Councillor Mark Elliott, cabinet member for resources, said: “To get an entirely new world-class museum including improvements to the surrounding public realm for £54m will be a great achievement.”
The museum website states: “The new Museum will champion fashion’s transformative power as a global industry and expression of creativity, culture and identity.
Bath is often named one of the UK’s prettiest citiesCredit: Alamy
“Our mission is to craft a ground-breaking museum that brings fashion to life for people locally and globally, helping to reshape Bath for the future.
The new museum is part of a wider £7million Milsom Quarter Masterplan of Bath, which will also see improved streets and public spaces as well as as new creative workspaces.
A BELOVED British museum has been forced to shut permanently after the building was deemed unsafe.
The museum is dedicated to preserving over 50 historic trams – an integral part of the town’s transport heritage.
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The beloved Tramtown museum is on the site of a former tram depotCredit: Visit BlackpoolSome of Blackpool’s most historic trams are housed in Tramtown MuseumCredit: Facebook / Blackpool Tramtown
Electrical faults in the building have made Blackpool‘s Tramtown museum uninhabitable to the public, a structural engineer’s survey said.
The former working tram depot dates back over 100 years, becoming a dedicated museum in 2021 following seven years of heritage tours.
The museum had previously been given a £50,000 lifeline from the Government’s Pride in Place Impact Fund to fix the major electrical faults in the building.
Blackpool Council suggested these repairs would allow the museum to reopen for a short term period.
The building has been forced to shut due to electrical faults making it uninhabitableCredit: Facebook / Blackpool TramtownGreen tram on Blackpool sea front, EnglandCredit: Facebook / Blackpool Tramtown
However, a video from April 28 on the Tramtown YouTube channel revealed the building could not be used, leaving volunteers concerned how they were previously allowed into the building given how unsafe it was.
This unique museum gave a rare insight into the history of Blackpool’s trams and illuminations, welcoming over 500 visitors in its opening week.
Affordably priced at £5 per ticket, or £2.50 for children, the museum included a small, donation-based cafe, built for visitors less than a year before its closure.
Blackpool Council leader Lynn Williams said: “While the work was ongoing fixing the electrics at Tramtown, an independent structural engineer carried out a survey of the building.
“That independent report has come back saying the building is unsafe.
“The only public entrance is unsafe and we can’t gamble with the safety of volunteers and visitors by opening an unsafe building.”
Blackpool council leaders now hope to submit a joint funding bid and steering group to maintain a long-term future for the museum.
“I want to make very clear that this is not the end of heritage trams in Blackpool. The news will double our resolve to set up a joint steering group to create a better future for Tramtown and our historic trams,” Williams continued.
Blackpool Transport’s new managing director, Lea Harrison, said: “Blackpool is as famous for its historic trams as it is for its tower and the Pleasure Beach and we are fully committed to preserving the town’s rich tramway heritage for future generations to enjoy.”
Gray skies didn’t prevent L.A.’s arts community from getting fancy in support of the Hammer Museum’s annual Gala in the Garden. Adorned in fur coats, colorful sunglasses and patterned ties, artists and celebrities including Owen Wilson, Rufus Wainwright, Lauren Halsey and Catherine Opie joined to celebrate gala honorees Betye Saar and television writer and producer Darren Star.
The event highlighted how the Westwood-based museum inspires creatives and harnesses community for the city’s artists. Under pink and yellow lights, guests enjoyed cocktails while admiring the museum’s galleries. Guests, including Los Angles County Museum of Art Director and Chief Executive Michael Govan and the Hammer’s Director Emerita Ann Philbin, reunited with old friends and colleagues, making the event feel like a family affair.
All were unified in their admiration of the night’s guests of honor.
At 99, Saar is among L.A.’s most esteemed and accomplished living artists. Her career has spanned more than seven decades, with an early focus on rejecting white feminism and reclaiming the Black female body. Civil rights activist Angela Davis traced the start of the Black women’s movement to the creation of Saar’s 1972 assemblage piece, “The Liberation of Aunt Jemima.”
During onstage comments at the gala, Getty Research Institute presidential scholar Sandra Jackson-Dumont discussed the massive impact Saar has had on the art world.
“It measures in the artist who found their voice because you insisted that your voice mattered. It’s in the institutions that shifted because you demanded that they see us,” Jackson-Dumont said while introducing Saar to the stage. “You take what the world cast aside and breathe spirit into it, insisting that the overlooked can speak, that the discarded can testify, that the everyday can dream.”
Ann Philbin, from left, director emerita, Hammer Museum, Kohshin Finley and Lauren Halsey attend the Hammer Museum’s 2026 Gala in the Garden.
(Stefanie Keenan / Getty Images for Hammer Museum)
The event also served as an early celebration for Saar’s 100th birthday in July, with Jackson-Dumont calling her birthday “100 years of vision. 100 years of courage.”
“[It’s] not 100 years of working, of making art, but 100 years of living with eyes wide open, heart attuned, spirit unbound, we stand in awe,” Jackson-Dumont said.
Saar took to the stage amid a resounding standing ovation, and when she spoke, the crowd’s gaze remained intently on her. While Saar kept her remarks short, she talked about the importance of art in everyday life.
“So many people do not realize how important art is, how it affects everything we do. Even bad things, because you can take art and make it good,” Saar said. “I want to thank you for coming to this event because by you being here, it encourages a lot of other people who are not here to love art and to use art and to know how important art is in this foreign life.”
Netflix co-Chief Executive Ted Sarandos introduced Star, who created groundbreaking series including “Beverly Hills, 90210,” “Sex and the City,” “Younger” and “Emily in Paris,” which defined pop culture references for generations of television viewers.
Sarandos called it a “privilege” to work with Star, explaining that his work has an “enduring staying power” and that “there has never been a storyline that is too bats— crazy for Darren.”
“Darren is simply one of the most talented showrunners of his generation, with his finger on the pulse of pop culture for more than three decades,” Sarandos said. “He influences the clothes we wear, the way we cut our hair, the music we listen to and the dreams we dream.”
Star, who has long served on the Hammer’s board of directors, celebrated his honor by explaining what he loves about the museum, including its Alice Waters’ restaurant Lulu, and the environment the space provides for Los Angeles creatives.
The view from above the courtyard at the Hammer Museum’s 2026 Gala in the Garden, which honored artist Beye Saar and television writer and producer Darren Star.
(Charley Gallay / Getty Images for Hammer Museum)
“The Hammer creates a wonderful community. We come together because we all love art, love Los Angeles and love this museum,” Star said. “I’m grateful to be part of this family and the city’s extraordinary artistic life.”
The gala was the second under the leadership of Hammer Museum Director Zoë Ryan, who succeeded longtime director Ann Philbin in January 2025. Former Los Angeles City Council President Joel Wachs called Ryan a “true scholar, open-minded, unflappable.”
“I believe she is exactly the kind of strong leader this institution needs in these really difficult, complicated and turbulent times,” Wachs said during his opening remarks. “And if anyone can be counted upon, I believe it’s her that will vigorously defend against the grave dangers and vicious attacks on freedom of expression that both museums and universities currently face.”
During her speech Ryan said the Hammer is “cherished” by the Los Angeles community, and that she intends to keep providing a space for creatives in the city.
“At the heart of the Hammer is a deep commitment to giving space to artists, bold and experimental ideas, and supporting audiences as a catalyst for change through dialogue and exchange — all much needed in this country right now.”
It will be more than a “Star Wars” bonanza when the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art opens to the public Sept. 22. The highly anticipated $1-billion museum on Thursday announced about 20 inaugural exhibitions curated by George Lucas across more than 30 galleries — and only one is related to cinema, with a focus on “Star Wars” memorabilia, including large-scale vehicle installations, production designs, props and costumes.
The full scope of the 1,200-plus objects will only be revealed when guests step through the museum doors into more than 100,000 square feet of gallery space on the first day of fall.
The futuristic-looking 300,000-square-foot museum in L.A.’s Exposition Park was designed by Ma Yansong of Mad Architects with executive architect Stantec and includes 11 acres of park space that extend to the museum’s roof, designed by Mia Lehrer of Studio-MLA. Co-founded by Lucas and his wife, Mellody Hobson, the museum will rotate the famous filmmaker’s vast collection of narrative art, which contains objects not found in more traditional museums, including manga, comics and children’s tales. The idea is to present the myriad ways images are used to tell an endless variety of stories. Lucas has called his collection “the people’s art.”
Dorothea Lange, “Migrant Mother,” Nipomo, Calif., 1936. Gelatin silver print, 18 3/4 x 14 1/2 in.
(Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, PKY.1062)
Exhibitions currently on deck include a variety of themed shows such as one on the architecture of the building; one titled “Everyday Life,” dedicated to visual stories about “childhood, community, family, love, motherhood, play, school, sports and work”; another titled “Civic Life” featuring “artists’ portrayals of experience in the courthouse, the polling place, the political headquarters”; an exhibit titled “Narrative Forms” highlighting “narrative art across genres of adventure, fantasy, romance and science fiction” by artists including Julie Bell, Boris Vallejo, Ken Kelly, Georges Méliès, John C. Berkey and Jeffrey Catherine Jones; and children’s literature illustrations by Beatrix Potter, Leo Politi, E.H. Shepard and Jacob Lawrence.
George Hughes, “Home at Last,” cover for the Saturday Evening Post, Sept. 1, 1951. Oil on board, 30 x 24 in.
There will also be exhibitions devoted to the work of individual artists and genres such as comics and graphic stories from illustrators Mœbius, Marie Severin, Jack Kirby, Alison Bechdel, Jim Lee, Frank Miller and Rafael Navarro; illustrations and book covers by Frank Frazetta; the work of fairy tale and children’s illustrator Jessie Willcox Smith; the lush art of Maxfield Parrish; a selection of work by iconic American artist Norman Rockwell; selected works of Thomas Hart Benton; and early 20th century book illustrations by N.C. Wyeth.
A news release about the inaugural exhibitions noted that they are drawn from the museum’s founding collection of more than 40,000 works.
“The exhibitions trace the evolution of human culture through storytelling, from ancient sculptures of gods and goddesses to Renaissance paintings to photographs, comics and modern cinema,” the release says. “Many exhibitions are organized by theme, focusing on myths about love, family, community and adventure that connect every generation. These shared stories, told over and over in many forms, bind us together and define our human experience.”
Ernie Barnes, “The Critic’s Corner,” 2007. Acrylic on canvas, 23 1/2 x 35 3/8 in.
Lucas’ role at his namesake museum has also not always been clear, and the museum’s development has been marked by a series of high-profile staff shakeups. The museum’s original director and chief executive, Sandra Jackson-Dumont, stepped down from her role in early 2025 after less than five years. She didn’t speak publicly about her departure but the museum issued a statement that her decision was based on a “new organizational design” that would split her job into two positions, with Lucas responsible for content direction.
Three months later, the museum laid off 15 full-time employees, a number of whom were from the education and public programming team. Seven part-time, on-call employees were also eliminated. The layoffs were described to The Times in harrowing terms by two employees who asked to remain anonymous.
In December — soon after the museum announced its opening date — news broke that chief curator Pilar Tompkins Rivas had stepped down from her role.
To date, no new chief curator has been named, but a rep for the museum wrote in an email that Lucas “is responsible for curatorial and content direction for the museum and continues to work closely with the curatorial team on his decades-long vision to celebrate storytelling and narrative art.”
