This event has now sold out. Please email charlotte@ditchlingmuseumartcraft.org.uk to be added to the waiting list.

We have long confronted the complexities of our collection, particularly those surrounding Eric Gill — an artist whose legacy is marred by the documented abuse of his children. We have addressed this difficult history head-on, refusing to separate the art from the artist without critical reflection.

Building on our provocative exhibition Eric Gill: The Body, which invited audiences and practitioners to grapple with ethical questions of interpretation, we now present It Takes a Village. Developed in collaboration with the Methodist Modern Art Collection and the Methodist Survivors Advisory Group, this new exhibition and its outreach programme explore how museums can responsibly engage with histories of abuse, working alongside survivors to imagine new possibilities for interpretation and care.

This sector-focused seminar, hosted here at Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft and supported by the Centre for Design History at the University of Brighton, offers museum professionals a space to reflect, learn and share strategies for curating ethically complex collections.

Chaired by Dr Claire Wintle (University of Brighton), presentations on the project by our Director/CEO Steph Fuller and Dr Ann Sumner (Methodist Modern Art Collection) will be followed by a response from Dr Lesley Murray, Professor of Sociology at the University of Brighton and expert in gender-based violence. Together, we will explore the challenges and opportunities of confronting Gill’s legacy — and what might come next.

This event will be recorded and available to watch at a later date.