It has been wonderful having Heather Lomas providing accreditation advice and support to EM museums over the past few years, particularly throughout the Covid pandemic and while the Accreditation scheme was being relaunched. Heather has now taken the decision to move on from the role, however continues to develop and deliver our Succession Planning and Organisational Health programme.
MDEM and MDWM are delighted to appoint Jennie Crawford as Accreditation Advisor for the Midlands region. Jennie is a freelance consultant in the museum and heritage sector, with extensive experience of facilitating workshops and delivering workforce development programmes for the museum sector. She was one of Arts Council England’s Accreditation Advisors from 2011-15 and Museum Development North West’s Accreditation Technical Advisor from 2019 – 2022 where she and delivered a programme of support and training focused on governance, operations, collections management, learning and access for museums. She has also delivered Accreditation workshops for museums in the West Midlands and she is looking forward to getting to know museums in the East Midlands.
Born in Canada, Jennie has lived and worked in North West England since 2002: from heritage and culture roles in Cheshire and Manchester; to Pennine Lancashire Museums where she established a compelling vision for museums and art galleries. She was the original architect of Pennine Lancashire Museums. In 2016, she settled in the Lake District to reinvigorate the visitor experience at Blackwell the Arts & Crafts House and plan the inaugural schools and families programme for Windermere Jetty Museum. As a freelance consultant, Jennie has worked with organisations to develop strategic plans, write funding applications, carry out research and feasibility studies and evaluate projects.
As your regional Museum Accreditation Advisor, Jennie will provide:
An Accreditation Training and Development Programme
- A programme of Accreditation workshops to support new and returning applicants to the scheme
Advice to Accredited/Working Towards Accreditation (WTA) Museums
- Providing advice surgeries and responding to queries about Museum Accreditation via phone, email and online.
- Assessing Working Towards Accreditation (WTA) applications and giving pre-WTA advice.
Accreditation Mentor Support
- Supporting the regional Accreditation Mentors Network
Heather Lomas is continuing to facilitate the MDEM Organisational Health programme for 2023/2024 and she looks forward to catching up with museums on the programme.
Contact:
Heather Lomas (Organisational Health): office@heatherlomas.co.uk
Jennie Crawford (Accreditation Advice): jennie@museummatters.co.uk
