Welcome to your February Newsletter!

Now that we're fully in the swing of 2025, we're bringing back our popular Small Open Grants later this month! In this edition of our newsletter we also have some good news about new grants coming later this year. 

As some of you may be aware, Arts Council England are going to be reviewing the museum Accreditation scheme this year, read on to find out how this affects you and how you can get support. 

We also have an update on our equity, diversity and inclusion project Growing Together and how you can get involved, as well as all your usual sector news and opportunities. 

Finally, we have some staff changes to announce this month, as Alex Gibson rejoins us and Julie Taylor Kent takes over as Gloucestershire Museum Development Officer. The much-loved Stephanie Clemens will be leaving her post as Cornwall Museum Development Officer at the start of March, and we hope you'll join us in wishing her well in pastures new.

With a minimum grant of £1000, museums have successfully applied to our Small Open Grants in the past to help deliver everything from installing sensory spaces in permanent galleries to full governance reviews. You can read how museums have used the grant in our 2023/24 round and in our 2024/25 round on our website.

This year we are strongly encouraging museums to consider match funding towards their projects. Although it is not essential, we recommend you speak to your Museum Development Officer before applying to us for funding, as they will be able to advise on your project and application. Applications for our Small Open Grants close on Monday 31 March 2025.

In the SW region we have over 300 museums who have met the Arts Council England (ACE) Accreditation standard or are working towards it. For all of you, and anyone else considering museum accreditation, here are a few updates for 2025.

Making Museum Accreditation work for you
 
ACE have announced a review of the accreditation scheme. Emmie Kell, Director of Museums and Cultural Property at Arts Council England said:

‘We know that your operating environment is really challenging at the moment. You have told us that Accreditation should function as a useful check and challenge, and we are determined to ensure that is the case. This review will not impact access to the Accreditation Scheme, which will remain open throughout the entire process.

Understanding that we need to improve the usability and accessibility of Accreditation will guide our work going into this review. It has already informed the guidance refresh and website redesign to make it easier to find the most useful information.’

At MDSW we are committed to supporting museums with the Accreditation process and the benefits it can bring to your organisations. We will share more details of how the review will work when we have them.

New ACE Accreditation webpages and guidance

The Accreditation Standard's dedicated guidance library has recently been refreshed, with the updated documents providing streamlined information and support for museums working through its requirements. The Standard itself has not changed since the 2018 version - this is an update of the guidance supporting museums working towards it. The ACE webpages hosting Accreditation information, have also had an update.

For museums completing their accreditation returns or applying for the first time do make sure you refer to these updated guidance documents.

The MDSW accreditation webpages have also been updated to reflect the new guidance. 

MDSW accreditation advice

If you have questions about any aspect of the accreditation scheme don’t forget you can always contact your local MDO or one our dedicated Technical Accreditation Advisers. We are in the process of updating our online Accreditation resource library and this will be completed by the end of February. 

Julie Taylor Kent joined us for 2024 as our West of England Museum Development Officer. Her wide sector knowledge has been put to good use supporting and advising on funding applications, writing business strategies, and supporting museums with accreditation eligibility, and returns. Julie’s proactive approach in following up issues raised, and responsiveness to questions raised over the last year has been appreciated by all.

In January we welcomed Alex Gibson back to the West of England role after her maternity leave. We're glad to announce that Julie will now be taking on the role of Gloucestershire Museum Development Officer and will be working three days a week. 

Look out for a special newsletter this February, all about the upcoming Growing Together peer networks, organised by our amazing Champions! The peer networking sessions will cover:

• Meeting sensory needs and using the senses 
• Exploring ever-changing language 
• Making the most of your sensory bags or activity backpacks to enhance the museum experience 
• Access reviews and making access improvements 

Do you want to hear more about the peer networks? Please email museum.development@bristol.gov.uk with the email subject ‘Growing Together Peer Networks’, and we will send you dates and details of the sessions as soon as they are confirmed.

Family Arts Leadership Symposium

Are you engaging family audiences at your museum? Take note: the Family Arts Leadership Symposium will take place on 18 March 2025 at Cecil Sharp House in London. This is a national event for aspiring and established leaders who work in arts engagement for families and older people. During this full day of inspiring workshops and talks, hear from experts from the arts and beyond, and reflect on how your museum can create positive changes for families. You can book your ticket online. 

Creative and Cultural EDI Case Studies

Creative UK have recently released a brand new EDI case studies hub for the creative industries. 
 
These case studies mark the launch of a year-long communications campaign that will amplify and celebrate stories of great EDI practice that have been shared from across the creative industries from companies including Sky, the V&A Museums, The British Fashion Council, UK Music, and Framestore. 

The case studies shine a light on the benefits and value equality, diversity and inclusion in the creative and cultural industries, as well as how the sector is already making strides.

Beecroft Bequest

Institutional Museum Association members can apply for grants of up to £20,000 for the purchase of pictures and works of art not later than the 18th century in date.

The Beecroft Bequest has helped fund a number of significant acquisitions for museums including Paxton House, the Armitt, Milford House, Ely Museum and Herschel Museum of Astronomy.

TownsWeb Archiving Digitisation Grant

This grant responds directly to the needs of heritage organisations who are looking to digitise their collections. The TownsWeb Archiving Digitisation Grant has supported the digitisation of a long and eclectic list of valuable and rare heritage collections.

The grant has benefitted over 120 organisations and awarded almost £150,000 over seven years. Last year alone, 22 separate projects were successfully funded in total with over £30,000 awarded in digitisation funding.

The best ways to get in touch are via the form on our website or emailing museum.development@bristol.gov.uk

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Photo credits (in order as they appear):

• MDSW
• Canva
• Julie Taylor Kent
• Alex Gibson
• Family Arts

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