and its museums. These institutions function as visitor attractions but this is merely one facet of their operations, which include education, research and facilitating professionals through preserving skill and industrial history. ‘The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery and Gladstone Pottery Museum play a crucial role in the vibrant cultural scene, telling local stories, bringing history to life and inspiring the local community to explore the city’s rich heritage,’ Knott’s statement reads.

In addition to staff cuts, the Gladstone Museum would close between November and March for tv broadcast production, thought to mean the filming of the popular TV series The Great Pottery Throw Down. It would also be available for ‘venue hire, and a range of events and other activities’, reads the statement released by Stoke-on-Trent Council. Both museums would also have their opening hours cut to five days a week, opening between Wednesday and Sunday.

Emily Johnson, founder of the Stoke-on-Trent based brand 1882, spoke of her disappointment at the proposals. 'It is shocking and saddening that our own council sees fit to cut the opening times of Gladstone and lose yet more jobs in our industry for the benefit of filming,' she told the Crafts Council. 'I am sure that the museum could partner with some of the manufacturers in Stoke to do interesting programs and share visitors. It would only take a little more forward-thinking and an out of the box approach to get a better footfall.'

It would only take a little more forward-thinking and an out of the box approach to get a better footfall


Emily Johnson, founder of the Stoke-on-Trent based brand 1882


  • Outside the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent

Creatives from different corners of the UK have questioned the logic of closing the museum for such an extended and defined period of time, rather than allowing filming and exhibitions to work in tandem. ‘Museum staff are capable of reacting to changing circumstances, which has been clearly demonstrated over the past two years during lockdowns, where museums have shown themselves to be adaptive, with many responding positively to the needs of their communities,’ Glasgow based potter, researcher and teacher Ruth Impey told the Crafts Council.

Financial pressure on councils existed before the pandemic but there are now swathes of issues demanding attention for local authorities, from child safety to helping those pushed into extreme poverty. Stoke-on-Trent City Council faces these costs, as well as maintaining its proud, world-famous status in the ceramics industry and its history.

‘If heritage is viewed as an active dynamic asset within communities, councils’ decision making when considering potential cuts, maybe different,’ said Impey. ‘Understanding and valuing the human narratives involved in the collated craftsmanship of the industrial pottery process, for example, allows an understanding of the human pulse beating at the heart of all industrial processes.’


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