Museum and gallery leaders criticise lockdown roadmap, with public arts spaces shuttered until mid-May
Museum and gallery leaders in England have hit back at plans which would see shops and retail – including commercial art galleries – open five weeks before public galleries and other indoor venues such as cinemas.
In the new reopening timetable unveiled this week, shops may open no earlier than 12 April, followed by public galleries no earlier than 17 May. Museums are classed as ‘indoor entertainment venues’; commercial galleries are classed as ’non-essential retail’. But public spaces such as libraries and community centres have been allowed to be placed in the mid-April round of reopening.
Museums Association director Sharon Heal said: ‘There’s no logic for museum reopening to be delayed until 17 May. Museums and their audiences are losing out because the government has classified museums as ‘indoor entertainment venues’ alongside cinemas and theatres. Yet in terms of implementing social distancing, they have far more in common with libraries, public buildings and community centres, which will all open on 12 April.’
Most of England’s museums have been shuttered since December 2020.
