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National Science and Media Museum announces reopening plans
Phased reopening to start with redesigned welcome area
The National Science and Media Museum has revealed more details of its phased reopening next year to coincide with the Bradford 2025 City of Culture festivities.
The museum will open in early January with a reconfigured foyer area featuring a new welcome desk, soft seating, an additional lift and redesigned shop.
Although the opening of the new Sound and Vision galleries displaying its permanent collections has been delayed and won’t launch until summer 2025, the museum has planned a programme of exhibitions and events to coincide with Bradford 2025.
These include a new immersive installation for the museum’s temporary exhibition galleries, launching in April 2025, by the artist collective Marshmallow Laser Feast.
Inspired by Born in Bradford, a major research programme that has been tracking the lives of more than 40,000 people across the district since 2007, the installation will take visitors on a multimedia ride through time and space, exploring who we are and what makes us human.
Elsewhere, the 2025 programme features a number of festivals such as the Yorkshire Games Festival, the Widescreen Weekend film festival, and the Bradford Science Festival.
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Earlier this month, Bradford 2025 announced the first events being planned for its UK City of Culture.
Rise, a large-scale outdoor theatrical event created by the magician, Steven Frayne (formerly known as Dynamo) and directed by Kirsty Housley, will launch Bradford 2025. The Bradford-born artist David Hockney is supported a UK-wide drawing project and the Turner Prize will be hosted at Cartwright Hall Art Gallery.
“We’re looking forward to welcoming visitors back into the museum in January just as Bradford takes on the role of City of Culture,” said Jo Quinton-Tulloch, the director of the National Science and Media Museum.
“It’s going to be a momentous year for the district, and we’ve planned a fantastic lineup of exhibitions, festivals, and events including a new immersive exhibition in partnership with Bradford 2025; a supercharged Bradford Science Festival and the opening of our new Sound and Vision galleries in the summer.
“With an enhanced public programme, newly revamped spaces and improved accessibility including a new passenger lift, we’re ready to welcome many more visitors in 2025 and beyond.”
Delegates at the Museums Association Conference in nearby Leeds will be able to join the National Science and Media Museum curatorial and collections services team to explore the Insight: Collections and Research Centre.
The free tour, which is part of a programme of tours taking place on Thursday 14 November, offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse of some of its most iconic objects, as well as its new conservation lab.