New British Museum Programme Opportunities
The British Museum is looking for host partners for two upcoming touring exhibitions. It welcomes interest from any venue who would like to host and has space in their programme for 2023. Closing date for Expression of Interest for both touring exhibitions: Friday 14 January 2022
Unlocking ancient Egypt (title TBC)
Unlock the mysteries of ancient Egypt with this fully funded, family friendly exhibition exploring the history of decoding Egyptian hieroglyphs.
The decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs in 1822 is often hailed as the greatest achievement of Egyptology, allowing us to read the ancient world in a way that had not been possible before. For the first time, we could not only understand the colourful signs on the walls of temples and tombs, but also read the letters people sent each other, their poetry and even their hastily created shopping lists from thousands of years ago.
This Touring Exhibition will provide an opportunity to fully appreciate the significance of the decipherment while gaining a deeper understanding of the significance and beauty of Egyptian hieroglyphs and the way they work.
Arctic: people weathering change
Do you know a place or space that could benefit from hosting this fully funded British Museum experience exploring climate change in the Arctic?
Arctic: people weathering change reflects on how the people of the Arctic are adapting to their changing world. These personal stories in turn present a chance for communities across the UK to reflect on their own local experiences and concerns about climate change.
Drawing on the collaborative work with Indigenous Arctic advisors from The Citi exhibition Arctic: culture and climate, the major British Museum exhibition in 2020, this tour will create a visually stunning experience which brings Inuit and Inupiat perspectives to the UK.
Application for Heritage Compass Training Programme Close Soon
Heritage Compass is supporting the sector to develop essential skills in business planning, audience development, leadership and change management, with the aim of creating a better connected, informed and resilient heritage landscape across England.
The final round of the Heritage Compass training programme is now open to heritage organisations, including museums, in England. Aimed at small organisations with a turnover under £1m it offers:
- Six training courses, covering business planning, fundraising and income generation, governance, financial planning, earned income and audience development
- A national symposium bringing together all organisations alongside expert guest speakers
- Access to eLearning, including the accredited course ‘Arts Fundraising and Leadership’ developed in partnership with the University of Leeds
- Mentoring, and access to a benchmarking dashboard
The deadline for application is 12noon, Thursday 16 December.
Supporting Decolonisation in Museum
The Museums Association’s (MA) new guidance, Supporting Decolonisation in Museums, aims to empower more people to take action and lead change as museums address the legacy of British colonialism.
This guidance has been produced by the MA’s Decolonisation Guidance Working Group, with support from the Ethics Committee and a range of critical friends. It was developed following the findings of the 2019 Empowering Collections report which recognised the growing interest in decolonising museums, but a lack of confidence in how to put this into practice.
Supporting Decolonisation in Museums covers all areas of practice, with sections on collaboration, collections, workforce and more. The guidance offers prompts for thinking, discussion and action, recognising there is no single ‘right’ way to decolonise museums. It is intended to help people from across the museum sector to engage with decolonising practice, regardless of size or type of institution.
Prepare for Digitisation
TownsWeb Archiving (TWA) has released the first of a two-part ebook Get Digitisation Ready.
This first part talks you through the main areas you should consider when embarking on a digitisation project, the options available to you, and how you might go about securing funding.
So, whether you intend to outsource your digitisation project to experts, such as TWA, or carry out the work in-house instead, you will be as prepared as you can be to achieve the goals you have set.
Rethinking Cataloguing – consultation
Collections Trust is committed to developing Spectrum-based guidance on how to rethink Cataloguing – managing the information that gives your collections meaning, not as an end in itself but to record and retrieve what is known about your objects.
Over the next few months Collections Trust will be gathering and developing content to support this aim; encouraging the sector to recognise cataloguing as an open ended and flexible activity, to meet the needs and priorities of different users, rather than a finite ‘data entry’ exercise. They want to hear from you, for example:
- are there gaps in the existing guidance?
- is the existing Cataloguing scope fit for purpose?
- have you come across common misapprehensions and misunderstandings?
- is more guidance needed to develop policy that is fit for purpose and inclusive?
As part of this process, they are inviting you to join a series of consultation discussions.
More information and to be involved in the consultation discussions.
Call for Proposals
Two Temple Place is seeking creative proposals from freelance curators, regional cultural institutions and researchers, for its 11th major spring exhibition running January-April 2023.
The Exhibition Programme at Two Temple Place has grown in impact and reach since its inception in 2011, reaching audiences of over 350,000 and working with over 50 regional museums and galleries.
For the 2023 exhibition, they are looking for a creative and ambitious brief that addresses three key objectives:
- The ability to showcase and raise awareness of one or more museum or gallery collections that are based outside London and that deserve wider recognition;
- A significant development opportunity for an up-and-coming curator or curatorial team;
- A focus on work that will engage, animate, enliven and provoke visitors to think differently about the world and the work, and encourage new audiences to explore more deeply.
Accreditation Phased Reopening
Arts Council England (ACE) published a further update on the Accreditation Scheme’s phased reopening for museums in England.
The full updated statement and FAQ document are available on ACE’s Accreditation webpage.
ACE has confirmed that the Scheme will reopen in Summer 2022 at the earliest. ACE intends to start inviting the first new returns on 1 July 2022 (with a submission deadline of 31 December 2022).
Please note: the new returns schedule is still in development and not yet publicly available. Once the new returns schedule is published, ACE will announce it in its quarterly museums newsletter, on the Accreditation webpage, and through West Midlands Museum Development (WMMD) and its fellow Museum Development networks.
The next update on the Accreditation Scheme’s phased reopening will be in January 2022. In the meantime read the Accreditation webpage and FAQ document
All dates are estimated and may change to reflect the unfolding Covid 19 pandemic and any further Government guidelines.
Volunteering Futures
The last 18 months has seen the world dramatically shift in response to the pandemic. So much has changed. As we all sought to address the immediate challenges of the pandemic, many organisations found ways to continue supporting their local communities and the most vulnerable people within them. Many cultural organisations found their existing community engagement work enhanced in response to need and demand. And as we all sought to adjust, a spotlight shone on the millions of volunteers that play a vital role across our communities and the whole country every year.
Volunteers can provide a warm welcome, skills, different perspectives and a greater connection to our locality. In return ensuring volunteers are appreciated and valued can be mutually beneficial and impactful.
Arts Council England has launched Volunteering Futures, funded by DCMS – a ring-fenced, time-limited fund, making £4.7 million available through National Lottery Project Grants. Organisations will be able to apply for over £100,000 to support high quality volunteering opportunities for young people and those that experience barriers to getting involved in volunteering across arts, heritage, museums, libraries, sport and other community settings.
National Portfolio 2023 onwards
Arts Council England (ACE) have recently published further information about its NPO 2023 onwards. All information can be found on ACE website
Financial templates – to help you prepare to make your application and so that you understand what information ACE’ll be seeking in addition to that provided via the financial template.
Application form and outcomes and IP templates – you’ll need to provide this information via a template that ACE’ll publish in January, but the webpage gives you more information about the templates ACE will ask you to complete.
The role of boards – NPOs and Good Governance – the NPO 2023+ process will see an increased focus by the Arts Council on the governance arrangements that NPOs have in place. We have published an information sheet explaining our requirements for governing bodies. We expect portfolio organisations to have a governance structure that includes a body that has independent oversight of the organisation. For many, this will be a formal board of trustees and this will satisfy our requirements. If your governance structure is in a different form such as an advisory group or a local authority committee, it must have the capacity to adhere to a set of requirements which we have published on the information sheet.
MUSEUMS ONLY
Accredited museums (or those working towards Accreditation) based in England can apply to the National Portfolio for museums activity. Find out more about eligibility for museums here.
NPO 2023 onwards: Steps you can take now – there’s a number of steps you can take now if you’re interested in making an application which are outlined on our website.
Timeline – the timeline covers a lot of ground, taking us from 21 October 2021 through to 1 April 2023.
ACE hopes the information published so far will help you begin to prepare for the NPO 2023+ process. In the meantime, they’re hosting some digital briefing sessions this November. They’ll also record all the briefings and share them on this webpage in early December – so don’t worry if you can’t make one.
All of the sessions below will be live captioned and feature BSL interpretation.
- Full briefing for new applicants – Book now! (Midlands: Tuesday 23 November – 3:30pm – 4:30pm)
- Full briefing for current NPOs – Book now! (Midlands: Monday 22 November – 3:30 – 4:30pm)
- Full briefing for applicants who want to know more about the access support we are providing – Book now!
- Organisations interested in providing support to the sector with the Investment Principles – Book now!
You can find out more information about the National Portfolio for 2023 onwards on the Arts Council’s website here.
Impact of Covid-19 on the Cultural Workforce
ACE has commissioned a survey to undertake the largest independent research of its kind to explore the impact of the pandemic on those working in the cultural sector.
Your views in this survey will help ACE to make changes in the sector, such as to shift policy or better direct funding.
ACE want to hear from everyone in the cultural sector, whether you currently work in, are looking to enter, or have recently left it. They’re looking for input from across all employment types, seniority levels and working patterns; whether freelance, employed by a cultural organisation, or another type of role within the arts, museums and libraries.
It will take 10 minutes of your time to complete the survey, which will ask questions about how the pandemic has affected you.
The survey will close on Tuesday 23 November.
