Welcome to your February Newsletter!

This month's newsletter is all about data! We've launched our Benchmarking Tool, to help you make the most of data from the Annual Museums Survey. Read on to learn about Wiltshire's Better Data, Better Discovery project and how museums are benefitting from improving their collections documentation.  

In addition we're celebrating the 17 museums who have been awarded grants as part of our Hazards in Museums project. Don't forget that our Small Open Grants open for applications on Wednesday 4 March.

There's also a range of new SW Museum Skills sessions available on our website, including Documentation Planning, Location Audits, Data Collection for Audience Research, Introduction to Bloomberg Connects, Object Entry and March Carbon Literacy Course.

In January, we were delighted to award 17 small grants to museums participating in our Reducing the Risks: Hazards in Collections project. These grants will enable the museums to access specialist conservation or specific hazard expertise which is relevant to their collections. In addition to the ongoing training available through the project, this is a valuable opportunity to tackle more serious issues and undertake further remedial work.

Award grantees include The Fashion Museum, The Helicopter Museum, Haynes Motor Museum, Mere Museum, and The Box, Plymouth. A huge congratulations from everyone at Museum Development South West!

We’re pleased to share the updated Annual Museum Survey 2025 Benchmarking Tool, created to help museums across the South West understand how they compare with similar organisations across England.

Using data from 692 museum sites, the tool highlights sector trends and supports evidence‑based planning. This year, we’ve expanded the museum profiles for independent museums, which offers an easy way to compare your museum with others of a similar size and same governance type. These profiles group museums into three clear categories - micro, small/medium, and large/largest - based on visitor numbers. They make it simpler to see what’s typical for organisations like yours, from visitor levels and donations to staffing and volunteering.

Alongside these profiles, the tool includes median figures and ranges to help you set realistic targets and advocate for resources with confidence.

If you're not sure how Annual Museum Survey data can benefit your museum, the book onto our free online workshop, Not Another Survey: Making the best use of Annual Museum Survey data, on Wednesday 4 March. 

Over the last year, a group of museums in Wiltshire have been participating in the Better Data, Better Discovery project, during which they received support to improve their collections documentation and share their object records online through the Museum Data Service (MDS).

MDS brings together information from museums across the UK into one easy-to-access hub. Instead of collections being hidden in separate databases, MDS makes them searchable and shareable, helping everyone discover and learn from our cultural treasures.

Working with Wiltshire Council’s Conservation and Museums Advisory Service, Collections Trust, Modes Users Association, and Tim Burge Museum Services, the project has offered a mixture of group learning, tailored support, and new practical tools. A new Modes‑to‑MDS exporter tool has also been developed to make the sharing of collection information with MDS simpler for museums of all sizes. Participants in the project have helped to test and refine the tool, which has now been rolled out to over 700 Modes users across the country.

Better Data, Better Discovery is an important step in helping Wiltshire’s museums open up their collections and improve public access to their data, and we are exploring the next steps to continue this work in the future. Many thanks to the participating museums; Amesbury History Centre, Arundells, Athelstan Museum, Chippenham Museum, Market Lavington Museum, Pewsey Heritage Centre, REME Museum, and The Young Gallery.

Kids in Museums Winter Skills Programme

Kickstart 2026 with a new programme of training from Kids in Museums. Highlights include Makaton awareness, developing self-guided resources for under fives, family workshop planning and learning from youth social justice projects. Tickets start from £5 with three free sessions on offer. Find out more and book.

Cultural Gifts Scheme and Acceptance in Lieu Annual Report: now live! 

Arts Council England recently published the Cultural Gifts Scheme and Acceptance in Lieu Annual Report, which covers over £59million worth of items transferred from private collections to UK museums, galleries, libraries and archives – at little or even no cost to them. 

Highlights include: 
 

• A standing desk used by prime ministers Disraeli and Churchill, an Edgar Degas pastel, Danseuses Roses, depicting dancers at rest between performances. This has been allocated to the National Gallery, London. 
• The political archive of former Chancellor, Leader of the House of Commons, and Foreign Secretary Lord Geoffrey Howe. This has been allocated to the Bodleian Library, Oxford. 
• Portrait of Joanna Leigh, Mrs Richard Bennett Lloyd by Sir Joshua Reynolds, allocated to Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire. 

Read the full report on the Arts Council England website or check out their blog diving into some of the highlights.

GEM Sensational Museum case studies 

New GEM Case Studies have been developed in partnership with The Sensational Museum project.

The 14 case studies explore inclusive ways of bringing all the senses into museum practice, for both visitors and staff, and test the tools and resources developed through the Sensational Museum project.

They include pilot museums who used the Sensational Museum’s Multisensory Interpretation Toolkit to create exhibits that allow all visitors to engage with objects using whichever combination of senses suit them. 

Jonathan Ruffer curatorial grants

These grants from Art Fund help curators undertake research projects that will extend and develop their curatorial expertise, collections-based knowledge and art historical interests by supporting travel and other practical costs. The grants cannot be used to cover fees for the applicant or other participants involved in the research.

You can apply for up to £2,000, there are no fixed deadlines for these small grant applications.

Art Deco Society UK Conservation Grants

This grant will provide a museum or heritage group with up to £500 to help them pay for conservation costs of a specific object in their care. Two museums or groups will be awarded the grant. Applications will close on Tuesday 31 March and successful applicants will be informed by early May.  

The object can be anything from the early twentieth century which has strong Art Deco features. With Art Deco covering such a broad range of mediums, any object will be considered. 

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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