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EDI in Heritage Sector Research

The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Education Trust, with support from National Lottery Heritage Fund and Museum Development networks (North West, West Midlands and Yorkshire & Humber), is carrying out research to establish a clear picture of how the heritage sector is engaging with issues of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in all areas of organisational life, particularly with regards to race and ethnicity.

It is seeking to establish an accurate picture of how the sector, particularly small to medium organisations, is working on equality, diversity and inclusion issues. Given the increasing requirement for engagement with EDI work coming from sector funders, this research will be of great interest to all heritage organisations and will provide examples of positive case studies and real, effective recommendations to improve current practices.

Take the survey which should take between 30 and 45 minutes to complete and is open until 30 September.

You will have the chance to win a one hour of consultation with Safina Islam and Maya Sharma of the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre and Education Trust, who have worked across the sector (and beyond) as audience and diversity specialists and will act as critical friends, addressing your needs and concerns, from workforce development to collections and community engagement.

Calling all volunteers!

Are you a museum volunteer?
Could you help us to promote museum volunteering?
Are you free on Tuesday 7 September?

West Midlands Museum Development (WMMD) is looking for a small, diverse group of volunteers to help us promote the benefits of volunteering and encourage new people to get involved. The volunteers will be featured in one of a series of films, as part of the WMMD Volunteers Celebration and Recruitment Campaign.

We are looking for pairs of volunteers who work together and individuals; to talk about their experiences on camera, tell people what they do, and why.

Whether you have volunteered to support a one-off event or short-term project at a museum, remotely volunteered online, have been volunteering every week for years or are a Trustee we’d love to hear from you.

What does it involve?
An interview-driven film, directed by Happenstance Films, that directly tackles stereotypes around who volunteers are and what they do. It will use humour and entertaining interviews. The film will also feature a montage of video and photographic materials gathered from the 141 Accredited West Midlands museums to engage the viewer and attract new museum volunteers.

Interviewees will be invited to attend a shoot at Winterbourne House and Garden/ University of Birmingham campus. You will answer questions in a filmed interview with other volunteers from across the West Midlands. You will share your enthusiasm and joy for museum volunteering with the viewer.

Your interviews will be used to create a short film and may also be included in the Volunteer Recruitment Marketing Toolkit and associated templates.

The films, toolkit and templates will be shared and used in the following ways;

How do I get involved?
If you are interested in taking part please email michelle.davies@ironbridge.org.uk before 5pm Thursday 19 August to arrange a call and find out more.

You may apply by yourself, or with a friend you volunteer with.

We are looking for a group of volunteers who will promote the diversity of volunteering experiences in regional Accredited museums across the West Midlands. Please be aware that spaces are limited and volunteers will be shortlisted to reflect a variety of experiences. Arts Council England Diversity Data indicates that Disabled, D/deaf and/or neurodivergent people, those from Black, Asian and Ethnically Diverse backgrounds are under-represented in the museum sector. We encourage people from those backgrounds, identities and experiences to get in touch if they’d like to take part.

WMMD will reimburse expenses (eg travel costs) of up to £50 per volunteer for the interviews.

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.

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.

More information.

How can you get involved?

Calling young volunteers

Are you a young museum volunteer aged 16-25 years old in the West Midlands?

Could you help us promote museum volunteering?

Are you an aspiring film maker or vlogger?

West Midlands Museum Development (WMMD) is looking for a small group of diverse young volunteers to help us promote the benefits of volunteering and encourage other young people to get involved. The volunteers will be featured in one of a series of films, as part of the WMMD Volunteers Celebration and Recruitment Campaign.

Whether you have volunteered to support a one-off event or short-term project at a museum, remotely volunteered online, have been volunteering every week for years or are a young Trustee we’d love to hear from you.

What does it involve?

‘A Day in the Life’

Three volunteer vloggers aged 16-25 take us through a day of what it means to them to be a museum volunteer.

This short montage film will challenge stereotypes by allowing you to showcase just what it looks like to be in your shoes for a day. Entirely made up of user generated content, this film is all about your voice.

You will tell the viewer why you started to volunteer and answer questions younger recruits might have: Why do it? What use is it to me in my education or my career? What fears did you have? Who helped you? What’s the community like?

Happenstance Films will be editing your recordings together into the final film. They will guide you in what and how to record and discuss best practice with you to ensure the content is fun, engaging and entertaining.

Your recordings will be used to create a video montage and may also be included in the Volunteer Recruitment Marketing Toolkit and associated templates.

The films, toolkit and templates will be shared and used in the following ways;

How do I get involved?
If you are interested in taking part please email michelle.davies@ironbridge.org.uk before 5pm, Monday 16 August to arrange a call and find out more.

We are looking for three volunteers who will promote the diversity of volunteering experiences in regional Accredited museums across the West Midlands. Please be aware that spaces are limited and volunteers will be shortlisted to reflect a variety of experiences.

Arts Council England Diversity Data indicates that Disabled, D/deaf and/or neurodivergent people, those from Black, Asian and Ethnically Diverse backgrounds are under-represented in the museum sector, so we particularly encourage people from those backgrounds, identities and experiences to get in touch if they’d like to take part.

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.

Can you help us collect content for our films?

Volunteers Celebration and Recruitment Campaign

West Midlands Museum Development (WMMD) is looking for videos and images from Accredited museums and those Working Towards Accreditation in the West Midlands. The content will showcase the diversity of your volunteers and the activities they undertake.

Deadline for submissions: 5pm, Friday 20 August

We’d like to promote the wide range of museum volunteering opportunities in the region, including but not limited to; Front of House roles, demonstrators, collections care, audience engagement, fundraising, 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 videos and images may be marketing materials that you already have, or you may ask your volunteers to record new content specially for the occasion.

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

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, Friday 20 August

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.

Join the next Banish the Backlog cohort

Over the last three years West Midlands Museum Development (WMMD) has been working closely with Collections Trust to deliver Banish the Backlog. The programme supports small groups of museums, helping them to improve procedures and develop realistic plans to improve their documentation.

We are now seeking museums who would like to take part in the next round of the Banish the Backlog programme, to start in September 2021.

How will it help you?

Banish the Backlog will help you if you’re struggling to make documentation a priority or find the time to dedicate to your documentation plan. The programme will support your work to meet the 2018 Accreditation Standard, particularly the requirement to follow the Spectrum primary procedures (requirement 5.2).

The programme is led by Sarah Brown, Outreach Manager with Collections Trust. She will meet with the group two to three times a year to provide focus and an environment for sharing ideas and discussing issues. Sarah and the WMMD team will provide advice and guidance on tackling practical issues and developing planning tools. The museums involved will all be at different stages but you’ll all be keen to get to grips with your documentation.

Success looks different for each museum and we’ll tailor the support to help you meet your organisation’s goals.

In previous rounds, many museums looked at their procedural manual for the first time in years and made updates so that it’s more usable, hopefully preventing any future problems building up. Others now have a more realistic plan with achievable goals, which they’re starting to put into action. Several are tying up the last few loose ends, like making decisions about un-accessioned objects found during an inventory and deciding on their next set of priorities.

Interested?

If you are interested in taking part in the Banish the Backlog programme please complete the Expression of Interest and return it to wmmd@ironbridge.org.uk by 5pm, 31 August.

If you have any questions or would like to know more, please contact Olivia Basterfield for an informal chat about the programme.

Download the Expression of Interest form

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.

If you applied in April to be part of this cohort and have already had your place confirmed by WMMD, you do not need to apply again.

Accreditation Lunchtime Sessions Announced

West Midlands Museum Development (WMMD) has announced three Accreditation Lunchtime sessions following a survey asking what you wanted to know more about.

These half-hour webinars will explore a specific area of Accreditation and will be led by Olivia Basterfield, Accreditation lead for WMMD.

What to expect from an Accreditation Site Visit
Tuesday 27 July, 12noon-12.30pm

Olivia will give an overview of an Accreditation Site Visit to de-mystify the process and help you prepare.

Assessment Top Tips with Emma Griffiths
Thursday 26 August, 12noon-12.30pm

Join Emma Griffiths, ACE Relationship Manager for Accreditation in the Midlands, as she shares her top tips from an assessment perspective.

An Introduction to Grantium
Tuesday 21 September, 12noon-12.30pm

Grantium is ACE’s grant management system, and the platform you’ll use to submit your Accreditation applications, returns and any follow-up information. This session will introduce you to the platform, giving a general overview of how to use it, and signpost to where to go for advice, and support.

The sessions will be captioned.

All participants will receive an email containing a Zoom link prior to the event. The email will be sent to the email address used for booking. If you have not received an email by the day before the event please contact us.

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 ACE, 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.

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 has launched the Concerned About Closure programme to identify museums at risk of closure.

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 2018 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.

WMMD Recovery Grant 2021 Open

£42k Available through 2021 Recovery Grant Scheme.

The Recovery Grant is part of the West Midlands Museum Development Programme (WMMD), funded by Arts Council England (ACE) with additional funding from Art Fund building on the successful partnership and collaborative response to the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

The Recovery Grants will support museums with re-building their offer and organisational strength in response to 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 5pm, Friday 27 August 2021.

Eligibility

Please read the Guidance and contact your Museum Development Officer before completing the Application Form.

Please note:

Confident Bid Writing Workshops

West Midlands Museum Development (WMMD) and Jenni Waugh have teamed up to provide bid writing support on Wednesday 21 July and Thursday 22 July.

What makes a good funding application? These half day workshops explore the principles of good bid writing, helping you build your confidence and develop your skills in writing small funding bids.

This is your opportunity to hone your application for the WMMD Recovery Grant!

Jenni will introduce you to planning techniques based on the Theory of Change to help you break down the elements of your application and tie your planned outcomes to both the funding criteria and your own strategic plan.

We will use the Recovery Grant framework as an example, but many of the planning and writing techniques we will cover can be scaled up for applying to larger funding programmes.

It will help if you come with an idea of what you might plan to bid for. During the session, we will all work together to test and share ideas that will help each of you to strengthen your application.

Sessions are limited to a small number of delegates with breaks, breakout rooms and plenty of opportunities for questions and discussion.

Book Wednesday 21 July (1pm-4pm)       

Book Thursday 22 July (10am-1pm) CANCELLED

Both workshops are the same – please only book a place on one workshop per organisation.

Places are limited to one delegate per organisation. Priority will be given to delegates from museums eligible to apply for the WMMD Recovery Grants.

The webinars will be live captioned through StageText and MyClearText.

All participants will receive an email containing a Zoom link prior to the event. The email will be sent to the email address used for booking. If you have not received an email by the day before the event please contact us.

Unable to attend either of the workshops, or looking for a shorter introduction to bid writing skills?

Jenni will join WMMD for a special focused Coffee and Chatter on Thursday 4 August 10.30am-11am. She will give a presentation on confident bid writing skills followed by a brief Q&A; perfect as a refresher or for those seeking some top tips!

Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/99254865285?pwd=R2xiUlUzOFdWMGJFQXpyL0E4cHpNQT09

Meeting ID: 992 5486 5285
Password: 579046