Almost 500 people have signed a petition on change.org calling on Nottingham Castle trustees to step down and be replaced by a new board.
The online petition is the latest development in an ongoing row over the governance of the heritage site, which reopened as a charitable trust in June after a £30m redevelopment.
It follows the sacking of the trust's CEO – who has brought a claim against the organisation for wrongful dismissal – and an alleged racist hate crime reported by curator Panya Banjoko, which took place on castle grounds in August.
The petition, which was started by Ann Jakob, says the trust has “been almost run into the ground by poor governance and a series of scandals”.
It continues: “It is time that the current board of trustees, including the chair, step down to allow a board more reflective of the city's diversity to take over and properly represent us.”
Among its demands, the petition calls on “Nottingham Castle Trust take responsibility for its severe failings, including the perpetuating of structural racism”.
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It calls for the appointment of a diverse board that include “trustees with different backgrounds and perspectives, as well as professional experience in heritage, the arts and community work”.
It urges culture sector stakeholders, including Arts Council England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund, to “stop funding the trust until the board has been replaced”.
The petition calls for an immediate investigation into the “institutional failings” at the trust and demands that the trust provide details of expenditure “on the legal fees it has incurred protecting the reputations of trustees”.
The petition urges the trust to “release an official anti-racist declaration, place anti-racist signage in the museum and online, and for all staff to undertake training on bystander action”.
The staff of colour (SoC) collective, an anonymous group of Nottingham Castle employees who made a formal complaint earlier this month about the board's handling of the racist incident, said that while they have no connection to the petition, they “wholeheartedly share and support its sentiment”.
The SoC Collective said: “Particularly at this time, when boards and people in positions of power and privilege are coming under increased scrutiny for perpetuation [of] structural racism, we feel that this petition brings important focus on the problems at Nottingham Castle.”
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The SoC Collective said they echoed the petition's call for scrutiny, defunding and the resignations of the chair and other trustees.
In a statement released earlier this month, Nottingham Castle Trust said its trustees had been subject to a “regrettable trial by social and other media”.
The statement said: “The trustees want to make it absolutely clear that they abhor any form of discrimination, hate crime and abuse – and racism will not be tolerated on our premises.”
It continued: “We will not be entering into any further discourse about any of these matters while they are subject to a police investigation, the independent investigations we have commissioned and the ongoing employment tribunal proceedings. We ask the public to allow these investigations and legal process to proceed without further comment or speculation to ensure fairness is afforded to all those concerned.”
The statement from the board can be read in full here.
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November 26, 2021 at 09:18PM
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Petition calls on Nottingham Castle Trust board to step down - Museums Association
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