Nominations Open for Family Friendly Museum Award 2022
Kids in Museum’s Family Friendly Museum Award celebrates museums, galleries and heritage attractions that go the extra mile to provide an excellent family friendly experience.
Categories this year are:
- Best Small Museum
- Best Medium Museum
- Best Large Museum
- Best Accessible Museum
- Best Family Engagement Team
Find out more about the Family Friendly Museum Award.
Nomination close 5pm, Monday 6 June.
Museum of Carpet gains Accreditation
The Museum of Carpet in Kidderminster is the first museum to become Accredited in the West Midlands since the Accreditation scheme was paused in March 2020.
“We have been Working Towards Accreditation for many years and are delighted to have finally achieved our goal,” says Sue Hetherington, Museum Manager, “The process of gathering all the required material together has been rigorous, but very rewarding. It has allowed us to review, monitor and improve our procedures and aspirations. Meeting Emma [Relationship Manager for Accreditation] virtually rather than in person was very helpful and gave us the opportunity to talk through our application in greater detail.”
“Like many heritage venues we have suffered during the coronavirus lockdowns that have caused enormous loss of income, reduction in volunteers and low visitor confidence. As we gradually get back on our feet it is wonderful to be recognised in this way. The volunteers, staff and trustees have worked extremely hard to ensure the success of our application. This year, the Museum of Carpet celebrates its 10th birthday, and becoming an Accredited Museum is the perfect gift.”
Congratulations to the Museum of Carpet on their achievement!
1:1 Accreditation Surgeries
As the Accreditation Scheme continues its phased reopening, West Midlands Museum Development (WMMD) is offering a series of bookable, one-to-one Accreditation online surgeries.
These hour-long surgeries are the ideal opportunity to seek tailored advice from Olivia Basterfield, WMMD’s Accreditation lead, including:
- Discussing progress on action points from your previous assessment
- Demystifying the assessment process and what to expect
- Unpicking specific requirements you’re concerned about
- Discussing changes at your museum you think might impact on your Accreditation status
- Preparing for an upcoming online site visit
Slots are available on Thursday 7 April, Thursday 5 May and Thursday 16 June.
DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund 2022-24
For 20 years, DCMS and the Wolfson Foundation have worked together to jointly fund grants to support museums as they improve displays, enhance collections care and make exhibitions more accessible to visitors.
Applications for the new round will be open from 9 May to 1 August, with funding decisions expected in autumn 2022. Full application guidance and the bid pro forma will be available no later than 9 May 2022.
The Fund is open to bids from museums, museum services and galleries in England falling into one of three categories:
- Museums/museums services and universities with Designated collections
- Accredited museums/museum services that are or have been members of an Arts Council England development scheme (National Portfolio Organisations; Major Partner Museums; Renaissance)
- Museums and galleries sponsored by DCMS
Dino-star Dippy on the Move Again
The Natural History Museum is seeking a new partner to host their iconic diplodocus cast, Dippy, for a long-term loan.
Dippy is available to loan from 2023. The Museum is encouraging venues with an indoor space big enough to house the Diplodocus cast to apply, telling the Natural History Museum how Dippy would benefit their audiences, venue and region.
Applicants do not have to be a traditional museum and requests from other publicly accessible spaces and institutes are welcome, as are organisations applying in partnership.
Apply before 15 July to be in with a chance of seeing Dippy in your region.
The loan is for an initial term of three years with the potential to extend for a following three years after a review.
More information and apply to host Dippy
Benefits of hosting Dippy
- An iconic museum object: a free long-term loan of the Museum’s most famous dinosaur
- A way to engage your community with climate and environmental issues – 71% of tour visitors said their trip had made them think more about the natural world
- A strong economic impact: £35,587,593 of income was added to the venues and local economies as a result of hosting Dippy
For more on the benefits of hosting, visit the Successes of Dippy on Tour page.
New Museums and Galleries Exhibition Tax Relief Support Service
The Arts Council’s new Museums and Galleries Exhibition Tax Relief (MGETR) Support Service is designed to enable more organisations to benefit from this relief. The support service pack will help address some of the common questions and misconceptions associated with the tax relief, as well as providing a straightforward, step-by-step guide to preparing and making a claim.
The Museums and Galleries Exhibition Tax Relief is an important source of additional funds that is applicable to a large number of arts and cultural organisations. Up to 40p in each £ could be claimed as cash-based support to invest in your organisation’s ambitions.
In addition to the new guide, companies based in England can also benefit from a new helpdesk service, which will provide them with direct access to expert guidance from RSM, who are delivering this service for the Arts Council.
To access the helpdesk service, you’ll need to register for the guide. You will then receive instructions on how to book a call. The MGETR Support Service will run for an intial six months, but may be extended following a review.
The MGETR Support Service is completely free and aimed at supporting charitable arts and culture organisations that are seeking to submit a Museums and Galleries Exhibitions Tax Relief claim.
Have your Say about the ACE Investment Principles
As part of the delivery of Arts Council England’s (ACE) strategy for 2020-2030, Let’s Create, ACE has partnered with Lancaster University’s Arts and Creativity unit for experimentation, exploration, and enquiry team (LACE3) who will be exploring how the Investment Principles are informing the cultural sector’s thinking and practice. They want to hear from individuals and organisations who interact with the Arts Council, be it in its capacity as a funder or in its development agency role.
As part of this project, LACE3 are running a series of six workshops to get direct input from the sector. These workshops are independent of the Arts Council, and will take place during April and May:
- 12 April, in-person, London (Sadler’s Wells), 10am-1pm
- 21 April, in-person, Preston (UCLAN), 1pm-4pm
- 25 April, online (Zoom), 2.30pm-5.30pm
- 28 April, online (Zoom), 12noon-3pm
- 10 May, in-person, Birmingham (Arts Council offices), 10am-1pm
- 17 May, online (Zoom), 10am-1pm
Find out more about the workshops and register for a workshop
Open to All: Accessibility Audit programme 2022
Museum Development East Midlands (MDEM) and West Midlands Museum Development (WMMD) are providing a small cohort of eight museums with the opportunity to receive professional advice and support to improve access for visitors to their venue and website. MDEM and WMMD have appointed Direct Access and Vocal Eyes to deliver this programme.
Accessibility Audits
Each venue will receive a site visit from Direct Access resulting in an accessibility audit and report identifying a comprehensive list of tailored, prioritised recommendations based on current standards and legislation, delivered alongside expert training and advice.
Improving Website Access Information
Participating organisations will development the skills and knowledge to review and improve essential website access information in line with current best practice through training, peer support and mentoring delivered by Vocal Eyes. Participants will be able to use the findings of their accessibility audit to inform the content of their online access information.
Participation in the Open to All: Accessibility Audit programme directly supports Arts Council England’s Accreditation Standard, Users and their experiences, 7. Be accessible to the public.
Download the application form and programme information [Word]
Deadline for applications: 9am, Monday 28 March
Priority for places on the 2022 programme will be given to non-NPO and non-National museums who are Accredited or Working Towards Accreditation and based in the East Midlands or West Midlands.
Call for Change-Making Research Project Participants
How do socially engaged museum staff manage their personal values and emotions within organisational cultures?
Are you interested in exploring emotions in museum change-making? Holly is a PhD student at University of Leicester looking for socially engaged museum and gallery staff to take part in creative, feelings-led, anonymised interviews. You will explore the emotional experience of change-making in museums to generate knowledge around how organisational cultures suppress and nurture our values and how they can evolve to prioritise social justice.
Rethinking Cataloguing – Consultation open to 28 March
Building on previous roundtable discussions, Collections Trust is considering some changes to their Spectrum Cataloguing procedure in order to challenge the ‘gatekeeper’ mindset that’s holding back a more open and inclusive approach.
This exciting new ‘rethinking cataloguing’ campaign is a chance for you to give your feedback on a new draft version of the Spectrum Cataloguing scope and policy questions.
You can read the full details about the revisions and leave your feedback on their website.
Deadline extended to Monday 28 March.
