Welcome to your June Newsletter!
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We are delighted to announce that we have been awarded £65,000 by the NLHF to commence a year long project, Reducing the Risks: Hazards in Collections.
The aim of the project is to help museums identify, make safe, monitor and manage hazardous objects in their collections. To deliver this project we will be working alongside conservation teams at Wiltshire Conservation and Museum Advisory Service, Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Bristol Museums, and Hampshire Cultural Trust.
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Almost all museums have items in their collections that are hazardous: wartime gas masks and helmets with asbestos, taxidermy specimens preserved with arsenical salts and radioactive items, just to name a few. This project will provide the extra support needed to enable museums to tackle their hazards. It will increase the skills of the region’s conservation workforce and provide the wider museum workforce, paid and volunteer, with skills, knowledge, materials and confidence.
Read our full press release or visit our website to find out more about the project and register your interest.
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Annual Museum Survey update
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We have launched the Annual Museum Survey 2025 on behalf of Arts Council England - check your email inbox for your invitation to participate. If your organisation is eligible for participation, please complete your survey return by Tuesday 15 July, 5pm and email us if you have any questions or issues. |
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The report covers the five-year period between 2019 and 2024, beginning from the eve of Covid-19 and taking us into the post-pandemic era. Analysis from the report delves into the trends unfolding during this period in visitor numbers, finances, volunteers and staffing, and digital engagement.
In looking at the past five years, we can better understand both the exciting opportunities and continuing challenges facing us as a sector during the second half of the decade.
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On Monday 19 May, Rachel Bellamy, our Somerset MDO, joined staff, trustees and volunteers from museums across the county for the May Museums in Somerset meeting. Vince Lean, Vice Chair of Chard and District Museum, entirely run by volunteers, and Samantha Cullen, Museum Manager of The Shoemakers Museum in Street (opening in September this year), ran a session on how their teams are planning for audience development. Following this, everyone shared how their own museums are attracting local people in different ways:
- Outside spaces can be the setting for community events: Both Chard Museum and The Shoemakers Museum hold annual Wassail events each January in their orchards.
- The Bishops Palace in Wells is running yoga sessions within their beautiful and peaceful gardens for people with neurodivergence, run by a local practitioner. Glastonbury Abbey runs Friday Functional Fitness days with a range of activities including Thai Chi and Yoga taking place outside amongst the Abbey ruins.
- Frome Museum has recently attracted significantly more local visitors by changing its opening hours: On Thursdays it is open to 5pm so that parents and carers can drop in for a visit with children after school, and once a month it opens on a Sunday on Frome Independent Market days.
- Dawes Twine Works has for many years worked in partnership with local organisations such as the primary school, arts organisation Odd Arts, and the local clubs and societies.
- South Somerset Heritage Collections works with the Somerset Council’s Country Parks engagement officer to provide historic tours across Yeovil’s parks and streets.
Rachel's key takeaways:
- Consider the spaces you have. What opportunities could they offer?
- Research what activities local people and groups would like to access.
- Are there gaps which you could fill?
- Research when local people are going to be nearby in larger numbers and looking for places to visit. Consider whether your existing opening hours could be changed to coincide with these times.
- Find local partners who can help you to attract new local audiences, for example through running joint activities.
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Historic England Heritage Sector Volunteer Diversity SurveyVolunteers are a vital part of the heritage sector. Historic England are carrying out a survey to understand who is represented, who isn't, and the barriers that are stopping people from participating in volunteering opportunities. Anyone with responsibility for volunteers can take part in online training sessions on how to talk about and enable people to take part in the survey. The survey results will help Historic England target our resources for supporting volunteers in the heritage sector. The survey runs until Tuesday 29 July 2025.
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Funded Programme on Exhibition Making for CuratorsTogether with Frieze and the National Gallery Subject Specialist Network: European Paintings pre-1900, Art Fund is delighted to offer 10 fully funded places for UK regional curators to attend a two-day programme exploring transhistorical exhibition making. The programme will be led by Dr Jennifer Sliwka, Keeper of Western Art at the Ashmolean Museum and Professorial Fellow of Balliol College, University of Oxford. Applications are open to all museum and gallery curatorial professionals who work with public collections. Travel, two nights’ accommodation and refreshments will be provided. The deadline to apply is Friday 11 July.
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Creative Foundations FundArts and cultural organisations will soon be able to apply for a share of £85 million from the government for repairs and upgrades. The new Creative Foundations Fund will help arts venues across England to address a range of issues, such as repairing building infrastructure, outdated or failing systems, inefficient energy systems and inaccessible spaces. The fund will open for Expressions Of Interest on Monday 30 June 2025. Full guidance, including eligibility criteria and details of how to apply, can be found on Arts Council England’s website.
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Endangered Crafts FundHeritage Crafts invites craft practitioners and organisations in the UK to apply for small grants to fund projects that support endangered crafts. Applications may, for example, include; implementing changes that will ensure the longer-term viability or survival of heritage craft skills, direct and indirect skills transfer, continuous professional development. In addition to the funding you will receive support from the Grants and Awards Officer and rest of the Heritage Crafts team to ensure that your project is a success. The deadline to apply is Friday 17 October 2025 at 5pm.
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The best ways to get in touch are via the form on our website or emailing museum.development@bristol.gov.uk
If you think a colleague or friend would like to keep up to date
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Photo credits (in order as they appear):
- Aerospace Bristol
- Birmingham Museums
- Bishop's Palace, Wells
- Historic England
Museum Development South West content: |
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