FI16775

Request

Could you please provide the following information. 

For projects from January 2024 up to date 

And for ongoing work and upcoming, planned work 

Public art 

What is being done to make the town hall space more inclusive in terms of race, and LGBT inclusion? 

What artworks have been installed or removed to help with this? Paintings linked to empire and slavery for example/ 

What public art more generally, has been commissioned to improve diversity and inclusion? 

What public art more generally, has been removed, or given greater context, or reviewed for links to offensive or outmoded issues - statues linked to empire and slavery, for example 

Local museums

What is being done to make local museums (if applicable) more inclusive in terms of race, and LGBT inclusion? 

What displays have been added or updated to help with this? For example, have outdated displays been taken down? 

What research is being undertaken? 

What tours are available? 

What advice on racial inclusion and LTGBT issues is provided to staff? 

Libraries 

If applicable, what is being done to make local libraries more inclusive in terms of race, and LGBT inclusion? 

What books have been added to stock in relation to this? 

What books have been removed or moved to a reserve stack, or a less prominent place, because their content might be problematic; for example, outdated, racist, homophobic, transphobic, Islamophobic ? 

Can you provide details of any compaint received in the timeframe relating to the above issues?

Response

Public art 

• The Maison Dieu is a grade one listed building and a scheduled monument. The recent work on the building restored the neo gothic interiors designed by William Burges, and the interpretation relates to the complex history of the building since its foundation as a hospital early in the thirteenth century. The interiors, including the displays of arms and armour and oil paintings are a part of that history. They have been taken down, cleaned and conserved then put back in place where they were originally hung. There has been no attempt to rehang the collection in a different way – it is not an art gallery. This being the case there is unfortunately no room within the interpretation to deal with complex social issues that have occurred during its eight-hundred-year history.  It is open to all, and specific events take place from time to time. The most relevant to your enquiry is Dover Pride which took place on 24th August 2025. 
• See response above. A couple of items are still to be reinstalled, and substitutes have been hung to cover the gaps that they have left, but the intention is that they will be returned to the places where they were originally put. 
• The district council has not commissioned any art in the period that you are asking about. 
• None.

Local museums 

• The general exhibitions within the galleries are relatively static in subject matter and approach. Subjects that either sit outside the general narrative or that need to be examined in detail or from perspectives other than chronological are normally dealt with within our temporary exhibition programme. We currently have no temporary exhibitions that specifically deal with issues of race or that relate to LGBT+ inclusion, and these do not feature as specific topics within our forward planning for exhibitions.
• As set out above the general displays change very infrequently. There have been no changes in the period under review.
• None.
• None.
• The district council trains its staff in equality, diversity and inclusion during induction and every three years thereafter. We have an Equality Policy that forms part of the training.

Libraries

The Council has no responsibility for libraries and therefore does not hold this information.