Museums are more than just collections of objects; they also reflect and help to shape how we see our culture and place in the contemporary world.
Dr Tristram Hunt is the Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, arguably the world’s leading museum of art, design and performance. The V&A’s founding commitment to design, education and industry continues to define it today. Tracing the museum’s genesis from its Victorian roots, Dr Hunt will consider how the V&A’s civic foundations – the national and the global – engendered a world-class collection, and today, the creation of a nationwide family of museums, from Dundee to Stoke-on-Trent. His talk will consider the challenges and opportunities for a major museum in the context of current financial challenges and cultural anxieties.