BM Director Gets Government Post

Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, has been appointed Chairman of World Collections, a new position in the United Kingdom's government.

The Art Newspaper reported on January 8, 2008 that Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum since 2002, is now the United Kingdom's Chairman of World Collections, a new diplomatic and cultural position.

Mr. MacGregor will promote the collections of the BM, Tate, British Library, Victoria and Albert Museum, Natural History Museum and Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew abroad. With a £3 million budget distributed over three years, he'll continue to arrange loans of artworks, exchanges of professional staffs, sharing of curatorial knowledge and conservation programs between British and foreign institutions, particularly those in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. Mr. MacGregor's efforts on behalf of the British Museum have resulted in the popular traveling exhibition The First Emperor: China's Terracotta Army.

Profile

Glascow native Neil MacGregor (b. 1946) studied languages, philosophy and law. He holds a master's degree in art history from the Courtauld Institute of Art and nine honorary doctorates. Before coming to the British Museum, he was a lecturer in art history at Reading University (1975-1981), editor of The Burlington Magazine (1981-1987) and director of London's National Gallery (1987-2002).