Neil MacGregor presents a new series for BBC Radio Four celebrating the role and ambition of museums the length and breadth of the country, and in the process he'll be find answers to the question ‘What are Museums For in 2022’.

Neil is once again in the post industrial North of England, this time in Wakefield, Yorkshire. Amidst the dereliction of old spinning factories and declining coal mining, the local council chose to back an extraordinary project celebrating local artist Barbara Hepworth. The building of The Hepworth on the banks of the river Calder, with its angular structure dipping its toes in the river, has brought surprise, pride and a stream of visitors from both near and far. In a way it's an outlier in the series, being built around the works of one person, but its place at the heart of Wakefield makes it a powerful emblem of what a museum and gallery can be, and the choice of one particular sculpture, a mother and child, is driven not by any curatorial selection but by the simple democracy of postcard sales in the museum shop.

Museums have always been telescopes trained on the past to help locate a sense of place in the present. Neil believes that role is an active one, responding to changes in the people museums serve and the shifting social and cultural landscape they inhabit. After spending much of his life at the centre of our national Museum life in London, Neil is taking to the road to discover more about the extraordinary work being done in cherished Museums outside the capital, from Stornoway to Stowmarket, and Belfast to Birmingham.

In each episode he visits a single museum, inviting them to choose an object from their collections which they feel best illustrates their civic role, and the way they relate and want to relate to their local audience. Very rarely have they chosen a crown jewel from their often priceless collections. More often it's an object with a particular local resonance, or which helps tackle episodes from the past which are being viewed very differently by citizens in the 21st century.

He’ll be visiting the great national museums of Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, as well as major city institutions in Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool and elsewhere. And in spite of the challenges of the last two years, everywhere he meets passionate teams who are dedicated to providing a unique experience for both local audiences and visitors from further afield.

Neil writes: “What’s going on in our museums is at once challenging and exciting and it can only really be understood by visiting as many as possible and finding out how they have approached what is a vital role in providing a sense of local, regional and national identity.”

Producer - Tom Alban
Original music composed by Phil Channell Show less