Wednesday, October 01, 2014

Controlling the past

The People’s History Museum in Manchester, which is dedicated to telling the story of democracy in Britain, faces a £200,000 funding crisis next year after being excluded from the list of museums that receive public support. The museum claims it is being cut off from Government funding for political reasons after taking a “pacifist” approach to the First World War.

Cath Birchall, the museum’s deputy director, said she believed the institution was being punished for its treatment of the war in “A Land Fit for Heroes”, an exhibition showing how the social conditions of working people were transformed by the war. It included a live theatre performance contrasting a soldier with his brother, a conscientious objector.

The trustees asked for a meeting with the Culture minister, Ed Vaizey, but were told he was “too busy”.

No comments: