Does your museum have a collection you want to shine a light on? You might want to delve deeper to allow communities the chance to add their stories to elements of a collection. Or there may be a group of objects which you need technical advice and support to better understand. There might even be problematic items in your collection, which have previously proven too challenging to address. This programme will enable museum teams to explore new narratives, with the support of MDEM and the wider museum sector.

It is a facilitated programme led by Regional Collections Advisor Anita Hollinshead. It will provide a blend of facilitated sessions, including inspirational visits to other sites in the region, as well as online training and access to other expert practitioners.

Museum Outcomes:

• Improved documentation of your chosen collection, with appropriate language and classification.
• Increased knowledge of your chosen collection including new and different perspectives.
• Upskilling your team, to be more confident to undertake exploratory collections work in this area.
• An action plan for the collection, looking at what to do with their newly acquired information.

Recruitment

This opportunity is open to six museums in the East Midlands region who are Accredited or working towards Accreditation. You organisation must have also completed the MDEM Organisational Health Check 2022.

To apply please read the full Programme Information, and submit an Expression of Interest by the 24th March 2023. (Please note this is a one week extension from when originally advertised).

MDEM New Narratives Programme Information 2023

New Narratives 2023 – EOI

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The Wild Escape, led by Art Fund and supported by Arts Council England, is a major new project uniting hundreds of museums, schools, and communities in a celebration of UK wildlife and creativity. For museum teams and schools, the project offers a fun and educational way to engage children with museum collections, through a focus on wildlife and the nature around us.

The Wild Escape coincides with the BBC’s Wild Isles programme, a major new BBC natural history service, presented by Sir David Attenborough, revealing a rarely seen wild side of the UK. It will inspire primary school children through art and design activities on BBC Bitesize, also lined to from other BBC sites.

The Wild Escape

Led by the Art Fund, with support from Arts Council England, Foyle Foundation, Kusuma Trust and a group of generous individuals and trusts, The Wild Escape grant scheme has been developed and delivered by Museum Development England, Museums Galleries Scotland, Northern Ireland Museums Council and Museum Development UK.

This collaboration to deliver small grant investment in museums across the UK builds on previous work undertaken by Museum Development UK and Art Fund, which provided small grants through the Museum Development Recovery grant programme in response to the pandemic, across 2020, 2021, and 2022.

Art Fund’s director Jenny Waldman said, The Wild Escape is a fantastic opportunity for the UK’s museums, galleries and collections to creatively engage the next generation in a positive future for our wildlife and natural environment. I hope all museums, galleries and historic houses join us and take part in The Wild Escape. Where cost is a barrier, they can apply for a grant to support their activities. We are enormously grateful to Arts Council England for their generous support for this ambitious project through a major National Lottery Project Grant.”

Applications are now closed for The Wild Escape small grants however museums, galleries and historic houses can still participate and benefit from a wide range of resources and project opportunities developed as part of The Wild Escape programme. For full information and to register, please go to About | The Wild Escape or contact thewildescape@artfund.org

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Purpose of Grant: To support small-scale projects where funding has been difficult to source.

What the grant will fund: Purchase of equipment and materials; training costs; match funding towards a purchase/ project/ short term temporary contract to advise or support an activity or development e.g. making a grant application/ running events/ project management etc.

Eligibility: Applicants must be an Accredited Museum or with ‘Working Towards Accreditation’ status.  Provisionally accredited museums are eligible to apply.

Your application will be assessed against the following criteria:

• Project is viable, achievable and clearly planned
• There is a demonstrable need.
• Urgency of need and availability of other suitable funds
• Outcomes will demonstrate impact of funds.
• Project demonstrates value for money.
• Application demonstrates 10% match funding towards total project cost

Match funding: MDEM can fund up to 90% of the total project cost. A 10% match funding contribution by the museum can be in cash and/ or volunteer-time where appropriate (see application form).

What we cannot fund:

• Revenue costs such as salaries and general running costs (a grant can however fund additional staff time needed to deliver the project/ contractors/ short term contracts)
• Building (capital) work
• NPO museums

How to apply:

You can download the application form here: Small-Grants-Fund-Application-Form-2023-2024

Please contact Laura Hughes for further information and to discuss your application.

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Working in partnership with NoBarriers this programme aims to support museums in England and Wales to improve their understanding of Equity and Inclusion. The programme will increase participants’ knowledge and skills around the Equity and Inclusion-related issues being faced by people working and volunteering in museums, their communities and audiences. It will support you in having conversations at your museum and in laying strong foundations for taking action.

The programme will have the following outcomes:

• Participating organisations demonstrate a consistent understanding of Equity and Inclusion and how it relates to their audiences, workforce (paid and voluntary), governance and programmes
• Participants feel confident about current language to use when discussing Equity and Inclusion
• Participants identify internal issues and external opportunities and barriers related to Equity and Inclusion and develop the skills to address them
• Participants demonstrate improved confidence in talking about difficult issues/ topics
• Participants understand ways to improve recruitment, access and participation at their museums and develop plans to address these
• Participants identify the challenges and/ or barriers within their organisation relating to Equity and Inclusion and develop plans to address these
• Participants involve the wider workforce in developing these Equity and Inclusion plans

The programme comprises of 10 online sessions running from November 2021 to March 2022 and will support 20 organisations from across seven participating areas; East of England, East Midlands, North East, North West, South West, West Midlands, Wales.

Although this programme is currently closed to applications you can still read the full Programme Overview document.

Who is this aimed at?

This programme has been designed for managers, trustees and decision makers working in museums, galleries and heritage sites who are:

• Keen to prioritise improving equity and inclusion at their organisation.
• Committed to reviewing their work around Equity and Inclusion.
• Open to new ways of working.
• Wanting to embed inclusive practice into all areas of their work.
• Able to dedicate time and staff resources to ensure they can benefit from the programme fully.

Two members of staff from each participating museum will attend to ensure that they are able to implement decisions and actions more effectively within their organisation.

Programme Resources

The programme has created a suite of Equity and Inclusion resources for all museums, which you can now access here.

For more information, please contact Claire.browne@leics.gov.uk 

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This project has arisen due to the dual challenges of a longer-term shifting volunteering workforce in the heritage sector, and the particular strains of the last two months due to the pandemic. Through the Museum Development (MD) Annual Museums Survey results, localised surveying through regional teams, and the results of the Spotlight survey in Wales, a clear need has emerged to support organisations to review their operating models to ensure volunteering is sustainable and responsive to the museums needs and the communities they serve.

Programme Aim: To support participating museums to review their volunteering strategy and explore new ways to embed sustainable volunteer development practice tailored to individual organisational needs.

Programme Outcomes: Participating museums will:

• review their operating model and business/ forward plan through the lens of volunteer resourcing
• understand the volunteer skills needed to deliver their operating model
• plan to develop their volunteer workforce through appropriate recruitment, training and resources to meet defined organisational needs
• develop appropriate volunteer policies and procedures
• identify volunteer management roles and responsibilities within the workforce
• embed inclusive practice into volunteer development
• develop an organisation specific action plan for volunteer development

This intensive programme will allow 20 organisations from across the eight participating areas; East Midlands, East of England, North East, North West, South East, Wales, West Midlands and Yorkshire to benefit from hands-on support to develop their volunteering practices, through a combination of group sessions, coaching, network building and training.

The programme will run from September 2022 to March 2023, with an expected time-commitment of 2-3 days per month. Additional work will be required to apply learning between sessions.

Please read the programme information before completing the Expression of Interest form and returning to by 5pm, Monday 11 July

Full programme information can be found here: 2022 Programme Information

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This film is hosted by Jennie Pitceathly, and is a about how Museum Accreditation relates to users. It is aimed at anyone reviewing their audience practices, submitting an application to the scheme or seeking a refresher.

Objectives of the film are:

• Review users sections of the 2018 standard
• Understand what Arts Council are looking for in relation to the standard.
• To spend some time reviewing key areas
• Enable you to identify areas which need addressing

If you would like further Museum Accreditation support, please see our website.

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This film is hosted by Heather Lomas and is a about how Museum Accreditation relates to managing collections. It is aimed at anyone reviewing their collections plans, policies and procedures, submitting an application to the scheme or seeking a refresher.

Objectives of the film are:

• Review managing collections section of the 2018 standard
• Understand what Arts Council are looking for in relation to the standard.
• To spend some time reviewing key areas
• Enable you to identify areas which need addressing

If you would like further Museum Accreditation support, please see our website.

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This film is hosted by Heather Lomas and is a about how Museum Accreditation relates to organisational health. It is aimed at anyone reviewing their organisational health practices, submitting an application to the scheme or seeking a refresher.

Objectives of the film are:

• Review organizational health sections of the 2018 standard
• Understand what Arts Council are looking for in relation to the standard.
• To spend some time reviewing key areas
• Enable you to identify areas which need addressing

If you would like further Museum Accreditation support, please see our website.

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This film is hosted by Jennie Pitceathly and will talk you through how to get started with Museum Accreditation. It is aimed at those new to the scheme or wanting a refresher.

You’ll learn:

• what’s new and what’s changed since the 2018 update.
• An overview of the current Accreditation guidance.
• Gain an understanding of the online system
• The impact of Covid 19 on the returns timetable

If you would like further Museum Accreditation support, please see our website.

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