Tristram Hunt, director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, has urged Stoke-on-Trent to create a world-class ceramics centre to capitalise on growing interest in pottery driven by television shows such as The Great Pottery Throw Down. Speaking ahead of the show's final on Sunday, Hunt said the city should build on its heritage rather than cutting museum funding.
Hunt, a former Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central and author of a book on Josiah Wedgwood, described the recent outcry over proposed council cuts to pottery museums as an opportunity. 'There's a strong case for bringing together the great ceramics collections of the Midlands into a ceramic centre,' he said, adding that the V&A would be supportive of such a project.
In January, Stoke-on-Trent City Council proposed cutting museum service funding by £479,000 and scrapping curator posts at the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery and Gladstone Pottery Museum. After a backlash involving more than 20,000 petition signatures, the council paused plans to cut curator roles and extended opening hours at Gladstone. However, campaigners said 'many questions and concerns remain'.
Peter Wilson, chair of the Friends of the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, warned that the proposals could deter donations. 'A number of people who have indicated they will donate their collection of pottery to the museum in their will were saying they were not sure of doing that now,' he said.
Alasdair Brooks, chief executive of Re-Form Heritage, noted that The Great Pottery Throw Down and the drama The Colour Room about Clarice Cliff had boosted international interest. He reported a 56% increase in visitor numbers in 2021 compared with 2019, driven partly by stay-at-home holidays but also by the show's US broadcast.
Hunt called for more investment in heritage tourism, saying, 'Going up to Stoke and throwing some pottery should become more of an experience.' He pointed to the government's commitment to Arts Council expenditure outside London as an opportunity for a ceramics centre in Stoke.
