Contents:- West Midlands Museum Development Update
- West Midlands Museum Development Events
- News
- Other Events
- Opportunities
West Midlands Museum Development Update
Grants for the Arts - We're All StoriesBack in September 2016 West Midlands Museum Development (WMMD) held a workshop to introduce 12 museums to 13 artists. Part of the day included 'speed dating' so both museums and artists could find partners for a collaborative project. Over the next few weeks plans were refined and each partnership sent details to WMMD who then submitted a joint Grants for the Arts bid, funded by Arts Council England (ACE). After a nerve-racking
wait WMMD was thrilled that the application was approved and the artistic work could begin. Who's involved and when…The final application included six partnerships: - Almonry Museum and Heritage Centre in partnership with Peter Chand, story teller, and Sue Chand, textile artist
- Black and White House, Hereford in partnership with The Fetch Theatre, puppetry and masks, and About Face theatre company
for adults with additional learning needs
- Newman Brothers at the Coffin Works and Heritage and Culture Warwickshire in partnership with The Play House, theatre in education company creating two pilot projects
- Royal Regiment Fusiliers Museum (Warwickshire) in partnership with Talking Birds, site specific theatre
- Rugby Museum and Art Gallery (RAGM) in partnership with Highly Sprung Performance company
Each will create a bespoke piece of performance or visuals to interpret a story in innovative ways to reach new audiences and are being showcased from
May-July. The ‘Story’ so far…Click here to find out what has been happening.
The final performances are not to be missed so keep an eye out for all the latest updates on these projects by following the partnerships on Twitter: - Almonry Museum and Heritage Centre, Peter Chand and Sue Chand
- Herefordshire Museum, The Fetch Theatre and About Face
- Heritage and Culture Warwickshire, Newman Brothers at the Coffin Works and The Playhouse
- Royal Regiment Fusiliers and Talking Birds
- Rugby Art Gallery and Museum and Highly Sprung Performance
We will provide more information about the outcomes of these collaborative partnerships over the coming months. We hope that these projects will instigate strong working partnerships that will inspire further creative opportunities with museums. See below for two NEW exciting creative projects. WMMD EventsFull details of our events are in the WMMD events section. WMMD dates for your diary June 2017 Small Grants Scheme opens. Grants of up to £3,000 will be available for Audience Development projects. 19 September 2017
Volunteer Awards 2017. Nominations for the Awards open in June. 14 and 15 March 2018 Conference 2018.
New OpportunitiesWe have the following opportunities through the WMMD programme: Blogger in Residence
An opportunity to host a professional writer in residence for five days over summer 2017. Stock Make
An opportunity for museums to work with makers to develop and create bespoke product ranges with the aim of generating income. Products will be inspired by the collections or the museum itself. Expert Eyes: Reducing the Risk An opportunity to work with a Subject Specialist Network to support a collection that you consider to be at risk. See the Opportunities section for more details or click below.
Ready to Borrow Capital Grant Scheme 2017Grants of up to £50,000 availableWMMD has launched the new round of the Ready to Borrow Capital Grants Scheme on behalf of ACE.Ready to Borrow
is a national programme of funding for the museum sector. It is designed to enable Accredited museums to build their long term resilience by improving their capacity to manage significant collection loans from National and Major Partner Museums. Funding is available for capital projects which support Accredited museums to improve their infrastructure in order to meet the collections care standards and security requirements of lenders.* Suitable projects could include improving on-site security, purchasing new display cases or installing new lighting or environmental monitoring and control equipment. The funding will support museums in the West Midlands towards meeting the Government Indemnity Standard (GIS). A total pot of around
£180,000 is available for grants of up to £50,000 for projects delivered by March 2019. For more details and an application form contact Helen Johnson. The deadline for applications is
Wednesday 14 June 2017. *It is not essential to have a formal loan arrangement with a National or Major Partner Museum before applying, but a sound idea of which items you would like to borrow and what you must do to meet the lender’s conditions will be a definite advantage.
Volunteer PortalThe regional Volunteer Portal will go live next week at mdwm.org.uk. The portal will offer Accredited museums and those officially Working Towards Accreditation the opportunity to advertise for volunteers. Please complete the Organisation Form below if you would like to
register your museum. You don't need to have any current opportunities, we will populate the portal first with the names of museums that will be using it when opportunities arise.
Resourceswww.mdwm.org.uk/resources has a wide range of resources drawn from our programme and workshops which can be accessed by Accredited museums and those officially Working Towards. If you would like access these resources please email
wmmd@ironbridge.org.uk for a password.
West Midlands Museum Development Events
All West Midlands Museum Development events are free
31 May - Collections Knowledge Café: Digital Resilience Workshop10am - 4pm, Coventry Transport Museum CV1 1JDA digitised collection is a flexible resource for any museum and can be used in a variety of ways, from engaging audiences, enhancing catalogue information and for much needed income generation. Join the
Collections Trust to explore what needs to be considered when undertaking a digitisation project and how to manage the digital assets we create. The workshop will also include practical case studies on developing and using digital resources from Art UK, Orangeleaf and Staffordshire Pasttrack. Click below to book your place on this free event, lunch and refreshments are provided.
14 June - Visual Awareness Training10.30am - 4pm, The Cider Museum, Hereford HR4 0EFThis free training course led by VocalEyes will aim to equip delegates to welcome and guide blind and partially sighted people. The trainer will support participants to: - identify the barriers facing blind and partially sighted visitors at the site
- welcome blind or partially sighted visitors appropriately
- guide blind or partially sighted visitors and describe how to reach certain parts of the museum e.g. an exhibition, the cafe
- identify areas of the site that will be accessible for blind and partially sighted visitors
Refreshments and lunch will be provided at this free event. Click below to book your place.
11 July - Collections Knowledge Café: Start with the Story – Using Collections to Support Dementia10am - 4pm, venue tbcJoin consultant Sarah Griffiths and Tunbridge Wells Museum and Art Gallery to share experiences and approaches to supporting individuals living with dementia. The workshop will include Dementia Friends Training and the opportunity for those who attend to have further on-site training and
support for their museum teams from Sarah Griffiths. More information about this will be available shortly. Click below to book your place on this free event, lunch and refreshments are provided.
12 July -
Museums as Spaces for Wellbeing
10am - 4pm, Birmingham Museum and Art GalleryAre you interested in exploring how your museum could contribute to people’s health and wellbeing but are not sure where to start? Over the course of two workshops participants will gain the skills and confidence to develop their thinking about this work to support the delivery of health and wellbeing provision within their museum. The training will help attendees to: - overcome the barriers to working with the health sector
- create opportunities to contact and meet with potential health and wellbeing partners
- begin the process of thinking about your museum, its spaces, collections and resources and how they can be utilised in this work
- explore ways to measure impact and support organisational change
This training is run by the
National Alliance for Museums, Health and Wellbeing, in partnership with WMMD. Please note this is a two day course and delegates must attend both days. The second workshop will be held on: 9 November, 11am - 4pm,
Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, Coalbrookdale TF8 7DQ
22 November - Collections Knowledge Café: Caring for Works on Paper10am - 4pm, Wolverhampton City Archives, WV1 1SFDo you have books, watercolours, posters, documents or printed material in your collection? Join conservator Graeme Storey (Britton and Storey Art Conservation) for a workshop on caring for works on paper, what to look out for, how to prevent damage
occurring and what to do about it if it does. The day will include a tour of the Wolverhampton Archives. Click below to book your place on this free event, lunch and refreshments are provided.
17 - 20 May - Museums at NightAre you taking part? Museums at Night is the UK-wide festival of Lates in museums and galleries, produced by Culture24. Tweet about your event using
#museumsatnight The next Museums at Night will be 26 - 28 October, don't forget to register your event.
20 May - Pots, Pans and Progress: Domestic Life Study DayBlack Country Living Museum, DY1 4SQJoin Black Country Living Museum to take a look at how the technological and social changes of the 19th and early 20th century impacted on domestic life. Focusing on the kitchen – the focal point of most working class houses during the period – it will
investigate key developments in cooking equipment and utensils and discuss how a continuous drive to invent new labour saving devices led to or was influenced by the changing role of women. The day will use the museum collections and period settings as case studies. For more details and to book click here.
Boosting Resilience: Survival Skills for the New Normal23 May, 1.30pm - 4.30pm - Watershed, Bristol
25 May, 2pm - 5pm - Cass Business School, London
26 May, 10am - 1pm - The Shed, Manchester Metropolitan MuseumBoosting Resilience: Survival Skills for the New Normal is an intense, boundary-pushing and catalytic two year Executive Learning programme that aims to enable 25 - 30 executive and board level staff from arts and cultural organisations, museums, libraries and music education hubs throughout England to develop new approaches to building resilience through identifying and capturing the value of creative assets and intellectual property.
The programme will launch with a series of three Ideas Pools which will give you a taster of the programme and methods that will be used, and explain how you can apply to participate in the full programme, which will run from September 2017 until March 2019 and comprise three compulsory residentials, mentoring and other resources. Executive and board level staff from arts and cultural organisations including National Portfolio Organisations, Arts Council England funded museums, libraries and music education hubs throughout England.
Following the Ideas Pools, participants are invited to apply to the full programme. Deadline for applications is midday on June 22. Please note the first residential will take place on 14 and 15 September 2017.
Boosting Resilience: Survival Skills for the New Normal is being conceived, developed and delivered by the Centre for Creativity in Professional Practice at Cass Business School, City, University of London (Cass/City), The Culture Capital Exchange (TCCE) and the Centre for Enterprise, Manchester Metropolitan University (CfE/MMU). It is an exciting opportunity for creative and curious arts leaders to work with world leading researchers, sectoral specialists and boundary breaking creative entrepreneurs to create a conceptually rigorous, practical and user centered programme with the intention of creating assets and resources to be made available more widely across the arts and cultural sector.
Boosting Resilience: Survival Skills for the New Normal is one of four flagship projects supported by Arts Council England with the aim of exploring and piloting different approaches to sustainability across its portfolio.
A brief snapshot of all projects and the teams leading them can be found at
http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/building-resilience#section-4
Preparing to Borrow Workshops26 May - Palace Green Library, Durham University
26 June - People’s History Museum, Manchester
7 July - The Foundling Museum, LondonBook your place on one of Touring Exhibitions Group's (TEG) new workshops, for an in-depth introduction to borrowing objects.
It is an interactive session, based on problem solving and discussion, covering: - The benefits of borrowing
- Researching suitable objects and exhibitions for loan and hire
- Making a case to borrow
- Communicating with lenders
- Loan applications
- Fees and contracts
- Sources of funding
- Scheduling
- Transportation
- Facilities reports
- Government Indemnity and commercial insurance
- Security
- Emergency planning
Each workshop is delivered by a TEG trainer, William Brown, National Security Advisor, and a member of the Art Fund team, who will introduce their forthcoming funding initiative, the Weston Loan Programme. The training encourages networking and provides the opportunity to meet colleagues from other organisations who are looking to borrow and find partners. Book here £25 TEG members, £35 non-members. Ten travel bursaries are available for each workshop, up to the value of £30. If you would like to apply for a bursary, or if you have any questions about the workshop or the Preparing to Borrow programme, email charlotte@teg.org.uk
Ironbridge Archaeology Lectures 20176 June 'Industrialisation and Identity in Shropshire: The Brookes of Madeley, 1544-1646'Paul Belford
Director, Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust 8 August 'The Early Montgomeryshire Quakers, their adventures in the iron industry, and links to Abraham Darby and Coalbrookdale'Carol Pearce
Independent researcher 3 October 'Managing and conserving the heritage cared for by the National Trust'Janine Young West Midlands' Archaeologist National Trust 5 December
'Slowing the unstoppable - a conservator's view'Andrew Naylor Ironbridge Gorge Museum volunteer & retired conservation professional All lectures will be held at 6pm at the Museum of the Gorge, Ironbridge. The lectures are free however there is a suggested £2 voluntary contribution.
22 - 24 June - AIM Conference 2017The Historic Dockyard, Chatham, ME4 4TY2017 is Association of Independent Museums (AIM)’s 40th year, so this year’s National Conference will provide a great opportunity to focus on how independents prosper under effective leadership, through inspirational stories from some of their members. Conference 2017 will
include all the elements delegates enjoy: a chance to hear from people running large and small museums as well as from organisations outside the sector, a focus on practical ways to address current challenges and lots of opportunities to network.
29 June - Museum Tech 20179.45am - 4.30pm, Museum of London, EC2Y 5HNA digital festival celebrating new and emerging digital technologies that are helping to shape the way audiences experience museums and their collections. This interactive seminar will feature case studies, keynotes and practical demonstrations that
will shed light on how technology can be used in many diverse areas of museum practice. Delegates will have the opportunity to try out new digital tools and devices, as well as discuss the challenges and opportunities surrounding using digital technology in museums.
13 July - Collections Skills Sharing Session: Dealing with Firearms9am - 1pm, The British Museum WC1B 3DGA new session on working with firearms in museum collections has been added to the British Museum’s collections skills training programme for museum professionals, made possible by the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund. Places are free but limited.
31 August - Get what you give? The value and benefits of proactively lending collections9.30am - 5pm (tbc), The British Museum WC1B 3DGThe British Museum’s National Programmes team, with the generous support of the Vivmar Foundation, is hosting a free one day conference exploring the subject of lending museum collections.
Lapworth Museum of Geology Shortlisted for £100,000 Art Fund Museum of the Year 2017 Birmingham’s Lapworth Museum of Geology is among the five museums which have been selected as finalists for Art Fund Museum of the
Year 2017, the world’s largest and most prestigious prize for museums. Jon Clatworthy, Director of the
Lapworth Museum of Geology, said: "We are absolutely delighted to receive this important recognition. The last year has been truly transformative, propelling the museum into the 21st century and making it accessible to a diverse new audience. The renovation of the space combined with a focus on digital technologies and interactive displays significantly enhances our public engagement and schools outreach with important scientific collections to help bring the story of evolution to life. Our visitors can now walk through time and gain unique insight into 4.5 billion years of history” Support the Lapworth Share your selfies and other photographs, experiences, comments and reviews of the Lapworth on Twitter and Instagram, and tell the Art Fund judges why you think they should win. Please tag both Art Fund @artfund and Lapworth Museum @LapworthMuseum and use the hashtags
#museumoftheyear and #lapworthrocks. Art Fund will be offering a weekly prize of a National Art Pass and a museum goody bag for their favourite post (across all five museums). The Lapworth will also award a prize to their favourite post each week. The winning museum, which will receive £100,000, will be announced at a ceremony at the British Museum on Wednesday 5 July 2017. In addition, for the first time this year, the other shortlisted museums will receive £10,000 each in recognition of their achievements.
The other museum finalists are: Tate Modern, London; The Hepworth Wakefield; The National Heritage Centre for Horseracing & Sporting Art, Newmarket; and Sir John Soane’s Museum, London. Read the full article here.
Treasure 20: vote for your favourite Treasure findA panel of judges have now shortlisted 20 of the most important archaeological finds reported Treasure over the last 20 years, and public voting is now open to select the nation’s
favourite Treasure find. Voting closes on 15 May; details on the top 20 and how to vote can be found here.
Touring Exhibitions Group Lending and Borrowing Experiences Survey 2017The survey
will take approximately 10 minutes, or less, to complete and will help gain a snapshot of loans practice in the UK today; the approaches being taken, as well as the benefits and challenges. The information provided will help the TEG to develop it's ACE and TESS Demountable funded Preparing to Borrow programme, being delivered with the support of the National Museum Directors' Council (NMDC) and Art Fund. The programme has been devised to support the ACE Ready to Borrow scheme. Whether your organisation is involved in lending and/or borrowing, or is interested to engage in loans activity in the future, TEG is keen to receive your feedback. Your response will be treated in confidence and you can remain anonymous if you wish. Complete the survey by 31 July 2017 to be entered into a prize draw to win a free place and travel bursary to attend one of TEG's forthcoming Preparing to Borrow workshops. A survey report will be published in autumn 2017. If you have any questions about the Preparing to Borrow programme, this survey or TEG, please email Charlotte Dew, Programme Manager.
Museum Association Announces First Keynote Speakers for ConferencePoet Lemn Sissay and comedian Francesca Martinez will be keynote speakers at the Museums Association Conference & Exhibition in Manchester. The full conference programme, including further keynotes, will be available soon. It will include a wide range of speakers from the UK and overseas.
The themes for this year’s conference are audiences; collections and workforce.
Children's Art Weekengage, the National Association for Gallery Education, has announced that Children’s Art Week is back for 2017, running from Saturday 10 until Sunday 18 June.
Events can be held almost anywhere; from galleries, arts centres and museums, to libraries, heritage sites, schools and community centres. In 2016 more than 13,000 people took part in 109 events across 95 venues. For further information please visit www.childrensartweek.org.uk
The Association of British Transport and Engineering Museums Guidelines for the care of larger and working objects – Call For Interested PartiesThe Association of British Transport and Engineering Museums (ABTEM) has recently appointed the International Railway Heritage Consultancy (IRHC) to work with them to produce new guidelines for museums and private collectors with larger and working objects. The guidelines will cover stationary engines, industrial machinery, road vehicles, aircraft, railway vehicles, ships, boats and other working items. IHRC is looking for interested parties such as individual curators,
conservators or staff from museums with large or working objects in their collections that would be able to feed into the process by either responding to questionnaire or submitting case studies that illustrate the decision-making process and conservation ethos of a particular treatment. For more information click on the button below.
National Lates ResearchCulture24, is conducting research, funded by ACE and supported by Airbnb, into UK after-hours events (Lates) and extended opening hours in culture and heritage venues in the UK. Over the next few months they will be reaching out to venue staff, visitors and sector organisations to get data and opinions through a variety of methods including surveys, interviews and focus groups.
To kick-off they are asking all venue professionals and volunteers responsible for after-hours events to fill out a short survey to canvas the opinions of the widest possible cross-section of our sector. The survey will take a maximum of ten minutes to fill out and there is an incentive of a big box of chocolates for one lucky contributor. Please use this link https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/LatesResearch
and share it with the people in your organisation who are responsible for programming after-hours events. For any questions about the research or to suggest a way you can get more involved in the consultation process please contact Nick Stockman, 01273 523983.
Museum ManifestoThe Museums Association has published its Museum Manifesto outlining the key priorities for the next government.
Heritage Open DaysHeritage Open Days 2017 is 7-10 September. Click here to register to your Heritage Open Day (HOD) event.
Creative Opportunities for your MuseumsWMMD has two creative opportunities:Blogger in
Residence Stock Make
Both schemes are open to Accredited museums or those officially registered as Working Towards Accreditation in the West Midlands region. If you have questions please email
Rachel Lambert-Jones. Blogger in ResidenceAn opportunity to host a professional writer in residence for five days over summer 2017.Museum staff and volunteers will work with a writer provided by Writing West
Midlands to support best practice in the use of social media by uncovering stories and narratives to write and share. Each museum will gain:- Experience of working with a writer to explore their museum and its stories
- In-house training on the effective use of social media and its potential to reach new audiences
Project Timetable - Submission of application form by 5pm, Monday 15 May 2017
- June - August writers undertake work in museums and off site
- Conclusion and completion of a short project report by end September 2017
Stock Make
Stock Make is an opportunity for museums to work with makers to develop and create bespoke product ranges with the aim of generating income. Products will be inspired by the collections or the museum itself.WMMD offers the chance to work with makers on a short project to create bespoke, affordable items for sale in museum shops, generating income for the museum and showcasing the work of makers. This project is funded by WMMD and all proceeds from sales will remain with individual museums. Each museum will receive:- Experience of working with a maker to create bespoke products based on their museum or collections
- A small range of affordable products tailored to their museum
Project Timetable - Submission of application forms by
5pm, Monday 5 June 2017
- Successful applicants notified by Monday 12 June 2017
- Products available for sale by October 2017
- Conclusion and completion of a short project report by end February 2018
Expert Eyes: Reducing the RiskMany museums have collections which are at risk of becoming orphaned due to lack of curatorial expertise.
Do you have an area in your collection which would benefit from being looked at by an expert? Over the last two years WMMD have worked with Subject Specialist Networks to support agricultural, archaeology, ethnography, ceramic and textile collections across the region. If you have a collection that you consider to be at risk we would like to hear from you. Please complete the Application Form and return by 5pm Friday 23 June. If you have any questions please email
Helen Johnson.
The Textile Society Museum, Archive and Conservation Award 2017The Textile Society offers an annual bursary award of up to £5,000 for a textile related project within the museum, archive or conservation sector in the UK.
The Award is designed to support textile related projects within a museum, archive, or conservation studio for exhibition, publication or conservation that will help achieve greater awareness and access for the public. Deadline for applications 1 June 2017. To apply or for more information visit:
The Textile Society Museum, Archive and Conservation Award 2017
Masonic Charitable Foundation's Community Support SchemeThe Community Support Scheme
offers large and small grants to charities registered in England and Wales that are working in the areas of financial hardship, health and disability, education and employability, and social exclusion and disadvantage. Large Grants of more than £5,000 are awarded to charities with an annual turnover of more than £500,000 for a specific purpose only. Smaller charities (annual income under £500,000) can apply for a Small Grant of up to £5,000 can be used for core expenditure such as general running or overhead costs of the charity.
Market Research, Marketing Strategy and Activity Planning Consultant
The Claymills Pumping Engines Trust require the services of a consultant with experience in market research, marketing strategy and activity planning, to assist them in preparing a bid for funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), to provide a Visitor Centre at the Claymills Victorian Pumping Station, situated at Claymills, Burton on Trent, Staffordshire. The Trust has received funding from the HLF to develop their proposals for a new Visitor Centre and associated works to replace the existing inadequate facilities. Applicants are initially required to submit expressions of interest, including a summary CV, which in particular, details their experience of the type of work outlined in the brief and of working on funding bids to
be submitted to the HLF.
Prosper Programme 2017Creative United's programme is open for applications from fully Accredited museums in England to get support with all aspects of business planning and development. Successful museums will receive '12 credits' to spend as they choose on a range of support options, including 1-1 business advice and workshops. Making an application
Museums must complete both the application form and a diagnostic report. Key dates:
Deadline for applications 31 May 2017
Applications are assessed June 2017
Support delivered to museums by March 2018 If you have any questions, or would like to talk to Creative United about the programme, please contact genevieve.pace@creativeunited.org.uk.
Jonathan Ruffer Curatorial Grants ProgrammeSince the programme launched in 2012 they have helped 247 curators, scholars and researchers with 225 projects; they now have £75,000 to offer annually.
The scheme is open to curators and other professionals working with public collections. Applications under £1,500 are accepted throughout the year, while applications above this level are considered at committee meetings three times a year. Full details on the programme can be found on their website.
Part-time Gallery AssistantRoyal Birmingham Society of Artists (RBSA)The RBSA Gallery is seeking to appoint a Part-time Gallery Assistant to work Sundays. Details can be viewed and downloaded from the
‘Working for Us’ section of the RBSA Gallery website. Application deadline: 4pm, Monday 22 May. Potential applicants are welcome to contact Natalie Osborne, Learning and Engagement Manager for more information.
Keep up to date with the Leicester University Museum Studies jobs desk site here.
Images © Lee Allen Photography
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