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.
- Share /
