Accreditation Update: August 2014

Arts Council England (ACE) have issued revised Accreditation guidance documents and Collections Development Template as part of the Accreditation update for July / August 2014.

The standard itself has not changed, the guidance documents are purely updated for clarification, taking into account queries that have arisen in the previous 12 months. All updates are clearly marked. A particular feature this year is greater clarity on what constitutes ‘approval’ of policies and plans.

The Collections Development Policy has changed and all museums drawing up a policy for the first time or revising and renewing their policy must now use this template.

Museums making an Accreditation return now and whose Collections Development Policy is still in date, need not rewrite their policy at this point.

There will also be a period of grace for museums due to submit an Accreditation return this August and who have already had their new policy approved or who have it ready for approval. They can submit a policy using the 2011 template.

The new documents are all available on the Arts Council England website.