Natural History Museum runs jobs in-house

The Natural History Museum is to run its next two Earth Galleries exhibitions in-house and is looking for designers to pitch for the design work.

The museum has appointed external consultancies to run entire projects in the past, but the move to project-manage and research these new exhibitions internally could lead to a permanent in-house design team.

“We’ve had an in-house team in the past and we’re examining the future with regard to this,” says Dr Giles Clarke, the museum’s head of exhibitions and education. “It’s an option and we’re experimenting with different ways of working to see which suits,” he adds.

The two new galleries, called The Earth’s Treasury and From the Beginning, are part of the Earth Galleries programme, but each will have “distinctive design qualities”, says Dr Clarke.

“Consultancies can pitch for the work, but we are looking for just the design component,” stresses Dr Clarke. Individual designers will be taken on for a minimum 12-month contract.