Concerned about Closure?
Do you think your museum is facing closure in the next 12 months?
Unsure of your financial standing or cash flow?
Looking for advice, clarity and next steps?
WMMD’s Concerned About Closure programme is a way for museums to flag they’re at risk of closure and to access professional advise on next steps..
If you believe your museum is facing closure in the next 12 months, please complete our brief online form to notify us. It will take less than ten minutes to complete and is best completed by the museum’s Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer or a Senior Member of Staff (either paid or voluntary depending on your organisation’s structure).
How will this help my museum?
The Concerned About Closure form will enable us to identify and support museums facing closure, will provide insight into the health of the region’s sector, and will help us report concerns to Arts Council England (with your permission*).
For Accredited museums and those Working Towards Accreditation, completion of the form offers you the opportunity for an optional, free confidential surgery** to help you review your museum’s position, talk through the options available to you and help identify the actions you need to take.
The surgeries are structured conversations to help you understand your museum’s financial standing and clarify its position on potential closure. Surgeries will be led by Ari Volanakis with support from Olivia Basterfield (WMMD). Notes will be formalised into a written report to help you and your colleagues with planning and next steps.
About Ari Volanakis
Ari is a heritage management professional with hands-on experience in museum environments, business planning, strategy and commercial operations, with an MA in heritage management from Ironbridge Institute.
If you have any queries about the programme or would like to discuss Concerned About Closure further, please email wmmd@ironbridge.org.uk and a member of the team will be in touch.
*The form will ask your permission for WMMD to share your information with Arts Council England (ACE) as part of the coordinated partnership work to protect museums and collections at risk. ACE is working with the Museum Development Network (MDUK) and fifteen other sector partners to provide a coordinated approach to supporting sector colleagues who have concerns about the future of their museums or collections. More information can be found in the July 2021 joint statement on protecting museums and collections at risk.
Your information will only be shared with your consent.
Sharing your information will help the partnership provide timely and appropriate advice, identify trends, and lobby for support on behalf of the UK museum sector.
**Confidential surgeries are available on a first come first served basis to museums who are Accredited or officially Working Towards Accreditation. If you are a non-Accredited museum, when you complete the survey a member of the WMMD team will contact you to discuss your situation and signpost to other support where possible.
WMMD is grateful to South East Museum Development for developing and piloting the Concerned About Closure programme in their region during 2020 and producing the conversation template for the surgeries.
Carbon Literacy for Museums – upcoming courses
Three more rounds of Carbon Literacy training for 2022/23 are now open for bookings from museums across the Midlands.
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? The Carbon Literacy course 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 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:
- Pre-recorded module will be sent to you a week before the online sessions and lasts 1 hour 30 minutes
- Zoom session 1 will be a Tuesday morning session 10am-12.30pm
- Zoom sessions 2 and 3 will be held on the Thursday that week 10am-12noon and 1pm-3pm
It’s important you are able to attend all three of the Zoom modules
Each course is the same and you only need to take part in one cohort.
The dates:
- Industrial Heritage Museums Cohort
- Pre-recorded module sent Tuesday 1 November
- Online modules Tuesday 8 and Thursday 10 November
- We’re grateful for support from Mike Nevell, Industrial Heritage Support Officer for England, for kindly offering his knowledge and enthusiasm to this cohort.
- January 2023 Cohort
- Pre-recorded module sent Tuesday 10 January 2023
- Online modules Tuesday 17 and Thursday 19 January 2023
- March 2023 Cohort
- Pre-recorded module sent Tuesday 7 March 2023
- Online modules Tuesday 14 and Thursday 16 March 2023
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.
Maximum two attendees 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.
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 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 us.
If the booking page doesn’t appear for your chosen cohort it means that it is fully booked. Please email wmmd@ironbridge.org.uk to join the waiting list stating the cohort you would prefer to join.
Carbon Literacy training March 2023
Our final round of Carbon Literacy training for 2022/23 is now open for bookings from museums across the Midlands.
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? The Carbon Literacy course 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 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 7 March 2023 – the pre-recorded module will be sent to you. It lasts 1 hour 30 minutes
- Tuesday 14 March 2023, 10am-12.30pm – Zoom session 1
- Thursday 16 March 2023, 10am-12noon – Zoom session 2
- Thursday 16 March 2023, 1pm-3pm – Zoom session 3
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.
Maximum two attendees 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.
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 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 us.
If the booking isn’t visible these training sessions are fully booked. Please email wmmd@ironbridge.org.uk to join the waiting list.
Developing Volunteering Practice
West Midlands Museum Development (WMMD) and Museum Development UK (MDUK) are pleased to announce a series of three Volunteer Management Development training events.
This national online Museum Development series of webinars will help to develop knowledge and skills in volunteering practice, volunteer recruitment and volunteer strategy development.
The sessions are most suited to groups and organisations that are:
- Open to learning and exploring changes to involving volunteers
- Keen to learn more about and embed inclusive practice into their work with volunteers
- Reviewing their volunteering strategy
All training will be delivered using a webinar format via Zoom.
Bookings close five days before each session date. Participants may book onto one, two, or all three training events.
Webinar 1: Volunteer Management
Thursday 8 September, 9.30am-1pm
As a result of attending this webinar, participants will become equipped or underpin skills and knowledge, including and not limited to:
- Reflective practice that leads to sustainable volunteer retention, development and meaningful experiences
Webinar 2: Volunteer Recruitment – focusing on inclusive recruitment
Thursday 20 October, 9.30am-1pm
As a result of attending this webinar, participants will become equipped or underpin skills and knowledge, including and not limited to:
- Designing attractive and diverse volunteer roles whilst considering different approaches to recruitment
- Planning for volunteer recruitment, measuring success, and monitoring and evaluation
Webinar 3: Developing a Volunteering Strategy
Thursday 17 November 9.30am-1pm
As a result of attending this webinar, participants will become equipped or underpin skills and knowledge, including and not limited to:
- Volunteer strategy development that is linked to organisational values, vision and goals
Bookings are being taken by SHARE, which is the Museum Development provider for the East of England. They will share your booking data with WMMD.
Priority will be given to non-NPO and non-National museums which are Accredited or officially Working Towards Accreditation.
Session leaders:
This webinar series is being hosted by volunteering consultants and specialists Laura Hamilton and Carol Carbine, who both bring more than 40 years of volunteer management experience in the VCSE sector.
Laura has a strong understanding of volunteer management within small and medium-sized organisations and of working with staff to build volunteer management confidence and capacity. Laura runs a successful consultancy (Laura Hamilton Consulting), with a specialist focus on volunteer engagement and management, and training and mentoring for volunteer managers.
Carol specialises in training/ facilitation and problem-solving/ conflict resolution, working within the overseas aid, animal welfare, disability and heritage sectors. Carol is a qualified NLP Practitioner and offers bespoke training and facilitation through her own consultancy (Carol Carbine Consulting).
Inform the Future of Museum Development
Don’t miss this opportunity to contribute and inform future support.
Arts Council England has commissioned an Evaluation of Museum Development across England to understand the impact of Arts Council’s investment in the Museum Development Programme.
As part of the final phase of the evaluation, a survey of museums is taking place, and we would be delighted if you could find the time to respond. This is your opportunity to influence and inform the next Museum Development Programme from 2024 onwards.
The survey asks about your museum’s engagement with Museum Development, the impact of Museum Development support, and provides you with an opportunity to provide feedback, identify areas for improvement, and outline priorities for future support.
The survey is available via: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/MDevaluation2022
It should only take around 10 minutes to complete and the deadline is Friday 9 September.
Equity and inclusion: planning your next steps
Inclusive Museums is a training and mentoring programme that will support a small cohort of West Midlands museums to become more equitable and inclusive.
As a result of taking part in the programme, participants will:
- Demonstrate a consistent understanding of Equity and Inclusion and how it relates to their audiences, workforce (paid and voluntary), governance and programmes
- Feel confident about using inclusive language and current Equity and Inclusion terminology
- Identify internal issues and external opportunities and barriers related to Equity and Inclusion and develop the skills to address them
- Demonstrate improved confidence in talking about difficult issues/ topics
- Identify the challenges and/ or barriers within their organisation relating to Equity and Inclusion and develop plans to address these
- Undertake a self-assessment of EDI in their organisation
- Prepare an Equity Action Plan (EAP)
- Gain a supportive network of colleagues developing their equity and inclusion policy and practice
- Involve their wider organisation in developing their Equity Action Plan
The programme will be delivered via three phases of activity through a combination of live online workshops, 1:1 mentoring, case studies and peer group activities between October 2022 and March 2024.
- Phase 1: Preparation, November – December 2022
- Phase 2: Planning, January – February 2023
- Phase 3: Delivery, April 2023 – March 2024
Apply by 5pm Monday 12 September 2022
WMMD Inclusive Museums Application Pack
To discuss your application or find out more about the programme please contact michelle.davies@ironbridge.org.uk
Priority will be given to non-NPO and non-National museums who are Accredited or Working Towards Accreditation based in the West Midlands.
About the trainers
Isilda Almeida and Maurice Davies deliver tailored approaches to increasing inclusive and equitable practice in the cultural sector, including training, advice, strategic planning, service review and community engagement.
Isilda works as an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Consultant in the culture sector and brings with her over 20 years’ experience of the UK heritage sector. She will be supported by Maurice, who brings nearly 40 years of experience in UK museums and galleries as a policymaker, leader and curator. He has championed equity and inclusion since the 1990s when he was editor of Museums Journal. He has advised organisations such as the Greater London Authority, the National Museum Directors Council and the National Trust on aspects of heritage and race. Most recently Maurice has helped Museum Detox with an organisational review and, with Isilda, delivered training on museums, equity and inclusion.
Inclusive Museums
Equity and inclusion: planning your next steps
Inclusive Museums is a training and mentoring programme that will support a small cohort of West Midlands museums to become more equitable and inclusive.
As a result of taking part in the programme, participants will:
- Demonstrate a consistent understanding of Equity and Inclusion and how it relates to their audiences, workforce (paid and voluntary), governance and programmes
- Feel confident about using inclusive language and current Equity and Inclusion terminology
- Identify internal issues and external opportunities and barriers related to Equity and Inclusion and develop the skills to address them
- Demonstrate improved confidence in talking about difficult issues/ topics
- Identify the challenges and/ or barriers within their organisation relating to Equity and Inclusion and develop plans to address these
- Undertake a self-assessment of EDI in their organisation
- Prepare an Equity Action Plan (EAP)
- Gain a supportive network of colleagues developing their equity and inclusion policy and practice
- Involve their wider organisation in developing their Equity Action Plan
The programme will be delivered via three phases of activity through a combination of live online workshops, 1:1 mentoring, case studies and peer group activities between October 2022 and March 2024.
- Phase 1: Preparation, November – December 2022
- Phase 2: Planning, January – February 2023
- Phase 3: Delivery, April 2023 – March 2024
Apply by 5pm, Monday 12 September 2022
To discuss your application or find out more about the programme please contact michelle.davies@ironbridge.org.uk
WMMD Inclusive Museums Application Pack
Priority will be given to non-NPO and non-National museums who are Accredited or Working Towards Accreditation based in the West Midlands.
About the trainers
Isilda Almeida and Maurice Davies deliver tailored approaches to increasing inclusive and equitable practice in the cultural sector, including training, advice, strategic planning, service review and community engagement.
Isilda works as an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Consultant in the culture sector and brings with her over 20 years’ experience of the UK heritage sector. She will be supported by Maurice, who brings nearly 40 years of experience in UK museums and galleries as a policymaker, leader and curator. He has championed equity and inclusion since the 1990s when he was editor of Museums Journal. He has advised organisations such as the Greater London Authority, the National Museum Directors Council and the National Trust on aspects of heritage and race. Most recently Maurice has helped Museum Detox with an organisational review and, with Isilda, delivered training on museums, equity and inclusion.
Carbon Literacy for Trustees
Our second round of Carbon Literacy training is now open for bookings and is for Trustees across the Midlands.
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? The Carbon Literacy course 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.
The course is made up of four modules – the first module is pre-recorded and there are three Zoom sessions.
- Tuesday 2 August – the pre-recorded module will be sent to you. It lasts 1 hour 30 minutes
- Tuesday 9 August, 10am-12.30pm – Zoom session 1
- Thursday 11 August, 10am-12noon – Zoom session 2
- Thursday 11 August, 1pm-3pm – Zoom session 3
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.
Maximum two trustees per organisation. Priority will be given to trustees from non-NPO and non-National museums in the East Midlands and West Midlands which are Accredited or officially Working Towards Accreditation.
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 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 us.
If the booking page doesn’t appear these training sessions are fully booked. Please email wmmd@ironbridge.org.uk to join the waiting list.
Reset Grant Open for Applications
Apply for £500 – £5,000
The Reset Grant is part of the West Midlands Museum Development Programme (WMMD), funded by Arts Council England (ACE) with additional funding from Art Fund continuing the successful partnership and collaborative response between Art Fund and MDUK to the Coronavirus pandemic started in 2020.
The Reset Grants aim to support museum to develop and use their collections in new ways, engage audiences, and/ or build organisational resilience following the impact of the Covid-19 crisis.
WMMD is committed to its role in developing an inclusive sector. We will prioritise funding for activity which seeks to improve representation within the organisation, the work it produces and the audiences it engages.
Museums can apply for £500 to £5,000.
The deadline for applications is 9am, Monday 8 August 2022.
We are pleased to offer a small number of 1:1 bid writing support with Jenni Waugh to help you prepare your application. These are available on a first come first served basis. To book a session please email wmmd@ironbridge.0rg.uk.
Eligibility
- The Reset Grant will support Accredited museums or those formally Working Towards Accreditation in the West Midlands
- Museums who have previously received a Recovery Grant from WMMD are eligible to apply providing their final report has been submitted.
- Museums with an open Recovery Grant award through WMMD which is expected to finish after 8 August 2022 are not eligible to apply.
- National Portfolio Organisations and National museums are not eligible to apply
Please read the Guidance and contact a member of the WMMD team before completing the Application Form.
Please note:
- We will prioritise applications from small to medium sized museums (museums with fewer than 50,000 visitors per annum) that are located in areas of low cultural engagement, where the museum is the main cultural offer in a locality, and/ or where museums that have niche collections outside the larger city institutions.
- Areas of low cultural engagement include Arts Council England’s (ACE) Priority Places and Levelling Up for Culture Places. Visit the ACE website, here, for further information.
- We encourage applicants to carefully consider the value of their grant requested in order that the available funding may support as many museums as possible
We strongly recommend that you discuss your application with a member of the WMMD team before you submit it
Annual Museum Survey 2022 Open
The Annual Museum Survey 2022 is now open. A big thank you to all the museums who are registered to take part this year, we look forward to receiving even more returns for this survey, both regionally and nationally.
The purpose of the Annual Museum Survey is to gather evidence to help demonstrate the social and economic importance of museums to funders and stakeholders – locally, regionally and nationally – and to provide museums with data to enable them to benchmark their performance.
What’s in it for museums?
- Advocacy – evidence to make the case for your social and economic value in order to sustain investment
- Performance benchmarking – consistent data to compare your museum’s operational context
- Informing strategy – knowing your operational context will support your business planning
- Fundraising – the data can be used as evidence to support funding applications or to express your value with the public
The Process
Registered museums have been invited to participate in the survey by email. The email will include a direct link to an online survey tool called SmartSurvey.
If you have not received your invitation to participate already, please do get in touch at museum.data@bristol.gov.uk. We recommend that you save this email address to your contacts to ensure that any communications are not mislaid.
The survey questions have been provided offline below to assist you in preparing your return. Please note, the offline surveys will differ depending on whether you are a single site or a multi site organisation. The definitions will help to provide added clarity on the terminology used within the survey questions. Please note, the online survey uses logic to apply only relevant questions. Therefore, some of the offline survey questions listed below may not apply and will result in fewer questions and a shorter survey process.
If you require any further support, please contact museum.data@bristol.gov.uk.
Find out more by visiting the South West Museum Development website.
