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From 1 April Museum Development will be delivered by Museum Development Midlands (MDM).
MDM is funded by Arts Council England and delivered in partnership by Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust and Leicestershire County Council. MDM builds upon the established track record of both West Midlands Museum Development (WMMD) and Museum Development East Midlands (MDEM), with a strong understanding of the museum sector and trusted relationships with local museums and networks.
To receive regular updates on our MDM training, support programmes and grants please sign up for our MDM newsletter.
**IMPORTANT** The MDEM and WMMD newsletters will cease to operate. You will need to subscribe to the new MDM communications to receive updates from us.
Please forward this email to all your colleagues so they can sign up to our newsletters using this link https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/EmailSignUp/
Tender Opportunity: Organisational Health Programme and Midlands Trustee Network
The Museum Development Midlands programme (MDM) invites your quotation to deliver the Organisational Health Programme and Midlands Trustee Network strands of its support work.
The contractor(s) will:
- Deliver the Organisational Health Programme (30 days), including
- Intensive Organisational Health Support
- One to One Organisational Health Surgeries
- Organisational Health contribution to MDM internal team meetings
- Develop and deliver a Midlands Trustee Network (6 days), including
- Amalgamating existing Trustee Networks and coordinating new Midlands Trustee Network
- Developing and delivering Midlands Trustee Network support programme
Please note that these contract elements could be bid for collectively or as separate elements.
MDM will consider applications from agencies, individual freelancers, or a team of freelancers if you wish to apply as a group.
The initial contract will run until the end of March 2025 with the potential to extend annually until March 2027 with budgets and outputs agreed on an annual basis.
The Organisation Health Programme and Midlands Trustee Network will contribute to MDM’s aim to support museums to operate more effectively, increasing their long-term viability and
relevance. MDM’s support is delivered through direct advice, grants, training provision, facilitated networks, workshops and tailored, intensive activity.
The contractor would operate within the framework of the MDM programme, which is currently funded through Arts Council England (ACE) from April 2024 to March 2027.
MDM is seeking candidates with the following experience and expertise:
- Experience working in or with a range of different types of museums including local authority, independent and volunteer run.
- Experience working with charities or not-for-profit organisations
- Familiarity with the legal and ethical issues faced by museums
- Interpersonal skills and the ability to build professional yet supportive rapport with clients quickly
- Strong verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to convey complex information clearly and concisely to clients
- Discretion, sensitivity, and the ability to treat discussions with the upmost confidentiality
- Understanding of current Museum Accreditation requirements
- Strong practical knowledge of museums, heritage and current issues affecting the sector
- Experience or knowledge of Midlands museums and their key organisational challenges
- Knowledge of sector funders, stakeholders and support organisations
Timescales and key dates:
MDM is working to the current timeline:
- Invitation to quote closes: Friday 19 April 2024
- Interviews week commencing: Monday 29 April 2024
- Successful applicants notified at the latest: Tuesday 7 May 2024
- Contract commencement date: Monday 13 May 2024
Project budget and payment terms
The maximum budget is £18,000 including all expenses and VAT to the end of March 2025.
There are two separate elements to the budget:
- £15,000 inc VAT for organisational health
- £3,000 inc VAT for the trustee network element
Strengthening your Trustee Board – approaches to succession and recruitment
Trustee succession planning is an important part of good governance and an area all museum charities should be considering.
- Have you considered how the board will manage if one of the trustees decides to leave?
- Do you have gaps in skills and experience on your board and a need for new expertise and experiences?
- Have you thought about the representation on your board, does it reflect a range of views, viewpoints and your museum’s audiences?
- Are you fully up to date with your governing document and the rules and terms of office for trustees?
Join heritage consultant, Heather Lomas and fellow trustees at this quick fire session to discuss approaches to trustee succession planning, effective recruitment, induction, trustee motivations and lots more.
There will be plenty of time for discussion and sharing of top tips.
Monday 11 March, 6pm-8pm
Please note you must be a member of the West Midlands Museum Development Trustee Network to attend this training session – please sign up here if you’re not: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/TrusteeNetworkEOI/
Museum Development 2024-27
Your new Museum Development Midlands (MDM) team are busy collaborating to ensure our continued support for museums in the Midlands from April 2024.
Museum Development from now until April 2024
Until April 2024, the Museum Development teams in the East Midlands and West Midlands will continue operating as normal, providing advice and support to regional museums. In the lead up to our launch as Museum Development Midlands on 1 April, we’ll tell you more about the services you can expect.
We’re currently finalising the details of our delivery programme for 2024-25 and will update you in March. Please bear with us as we devote our attention to ensuring that we are ready for business as MDM from April 2024.
What is changing after April 2024?
From April 2024, the regional Museum Development teams in the Midlands will come together to form one area team covering the same geographical footprint. The MDM team will continue to have staff based throughout the two current regions, now working as one team. MDM is committed to retaining a close relationship with museums on the ground while gaining the advantages of working across the wider area.
MDM will be managed by a new partnership between Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust and Leicestershire County Council, the current hosts of the West Midlands Museum Development (WMMD) and Museum Development East Midlands (MDEM) programmes respectively.
Arts Council England will support the new MDM partnership with £570k per annum to deliver museum development activity in the Midlands from 1 April 2024 until 31 March 2027. This new partnership builds on the team’s experience of collaborative working across the Midlands since 2018.
Our support programme for museums in the Midlands responds to Arts Council England’s Strategy, Let’s Create, and addresses the four Investment Principles.
The 2024-25 programme will include:
- Providing one-to-one advice for regional museums
- Workforce training and skills development
- Developmental programmes
- Fundraising support
- Accreditation advice and mentor support
- Organisational health and governance advice
- Collections care advice
- Communications and signposting
- Supporting networks and partnerships
- Data collection, sharing insights and intelligence about the state of the sector and advocacy
- Sharing learning and good practice, celebrating museums’ achievements
- Small grants programme for Accredited museums
Our 2024-25 programme has been informed by your feedback during 2023. We will continue to adapt workforce development programming throughout 2024-27, responding to your needs including through the Museum Development Skills Needs Survey.
When will you hear more?
We’ll update you further in March. In the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns you would like to raise, please email the MDEM team or the WMMD team.
Dr Tristram Hunt: Colonialism and Collecting
ILAS Global Challenge lecture
With a collection born of the East India Company and material whose origins stretch across the British Empire, the ethics and practice of restitution is of growing importance to the Victoria and Albert Museum. In this lecture, historian and V&A Director Dr Tristram Hunt argues that museums should be less concerned about becoming sites of ‘transitional justice,’ adjudicating on the colonial past, and focus more on detailed, trans-national provenance research. Through biographies of objects with so-called ‘contested heritage,’ Dr Hunt will explain the V&A strategy of Renewable Cultural Partnerships and how museums can engage with, and shape, the coming era of restitution and collections equity between the Global North and South.
Wednesday 7 February 6pm-7pm
Westminster Theatre and Online via Microsoft Teams
Carbon Literacy Training sessions 2 and 3
634 museum staff, volunteers and trustees have become Carbon Literate through Museum Development England since November 2021.
Reducing your energy usage means reducing your energy bills, benefitting both your budget and the planet.
West Midlands Museum Development (WMMD) and Museum Development East Midlands (MDEM) are partnering to deliver several rounds of training, using the Carbon Literacy for Museums Toolkit developed by Museum Development and the Carbon Literacy Trust as part of the national Roots and Branches project.
What is a Carbon Literacy course? Becoming Carbon Literate will give you an understanding of what climate change is, the scale of its effects, and how museums fit into the global, national and local picture to address climate change. You become Carbon Literate by making an individual pledge, and an organisational pledge to take back to your museum, of what you can do, and is in your power to achieve, to make a significant difference to your carbon impact.
Who can attend? Anyone – we welcome all trustees, managers, volunteers and paid staff from museums across England who want to understand the part they can play in tackling the climate emergency.
What’s involved? The course is made up of four modules – the first module is pre-recorded and there are three Zoom sessions:
- Tuesday 27 February – the pre-recorded module will be sent to you. It lasts 1 hour 30 minutes
- Tuesday 5 March, 10am-12.30pm – Zoom session 1
- Thursday 7 March, 10am-12noon – Zoom session 2
- Thursday 7 March, 1pm-3pm – Zoom session 3
You only need to book once for the whole course.
Attendees will be certified as Carbon Literate once they’ve successfully completed the course. Therefore, it is essential you are able to attend all three Zoom sessions and undertake all course activities in full.
Bookings close: 5pm, Monday 19 February
Maximum two delegates per organisation. Priority will be given to delegates from non-NPO and non-National museums in the East Midlands and West Midlands which are Accredited or officially Working Towards Accreditation.
This event is run in partnership with West Midlands Museum Development (WMMD) and Museum Development East Midlands (MDEM). The event will be hosted by MDEM on their Zoom account. By booking onto this event you give permission to share your booking details with the event partners for the purpose of the event administration. WMMD’s privacy policy can be viewed here and MDEM’s policy can be viewed here.
Accessibility
This event will be auto captioned through Zoom. If you would benefit from other forms of access support, including live captioning, please answer ‘yes’ to the access requirements question on the booking form and email the WMMD team as early as possible stating the support you require.
All participants will receive an email containing a Zoom link prior to each event. The email will be sent to the email address used for booking. If you have not received an email by the day before the event please contact us.
How to Influence
Do you struggle to make yourself and your ideas heard?
Do you get frustrated by people often telling you no?
Or you would simply like to be more influential in different contexts?
This course is for colleagues of all levels who want to improve their influencing skills to achieve better results.
At the end of the course, you’ll be able to:
- identify situations both internally and externally that are dependent on your influencing skills
- recognise key models and how to utilise them to develop your influencing approach
- explain how to use both non-verbal and verbal communication skills effectively when influencing
- identify how to improve your own personal effectiveness when in influential situations
About the day
This is practical, interactive course delivered in partnership between West Midlands Museum Development and ted Learning. The day will be facilitated by Paul Hargreaves, an expert communication skills trainer, and two professional actors. We’ll explore some theory of communication and influencing and focus on how to have maximum impact by ensuring your body language and voice are congruent with the message you’re trying to deliver.
Through lots of practical and interactive activities, you’ll explore which approaches are effective in different situations and what works best for you, your influencing style and the factors that motivate others, supporting you to develop a flexible approach and become a successful influencer.
Bookings close: 5pm, Wednesday 17 January 2024
Maximum two delegates per organisation. Priority will be given to delegates from non-NPO and non-National museums in the West Midlands which are Accredited or officially Working Towards Accreditation.
Accessibility
This event will be held in Middleport Pottery’s Burgess Room. This room is located on the upper floor and is on the same level as the lift, and if therefore accessible to everyone. If you would benefit from any adjustment or support for accessibility, please answer ‘yes’ to the access requirements question on the booking form and email the WMMD team as early as possible stating the support you require.
Dietary Requirements
A vegetarian buffet lunch and refreshments will be provided. Please let us know any allergies or dietary requirements on the booking form when you book your place.
If you can’t see the booking button this event is fully booked. To join the waiting list please email wmmd@ironbridge.org.uk
How to Influence
Thursday 8 February 2024, 10am-4.30pm
Middleport Pottery, Stoke on Trent ST6 3PE
If you can’t see the booking button, this event is fully booked. To join the waiting list please email wmmd@ironbridge.org.uk
Engaging with Schools Training: Delivering Assemblies
Join Mary Sibson, Creative Learning Officer at Leicestershire County Council to learn how to deliver impactful school assemblies.
Engaging with Schools Training: Delivering Assemblies
Thursday 14 March 2024, 10am-11.30am
Online
Sandford Awards 2024
Entries are now open for the Sandford Awards 2024.
The Sandford Award is the only nationally recognised quality mark for heritage learning and provides independent assurance for heritage sites and services. The six criteria underpinning the award assessment provide a framework for success whether you are looking to gain the recognition your learning programmes deserve or seeking to develop the quality of your education provision.
The closing date for entries is 5pm, Friday 16 February 2024.
Managing Museum and Archive Collections Together
Join West Midlands Museum Development (WMMD), Museum Development East Midlands (MDEM) and The National Archives (TNA) for a workshop exploring how to manage both museum and archive collections.
The course will:
- help museum and archive managers to understand more about effective management of mixed (museum and archive) collections
- demonstrate where managing archives and museums are similar and where there are differences
- highlight how both Accreditation schemes run alongside each other and can dovetail
- demonstrate how a complete mixed collection can be managed using the best of each sector
- highlight the TNA ‘Managing Mixed Collections’ guidance and AIM ‘Successfully Managing Archives in Museums’ guidance
This workshop is aimed at museum professionals managing services with mixed collections, and museum staff and volunteers with collections management responsibilities.
The course will be a mix of presentation, case studies, discussion and breakout rooms including the use of Mentimeter. Please ensure that you can access Mentimeter alongside Zoom on your device, or bring along a second device, so that you can join the discussions on the day. You will also be asked to bring an object or document along with you to help form the basis of discussions in the break-out sessions.
About the trainer
Janice Tullock is an Archives and Heritage consultant, working with archive services, museums and organisations outside the cultural sector, to manage collections and develop audiences for services. In 2021 she was lead consultant on the development of The National Archives guidance, Managing Mixed Collections. Janice is a member of the Archives Accreditation Committee and an expert mentor on behalf of the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Maximum two delegates per organisation. Priority will be given to delegates from non-NPO and non-National museums in the East and West Midlands which are Accredited or officially Working Towards Accreditation.
Accessibility
This online event will be auto-captioned by Zoom. If you would benefit from live captioning or any other form of access support, please answer ‘yes’ to the access requirements question on the booking form and email the MDEM team as early as possible stating the support you require.
Data Sharing
This event is run in partnership by WMMD, MDEM, TNA and Janice Tullock. Bookings are being coordinated by MDEM and the event will be hosted by Janice on her Zoom account. By booking onto this event you give permission to share your booking information with the event partners for the purpose of the event administration. View MDEM’s privacy policy
All participants will receive an email containing a Zoom link to the training prior to the event. The email will be sent to the email address used for booking. If you have not received an email the day before the event please contact MDEM.
Managing Museum and Archive Collections Together
Wednesday 28 February 2024, 10am-12.30pm
Online (Zoom)
