{"id":7007,"date":"2025-12-26T13:29:59","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T13:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=7007"},"modified":"2025-12-26T13:29:59","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T13:29:59","slug":"british-museums-plan-for-red-white-and-blue-ball-sparks-row-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=7007","title":{"rendered":"British Museum\u2019s plan for \u2018red, white and blue\u2019 ball sparks row | Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

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An internal row has broken out within the British Museum<\/a> over its director\u2019s suggestion of a \u201cred, white and blue\u201d themed ball for 2026, after staff condemned it as \u201cin poor taste\u201d following the rise in flag-hoisting across the UK.<\/p>\n

Nicholas Cullinan<\/a>, the director of the 272-year-old museum, has proposed a colour theme based on the union jack and French tricolore to mark next year\u2019s loan of the Bayeux tapestry<\/a> from Normandy.<\/p>\n

The suggestion has led to concerns being raised by staff within the museum\u2019s curatorial and administrative departments, the Guardian understands.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been brought up to the director as well as other senior members of staff that this is in poor taste due to the current far-right flag campaigns around the country,\u201d a source said.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Nicholas Cullinan has faced opposition from inside and outside the institution.<\/span> Photograph: Dave Benett\/Getty Images for dunhill<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since the summer, union jacks and other flags of the four nations of the UK have been hoisted from windows, bridges and lamp-posts in what has been described by some<\/a> as a celebration of Britishness.<\/p>\n

But concerns have been raised<\/a> about the motivation of some of those involved. One group behind the hoisting of flags, named Operation Raise the Colours, accepted a donation from Britain First, a far-right party with an openly anti-Islam, anti-immigration agenda.<\/p>\n

The British Museum hosted a successful inaugural fundraising ball<\/a> in October with a \u201cpink theme\u201d, a nod to the colours and light in India, that was attended by 8,000 people, with tickets costing \u00a32,000 a go.<\/p>\n

Those who attended in October included Naomi Campbell, Alexa Chung, Miuccia Prada, Manolo Blahnik, Sir Steve McQueen, Sir Grayson Perry and Dame Kristin Scott Thomas.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Naomi Campbell was among attendees at the British Museum\u2019s pink-themed ball.<\/span> Photograph: Scott A Garfitt\/Invision\/AP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cullinan, who was born in Connecticut to British parents but brought up in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, has said he hoped that the annual celebration will become a \u201cflagship national event\u201d.<\/p>\n

Described as a \u201cbrilliant fundraiser\u201d, Cullinan has nevertheless already faced opposition from inside and outside the institution.<\/p>\n

The first ball was co-chaired by Isha Ambani, an Indian \u201cbusinesswoman, philanthropist and arts patron\u201d. She is the daughter of Asia\u2019s richest man, Mukesh Ambani<\/a>, who owns a petrochemicals conglomerate, Reliance Industries.<\/p>\n

The campaign group Culture Unstained<\/a> has criticised the association of the Ambani family, \u201cwhose wealth comes in large part from the fossil fuel and petrochemical projects of Reliance Industries\u201d.<\/p>\n

Prof Nick Groom, author of The Union Jack: The Story of the British Flag, said the British Museum<\/a> should be encouraged to go ahead with its plans despite the concerns raised.<\/p>\n

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He said: \u201cIf the British Museum is reconsidering plans for a red, white and blue themed ball next year to celebrate the international concord between the UK and France in exhibiting the Bayeux tapestry<\/a> in London, then it is not just abdicating its responsibilities as a national institution to safeguard our history, but will effectively be complicit in the politicisation of the union jack \u2013 which would open the door to over 400 years of that history being rewritten by the far right.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd in any case, communities will still need symbols of unity \u2013 so what will the union jack be replaced by?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are all accountable here, charged with maintaining and recognising the complexities and indeed contradictions of national symbols.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only way is to resist simplistic politics that seek to impose one crude meaning on the flag and engage with its diverse history \u2013 a history that we can both celebrate and, where appropriate, censure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Groom added: \u201cGeorge Orwell got it right when he castigated the \u2018Bloomsbury highbrow\u2019 for divorcing intelligence from patriotism and treating the expression of national identity as brutish: \u2018If you were an intellectual you sniggered at the union jack and regarded physical courage as barbarous.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was in 1941, at the height of the Blitz bombing raids on British and Irish cities that killed over 43,500 civilians (about the population of Salisbury) when Britain faced the very real possibility of a Nazi invasion.\u201d<\/p>\n

A British Museum spokesperson said: \u201cThe inaugural ball was a landmark moment in the museum\u2019s history that secured over \u00a32.5m vital funding for its international partnerships.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are excited to follow up this year\u2019s success with a ball in autumn 2026 and will announce more details in due course.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

#British #Museums #plan #red #white #blue #ball #sparks #row #Culture<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An internal row has broken out… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7008,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7007"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}