2 April 2024—31 December 2027

Highlights Tour: Bristol Museum & Art Gallery

TOUR: Welcome to Bristol Museum & Art Gallery! Our welcome tour offers you a captivating introduction to the magnificent building and extensive collections housed within our walls.

Talks, tours and workshops

2 April 2024—31 December 2027

Highlights Tour: Difficult Conversations at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery

TOUR: Our Difficult Conversations tour offers you a different view of our collections and an insight into the complex ethics of museums in the modern world.

Talks, tours and workshops

2 April 2025—31 March 2027

Highlights Tour: Hidden Histories, Women Artists, Muses and Rebels

TOUR: This tour guides you through Bristol Museum’s Art Galleries, focusing on women’s stories from our art collection and highlighting work by women artists.

Talks, tours and workshops

1 June 2025—31 March 2027

Highlight Tours: Bristol’s Dinosaurs

TOUR: Let us take you on an imaginary trip back in time to meet the dinosaurs of Bristol Museum & Art Gallery!

Talks, tours and workshops

10 January—31 December 2026

Highlights Tour: Treasures of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery

TOUR: Bristol Museum and Art Gallery is a treasure house of beautiful things!

Talks, tours and workshops

13 February—1 November 2026

Mini-museum hunt! 50 years of Aardman

ACTIVITY: Families and curious explorers of all ages can pick up a detective map and track down all the Aardman secret treasures.

2 October—4 December 2026

The Bristol Tapestry Talk

TALK: Explore the story of how The Bristol Tapestry came to be made at this talk.

Talks, tours and workshops

2 October 2026

Home Educator activity: Geology Store tours

LEARNING: Home Educated students can join us for a special behind-the-scenes tour of the Geology stores, followed by a hand-on investigation of museum specimens.

4 October—20 December 2026

Bristol Museum Morning Yoga

EXPERIENCE: Join us for Sunday morning yoga in the Enlightenment Gallery this year.

Special events

10 October 2026

Space Week: Immersed in Starlight

EVENT: See Bristol’s night sky as never before, as the museum transforms into a canvas for distant nebulae, star clusters and galaxies.

Special events

13 October 2026

Home Educator activity: Drawing British wildlife

LEARNING: An opportunity for Home Educators to get up close to bird and animal specimens and make observational drawings.

14 October 2026—9 May 2027

Bristol Photo Festival 2026: Time Machine

EXHIBITION: We are showing two shows at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery as part of Bristol Photo Festival.

Exhibitions

18 October 2026

People of Clay – exhibition tour with Akshay Mahajan

TOUR: Take advantage of this rare opportunity to join artist Akshay Mahajan for a walk around his exhibition People of Clay, part of this year’s Bristol Photo Festival.

Talks, tours and workshops

20 October 2026

Home Educator workshop: Ancient Egypt

LEARNING: This Home Educator workshop about Ancient Egypt explores life, beliefs, and mummification, inspired by our fantastic Egypt gallery.

24 October 2026—31 January 2027

The Secret Life of Colour

EXHIBITION: An exhibition exploring the powerful role colour plays in our lives featuring objects from across the globe.

Exhibitions

24 October 2026

Black History Month Family Fun: ‘Wear your story’ (upcycling with Adire)

FAMILY FUN: Celebrate Black History Month through the colour, creativity and rich textile traditions of the Yoruba people of Nigeria.

Families

29 October 2026—28 January 2027

The Secret Life of Colour – Lates

SPECIAL EVENT: Join us after hours for a chilled-out evening of art, music, and good vibes at The Secret Life of Colour Lates.

Special events

29 October 2026

Curator talk: Colour in Nature

TALK: Join natural history expert Ray Barnett to discover how animals and plants generate colours and how they use them for different purposes.

Talks, tours and workshops

19 November 2026

Curator talk: Kevin de Choisy’s ceramic glaze experiments

TALK: Join our Curator of Applied Art in discussing the glaze experiments Kevin de Choisy and how artists test and refine glazes.

Talks, tours and workshops

19 November 2026

William Hogarth’s Altarpiece

SPECIAL EVENT: See Hogarth’s vast triptych and learn about its remarkable journey around Bristol since it was painted for St Mary Redcliffe in 1755/56.

Talks, tours and workshops

26 November 2026

Conserving Colour with the Conservation team

TALK: Hear our Conservators discuss some of the challenges and rewards presented by colour in conserving and treating historic objects.

Talks, tours and workshops

2 December 2026

Home Educator activity: Brass rubbing and medieval handling

LEARNING: Home Educators 12-16 years can join us and make rubbings of our replica church brasses, and handle medieval artefacts.

10 December 2026

Curator talk: Colour in Chinese ceramics and glass

TALK: Our Senior Curator of Visual Arts will explore some of the meanings behind Chinese ceramic and glass colours.

Talks, tours and workshops

14 January 2027

Curator talk: Minerals of the Bristol Region

TALK: Focusing on examples in the exhibition and from the museum’s geological collections, this talk will explore the history, uses and beauty of minerals.

Talks, tours and workshops

19 June—19 September 2027

British Art Show 10: A Chorus of Strangers

EXHIBITION: The British Art Show is the largest and most significant recurring exhibition of contemporary art in the UK.

Exhibitions

1 June—30 September 2028

David Bowie: On Tour

EXHIBITION: Over 100 highlights from the V&A’s David Bowie’s archive are coming to Bristol in Summer 2028.

Exhibitions

Bristol Museum & Art Gallery is part of Bristol Museums