06/07/2010

Available for over a year

According to the Daily Telegraph shortly after the recent budget, the amount of money available from the government for cultural heritage and the arts is set to be slashed by 33% - and 33% of £1.5billion doesn't pay for very much. So are we at the end of what Tony Blair once described as a 'golden age for museums', or will digital technology - like that used so successfully by the BBC and British Museum in the A History of the World project - come to the rescue? In this special programme Vanessa Collingridge hears what the public thinks about our museums, what people in the sector feel and, perhaps most importantly, what the new Minister for Culture Ed Vaizey believes is the way forward for our museums. Taking part in the programme is Dr Sam Alberti from the University of Manchester, Dr Brian Kelly - a digital heritage specialist from UKOLN at the University of Bath, and Christopher Kirby at the award-winning Herbert Museum in Coventry. We go to Croydon to hear how our big, national museums are trying to help smaller museums, and we'll be visiting Aberdeen to find out how our past was presented way back in the 17th and 18th centuries. Send us your views: Email: [email protected] Write to Making History. BBC Radio 4. PO Box 3096. Brighton BN1 1PL Join the conversation on our Facebook page or find out more from the Radio 4 website: www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/makinghistory Presenter: Vanessa Collingridge Producer: Nick Patrick A Pier Production for BBC Radio 4.