Be honest, when was the last time you prioritised your mental health? We are told repeatedly that taking time to be mindful, the act of having a non-judgmental awareness of the present moment, can support good mental wellbeing but making time for this practice is not always easy! 

With this in mind, we are delighted to launch a new Audio Guide that we hope will allow you to experience Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery in a completely new way. The guide leads you through the museum taking in fantastic works of art, as usual, but inviting you to use the art to support a mindful practice. Designed and narrated by Adam Dacey, the founder of Mindspace, the 30 minute audio tour gives you an opportunity to be peaceful and present while learning techniques you can take away and use in your daily life.  Read More...

My name is Gabbie and I’m about to start my final year as an English Literature undergrad at the University of Birmingham (how time flies!) This summer I’ve come in once a week as a PR and Marketing Assistant for Birmingham Museums Trust, and my time has been an invaluable learning experience that I’m sad to see end. 

Before I started, I had some panicked ideas about life after graduation. The only things I was sure of was that I love writing and that I love the arts. PR wasn’t a sector I’d considered, but when I saw this placement with the Trust at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, I was intrigued.  Read More...

Head to Thinktank on weekdays during Birmingham term-time only and take advantage of big savings with our adult and toddler (3-5 years old) ticket offer (T&Cs apply).

The adult and toddler ticket enables you to marvel at everything Thinktank has to offer at the great value price of just £15 (T&Cs apply).  Read More...

Hello everyone, I have been volunteering at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery (BMAG) since January and I am keen to share some of my favourite pictures and objects on display. Watch this space for blog updates of my latest favourite artwork!

So here I go with number one… ‘Column on the March’ by Christopher R W Nevinson is in the Modern British Art Gallery at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. It is almost completely monochrome, painted in blues from palest to almost black, and a few dabs of brown. Depicting World War One (WW1) it is devoid of any bright colour and seems to me to be a unique way of looking at warfare. Read More...

The MiniBrum gallery provides an inspiring environment for children to explore and question their understanding of the world around them. Through play, the city gives children the confidence to think like scientists in a real-life context: to test their ideas, to problem solve and to create. The main ethos behind Minibrum is that it is created with children for children and we have worked with over 800 people from schools, families and community groups to design each zone of our city. 

The MiniBrum museum, designed by Henley Montessori school, provides an inspiring example of co-production. From choosing their favourite objects, to designing models and engaging interactions, the children have led and been involved in all aspects of the design; everything you can see and do within the museum has been created in response to their ideas! Helen Everley, Head Teacher at Henley Montessori School said, “The finished museum is a replica of the children’s original designs and ideas, testimony to the whole process they were involved in. An opportunity that none of them will fully realise the significance in their education until they are older.” Read More...

Hello, my name is Shahmima Akhtar and I did a Midlands4Cities Innovation Placement at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery from April to June 2019, after submitting my PhD at the University of Birmingham and before starting my postdoc. 

My PhD looked at exhibitions of the Irish in World’s Fairs in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in Britain and the United States.  Read More...

From Monday 7th October until 29th October 2019, there are pedestrian diversions to Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery - this is due to the Paradise redevelopment. But don't worry there are detours in place. 

(This page has been updated on 7th October to reflect the new changes in access.) Read More...

We proudly launched the Signal Box Café at Thinktank a little while back. To give you a better idea of what to expect from our new family eatery we spoke to Daniel Wattrus, the Food and Beverage Manager at Thinktank and asked him what was new.

"The whole space is much more attractive and welcoming, it’s brighter with comfortable new furniture and it feels much more part of the surrounding galleries. Read More...

Hello, my name is Stefanie and I have managed to volunteer at four different Birmingham Museums Trust (BMT) sites! My background is in archaeology, history, museum studies and teaching languages. I moved to Birmingham last year, so I am still quite new to the area. When I started volunteering at BMT earlier this year, everyone made me feel welcome and a part of this local community.

As a volunteer Learning Resource Assistant at Blakesley Hall, I volunteer once a week and am involved in lots of aspects of public programming: from cutting shapes in preparation for school visits to assisting the Learning Officer during workshops. But I also help to develop new ways to engage visitors – my current project is around the gardens at Blakesley Hall. Read More...

The dinosaurs first arose in the Late Triassic period about 225m years ago. The dinosaur group has three main lineages: the huge Sauropodomorphs such as Diplodocus, the herbivorous Ornithischians such as Triceratops and the (mostly) carnivorous Theropods, which include Velociraptors and Tyrannosaurus rex. We all know that the dinosaurs became extinct at the end of the cretaceous period about 66 million years ago. However, modern birds are the direct descendants of a group of small carnivorous dinosaurs but it took a long time for all the experts to agree.

In 1860 near Solnhofen in Bavaria, Germany a very odd-looking fossil was discovered. It looked like a small carnivorous dinosaur with wings and feathers. It had a mouth with teeth, claws on the hands and a long tail. They named it Archaeopteryx. Experts at the time agreed that this was the earliest known example of the prehistoric bird. However, they disagreed on what animal it had evolved from. Read More...