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Carbon Literacy for Museums Toolkit Launch 

We are delighted to announce that the new Carbon Literacy for Museum Toolkit is launching on Monday 24 January.

The new Carbon Literacy for Museums Toolkit has been developed by The Carbon Literacy Project and Museum Development North West, in collaboration with Museum Development England, museums and Julie’s Bicycle as part of the Roots & Branches project.

Museums have an important role to play in tackling the climate crisis – not only by reducing the emissions created within the museum sector, but also as storytellers, stewards, and trusted public institutions with the power to influence others.

Join us on Monday 24 January from 2pm-3.30pm on Zoom to find out more about the Toolkit, how to use it and how to access Carbon Literacy training through your Museum Development Provider. You will also hear from museums who will share their experiences of Carbon Literacy training.

Book your ticket here.

Progress of Nuneaton Museum and Art Gallery’s National Lottery Project Grant

Nuneaton Museum & Art Gallery was awarded £23,325 in July from the Arts Council National Lottery Project Grants to help tell the story of Nuneaton Abbey and its importance in the development of the town of Nuneaton. The Abbey once dominated Nuneaton’s skyline and would have been a very important organisation fulfilling many functions in the community. Its remnants are now part of St Marys Church and its history remembered in local street names.

Learn what the project team have done so far since they were awarded the grant.

Bright Future Programme

We are delighted to announce that West Midlands Museum Development (WMMD) and energy specialists Pilio have partnered to deliver a regional programme to support your environmental sustainability.

Bright Future offers a mix of short and medium term support, leading to long term changes. Participating museums will receive:

The programme will conclude with an online sharing event with Pilio, WMMD, participants and other museums in the West Midlands.

Details can be found by downloading the Bright Future Information Sheet. To register interest, please complete the Expression of Interest (EOI) form and return it to wmmd@ironbridge.org.uk no later than 5pm, Tuesday 30 November 2021.

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.

Museum services, or organisations that manage multiple sites, are welcome to apply but can only submit an EOI for one museum site in their care.

Museums’ Organisational Health Check

The Museums’ Organisational Health Check (MOHC) is designed as an indicator to help you highlight your museum’s current best practice, understand where the museum has areas of development and to feed into your forward planning.  This will enable you to prioritise areas of working over the next 12 months and provide you with a benchmark for future work.

Suitable for Accredited museums and those officially Working Towards Accreditation based in the West Midlands.

How does this benefit our organisation?

How do I complete the MOHC?

Please watch the webinar which tells you how to complete the MOHC.  Use this preview link (no information will be saved) to draft your answers. When you’re ready please contact us for the live survey link.

If you are based outside the West Midlands please contact your regional Museum Development provider.

One-to-one Accreditation surgeries available

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:

Slots are available on Wednesday 20 October, Wednesday 17 November and Wednesday 15 December.

Book your surgery here.

This opportunity is available to museums based in the West Midlands region.

About Olivia
Olivia is the Museum Development Officer (MDO) for Birmingham and the Black County, leading on the Accreditation and Resilience strands of the programme. She joined WMMD in May 2020 after eight years at Arts Council England, including over three years as an Assessor with the Accreditation Team and two years as Relationship Manager for Visual Arts. In her Assessor role she completed over 250 Accreditation assessments for museums of all shapes and sizes across England.

Be part of the Volunteers Celebration and Recruitment Campaign

Share images and video clips of volunteering in your museum

We know that this summer has been unlike any other, and as such we have extended some of our deadlines for the Volunteers Celebration and Recruitment Campaign.

NEW deadline for submissions: 5pm, Friday 1 October

West Midlands Museum Development (WMMD) is looking for videos and images from Accredited museums and those Working Towards Accreditation in the West Midlands.

Submissions will be used as part of a video montage for the WMMD Volunteers Celebration and Recruitment Campaign films.

Your videos and images don’t need to be professional quality. They could be materials that you’ve already used on your social media channels or quick smartphone snaps. We want imagery that showcases how diverse West Midlands museums are, and the wide variety of activities volunteers are involved in such as; Front of House roles, demonstrators, collections care, audience engagement, fundraising, engineering, administration support, Trustees, social media and remote volunteering. If you can, send images and recordings of the interesting and surprising things your volunteers do!

We know not everyone feels confident on camera, and so we don’t need extended films of volunteers speaking. Quick clips, a few seconds long, including portraits, close ups of activities, being in the museum/ collections stores/ volunteering spaces are all great material for this project.

The materials will be used to create a montage within a film also including volunteer interviews. The films and content will be shared online across websites and social media channels, for press and promotional activities, and some images may be used in the supporting Volunteers Recruitment Marketing Toolkit and templates to help museums across the West Midlands promote their own volunteering opportunities.

Technical specifications:

Consent to share materials
Organisations sharing materials such as video or photographic content with WMMD and our project partners for use in the Volunteers Celebration and Recruitment Campaign must ensure that they have received and recorded permission from all identifiable individuals.

How to submit materials
Please complete the Material Release Form BEFORE submitting any materials. Submission is via Dropbox, instructions detailed on the Materials Release Form.

Deadline for submissions: 5pm, Friday 1 October

More about the campaign
Although we won’t be hosting our regional volunteers awards ceremony again this year, we would still like to say Thank You to the thousands of museum volunteers in the region; the volunteers that have been working behind the scenes and at home, the Trustees that have applied for funding and monitored finances, the volunteers that have kept everyone in the loop and checked in on friends and colleagues during closure, and those that are eagerly waiting to return to venues.

The recent WMMD volunteering survey has demonstrated that many museums have seen a significant reduction in their volunteer numbers, with many long term volunteers choosing to permanently step down, concerns about safety over the coming months, new commitments; all reducing capacity and activity in many venues.

WMMD has commissioned Happenstance Films and Social For Good to develop a marketing campaign to celebrate and thank museum volunteers in the West Midlands. The campaign will showcase and promote the diverse opportunities and museums we work with and aims to encourage more people to volunteer in West Midlands museums.

The campaign will launch in autumn 2021 and consist of a series of short films that signpost viewers to opportunities on the WMMD Volunteers Portal. The films will be released alongside a Volunteer Recruitment Marketing Toolkit, which will include templates and guidance for using the films and resources to construct a bespoke recruitment campaign. Individual museums will be able to use the toolkit to promote their opportunities directly to their local communities and social media followers.

Equity and Inclusion for Museums (EIM) Programme

Opening conversations and laying the foundations for equity and inclusion at your museum

Working in partnership with NoBarriers this programme aims to support museums in England and Wales to improve their understanding of Equity and Inclusion. The programme will increase participants’ knowledge and skills around the Equity and Inclusion-related issues being faced by people working and volunteering in museums, their communities and audiences. It will support you in having conversations at your museum and in laying strong foundations for taking action.

The programme will have the following outcomes:

The programme comprises of 10 online sessions running from November 2021 to March 2022 and will support 20 organisations from across the following participating areas; East of England, East Midlands, North East, North West, West Midlands, Wales.

About NoBarriers
NoBarriers delivers tailored approaches to increasing inclusive and equitable practice in the cultural sector, including training, advice, strategic planning, service review and community engagement.

Who should attend?
This programme has been designed for managers, trustees and decision makers working in museums, galleries and heritage sites who are:

Two members of staff from each participating museum should attend to ensure that they are able to implement decisions and actions more effectively within their organisation.
Your museum must be based in one of the following areas: East of England, East Midlands, North East, North West, West Midlands, Wales.

Priority will be given to non NPO museums who are Accredited or Working Towards Accreditation.

Commitment

This programme requires a minimum commitment of one day every two weeks from November 2021 to March 2022, split between attending sessions, further reading and discussions with teams.
Organisations must be keen to prioritise improving their organisation’s equity and inclusion, commit to attending all sessions and to leading conversations with colleagues in their organisations.

Read the full Programme Details which includes the dates of the sessions.

EIM Full Programme Details

How to apply
After reviewing your availability to take part, please contact Michelle Davies to discuss further before completing the Expression of Interest (EOI).

The deadline for submitting completed EOIs is 5pm, Thursday 21 October 2021.

MDUK are committed to providing accessible and inclusive opportunities for the sector and have a dedicated budget to address any need. Please outline any details in your EOI.

Environmental Support for you and your museum

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, published last month, made for sober reading. Without drastic change over the next decade, temperatures are likely to rise above 1.5° pre-industrial levels. The effects of climate change are already being felt around the globe, with the most devastating weather events often impacting poorer and more vulnerable communities.

Faced with such bleak findings it’s hard to know if you can make a difference, but you can.

West Midlands Museum Development (WMMD) is here to support you and your museums to become more environmentally sustainable; empowering you to make change and turn climate grief into action.

National Project for Environmental Sustainability: Roots and Branches

We’re delighted to confirm that WMMD is taking part in a national campaign empowering museums to take action again climate change.

‘Roots and Branches’ is a collaboration between The Carbon Literacy Project, Museum Development England and Manchester Museum, supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. It aims to train and certify 1,500 people from 300 museums as Carbon Literate over the next two years and give an opportunity for museums to converse, experiment, and test new ideas for a more sustainable future.

The programme is still in development and we look forward to announcing updates as the plans progress.

More information

How can I get involved?

Save the Date: Monday 1 November

To coincide with COP26, the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, WMMD will be holding an event focused on environmental sustainability.

Join WMMD and other museums in the region to hear:

More details to be announced.

In the meantime:

You can join the Roots and Branches national social media campaign, #MuseumCarbonStories (9 August – 12 November)

It’s not too late to join in with the #museumcarbonstories campaign. The weekly themes throughout September are:

More details on the campaign, how you can get involved, and the weekly themes can be found by clicking on this link: Roots and Branches national social media campaign.

You can develop your own climate themed Takeover Day with Kids in Museums (KiM).

The KiM Takeover Day 2021 on 12 November is timed to coincide with COP26. It’s KiM’s first themed day and is in response to young people’s concerns.

KiM has produced guidance on how to hold a climate themed Takeover Day. You can also join them on Tuesday 14 September for their Afternoon Cuppa Session: Running a climate themed Takeover Day to find out more.

Additional links and resources

The following links, resources and organisations can help you understand climate change, untangle complicated jargon and learn where to turn for further support

Julie’s Bicycle

Julie’s Bicycle is a pioneering not-for-profit organisation mobilising the arts and culture to take action on the climate and ecological crisis.

Founded by the music industry in 2007 and now working across the arts and culture, it has partnered with over 2000 organisations in the UK and internationally. Combining cultural and environmental expertise, Julie’s Bicycle focuses on high-impact programmes and policy change to meet the climate crisis head-on.

Visit the Julie’s Bicycle website for a wealth of resources, webinars and toolkits to support your learning, including:

Historic England

Historic England’s website includes a resource hub with advice on environmental sustainability and energy efficiency and historic buildings.

Fit for the Future

Fit for the Future (FftF) is an environmental sustainability network with over 100 charities, heritage organisations, cultural venues, public sector bodies and more in its membership. It facilitates knowledge-sharing and collaboration across organisations and sectors so that they can achieve the rapid and far-reaching changes needed to decarbonise, adapt to climate change and drive positive environmental impacts.

FftF is a paid-for membership scheme, but the website also includes interesting articles and case studies to read.

Arts Council England

Arts Council England (ACE)’s 10-year strategy, Let’s Create, places Environmental Sustainability as a key investment principle to encourage cultural organisations to embed environmental thinking into everything they do. To support this change, ACE has an environmental programme webpage with resources, toolkits and podcasts.

MDUK Volunteer Development Programme

West Midlands Museum Development (WMMD) and Museum Development UK (MDUK) are thrilled to be working in collaboration with volunteer sector specialists 10GM to offer an intensive Volunteer Development Programme for up to 20 museums from across participating areas in the UK.

This project responds to the dual challenges of a longer-term shifting volunteering workforce in the heritage sector, and the particular strains of the last 18 months due to the pandemic. Through the Museum Development (MD) Annual Museums Survey results, localised surveying through regional teams, and the results of the Spotlight survey in Wales, a clear need has emerged to support organisations to review their operating models to ensure volunteering is sustainable and responsive to the museums needs and the communities they serve.

Programme Aim: To support participating museums to review their volunteering strategy and explore new ways to embed sustainable volunteer development practice tailored to individual organisational needs.

Programme Outcomes: Participating museums will:

This intensive programme will allow 20 organisations from across the five participating areas; East Midlands, North West, North East, Wales and West Midlands to benefit from hands on support to develop their volunteering practices, through a combination of group sessions, coaching, network building and training.

The programme will run from October 2021 to March 2022, with an expected time-commitment of 2-3 days per month. Additional work will be required to apply learning between sessions.
Please read the programme information before completing the Expression of Interest and returning to wmmd@ironbridge.org.uk by 5pm, Friday 1 October

Priority will be given to non-NPO and non-National museums in the West Midlands which are Accredited or officially Working Towards Accreditation.

Do you want to recruit new volunteers?

Submit your videos and images to be part of our volunteer recruitment campaign films!

Do you have video clips or images of:

Do you have access to a smartphone to take some quick clips?

Submissions will be used as part of a video montage for the WMMD Volunteers Celebration and Recruitment Campaign films.

Deadline for submissions: 5pm, Tuesday 7 September

West Midlands Museum Development (WMMD) is looking for videos and images from Accredited museums and those Working Towards Accreditation in the West Midlands.

Your videos and images don’t need to be professional quality. They could be materials that you’ve already used on your social media channels. We want imagery that showcases how diverse West Midlands museums are, and the wide variety of activities volunteers are involved in such as; Front of House roles, demonstrators, collections care, audience engagement, fundraising, engineering, administration support, Trustees, social media and remote volunteering. If you can, send images and recordings of the interesting and surprising things your volunteers do!

The materials will be used to create a montage within a film also including volunteer interviews. The films and content will be shared online across websites and social media channels, for press and promotional activities, and some images may be used in the supporting Volunteers Recruitment Marketing Toolkit and templates to help museums across the West Midlands promote their own volunteering opportunities.

Technical specifications:

Please note that we cannot guarantee that we will use all materials submitted.

Consent to share materials
Organisations sharing materials such as video or photographic content with WMMD and our project partners for use in the Volunteers Celebration and Recruitment Campaign must ensure that they have received and recorded permission from all identifiable individuals.

How to submit materials
Please complete the Material Release Form BEFORE submitting any materials. Submission is via Dropbox, instructions detailed on the Materials Release Form.

Deadline for submissions: 5pm, Tuesday 7 September

More about the campaign

Although we won’t be hosting our regional volunteers awards ceremony again this year, we would still like to say Thank You to the thousands of museum volunteers in the region; the volunteers that have been working behind the scenes and at home, the Trustees that have applied for funding and monitored finances, the volunteers that have kept everyone in the loop and checked in on friends and colleagues during closure, and those that are eagerly waiting to return to venues.

The recent WMMD volunteering survey has demonstrated that many museums have seen a significant reduction in their volunteer numbers, with many long term volunteers choosing to permanently step down, concerns about safety over the coming months, new commitments; all reducing capacity and activity in many venues.

WMMD has commissioned Happenstance Films and Social For Good to develop a marketing campaign to celebrate and thank museum volunteers in the West Midlands. The campaign will showcase and promote the diverse opportunities and museums we work with and aims to encourage more people to volunteer in West Midlands museums.

The campaign will launch in autumn 2021 and consist of a series of short films that signpost viewers to opportunities on the WMMD Volunteers Portal. The films will be released alongside a Volunteer Recruitment Marketing Toolkit, which will include templates and guidance for using the films and resources to construct a bespoke recruitment campaign. Individual museums will be able to use the toolkit to promote their opportunities directly to their local communities and social media followers.