SME Restart and Recover Grants

The Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP) has launched its government funded SME Restart and Recovery Grant Scheme.  Eligible businesses will be able to apply for grants of between £1,000 and £5,000.  The scheme is designed to fund the purchase of new technology and other equipment as well as professional, legal, financial or other advice.  PPE costs are not covered.

To be eligible for the SME Restart and Recovery Grants, businesses must have been operating for at least 12 months, employ between five and nine people and be based within one of the following areas: Birmingham, Bromsgrove, Cannock Chase, East Staffordshire, Lichfield, Redditch, Solihull, Tamworth or Wyre Forest.

Applications can be made via the GBSLEP Growth Hub’s website by clicking here.

Cultural Recovery Grant Survey

Arts Council England has a survey to understand the reasons why some museums did not apply for the Cultural Recovery Grant.

Click here to complete the survey.

Accessibility in a post Covid world?

Creating accessible environments especially in historic buildings can be a challenge at the best of times.

How can museums factor in Covid-19 considerations when considering accessibility?  The session, delivered by Direct Access, can be viewed here.

150 funded Museums Association memberships – deadline soon

As part of its commitment to transforming representation in museums, the Museums Association (MA) has launched Inclusive Membership – grants provided by the Benevolent Fund to cover the cost of 150 MA essential memberships for those who face barriers due to:

• Ethnicity
• Disability
• Socio-economic background
• Gender identity or sexual orientation (LGBTQ)

These inclusive memberships are for new members. They will allow access to the MA’s online annual Conference, regular webinars, Museum Essentials online learning course, as well as to all the usual Essential membership benefits.

The deadline for applications is 4 September 2020.

Apply online to request an Inclusive Membership

If you have any questions about the Inclusive Membership offer, please contact membership@museumsassociation.org.

New £92million Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage launches

ACE announce Culture Recovery Funding

The Culture Recovery Fund: Grants programme will focus on supporting cultural organisations affected by the Covid-19 crisis that are at risk of no longer trading viably by the end of this financial year and that are considered to be of international or national cultural significance, or that contribute to Government’s levelling-up agenda.

The criteria for this fund have been set by Government, and the grants will be administered, awarded and monitored by the Arts Council on behalf of the DCMS.  Grants of between £50,000 and £3 million will be awarded from a budget of up to £500 million.

Accredited museums (including those formally Working Towards Accreditation) are eligible (subject to meeting other relevant eligibility criteria).

There are two rounds of funding:

• Round One: Opens 12pm (midday), Monday 10 August and closes at 12pm (midday), Friday 21 August
• Round Two:  Opens 4pm, Friday 21 August and closes on 12pm (midday), Friday 4 September at 12pm

For the full guidance, including eligibility, and FAQS click here.

Where’s Wally? Spooky Museum Opportunity

Walker Books and Kids in Museums have joined together again to celebrate the release of the new Where’s Wally? book, Spooky Spotlight Search, with a search and find event for all to enjoy, perfect for Halloween!

It’s guaranteed to encourage families to visit their local museum, and to provide you with a fun, easy and safe activity to run over the half-term holiday.  Plus, Kids in Museums have additional online activities for 2020 for those families choosing not to visit in person.

How does the Where’s Wally? Spooky Museum Search work?

Each participating museum will create and promote their own Where’s Wally? search-and-find trail as part of this nationwide campaign.  They will be sent a free kit with everything needed to host the hunt for Wally, including ten Wally figures to hide around your museum.  Families are given an activity sheet to help them search for Wally and will receive a special Wally bookmark if they locate him amongst the amazing artefacts and exciting exhibitions.

The promotion runs from 9 October until 1 November.

Sign up to get your museum involved by registering on the Kids in Museums website by 5pm, Friday 31 July. Please note that places are limited.​

National Lottery Project Grants Guidance Issued

National Lottery Project Grants is back!

This is Arts Council England’s (ACE) fund open to all individual artists, community and cultural organisations to support arts, museums and libraries projects.  And it’s all made possible thanks to funding from National Lottery players.

The portal is reopening for applications from 22 July, with a budget of £59.8 million available until April 2021.

ACE has made some improvements so the fund can be more responsive to the needs of smaller independent organisations and individual practitioners during Covid-19.  These changes include:

• For now, you no longer need 10% match funding.  Finding match funding in these circumstances would be particularly challenging.  So, if you don’t have the full 10% ACE usually expect, or any match funding at all, you’ll still be able to apply.
• Museums can now apply to National Lottery Project Grants for Subject Specialist Network activity.
• ACE will also accept applications from a wider range of applicants for any activity that benefits at least one Accredited museum, its collections and its visitors.

To find out more about project grants for museums take a look at the updated Museums information sheet.

Full information about the National Lottery Project Grants can be found here, including the Guidance to apply for projects under £15k, Guidance for projects over 15k and the new supplementary guidance.

Ticketing for Museums and Galleries

Digital Culture Network has produced a guidance for museums and galleries to introduce a timed ticketing operation to comply with the latest government guidance on reopening.

The guide covers topics such as;

• Free to use ticketing platform recommendations
• Website integration and accessibility
• Managing visitor capacity numbers
• NHS Test & Trace data capture and storage
• Ticketing solution examples in the museum and gallery sectors

You can download a copy of the guide here.

Open Letter to Senior Managers and Boards of Volunteer Involving and Deploying Organisations

Heritage Volunteering Group (HVG) is a signatory of an open letter to senior managers and boards of volunteer involving and deploying organisations in all sectors. The letter outlines the importance of volunteers and how utilising their talents fully can help your organisation’s future sustainability strategy.  This can be achieved through four commitments:

• Invest in volunteer engagement
• Communicate with your volunteers
• Anticipate the need for flexibility
• Think in new ways

To read the letter in full click here.