Arts Council England has announced the nine successful applicants to the Museum development fund, a significant part of ACE's framework of support for the development of English regional museums between now and 2015.
ACE is looking to invest around £129m in regional museums and development organisations as part of the Renaissance programme, of which the development fund accounts for £8m – but what will the sector get for this healthy chunk of arts funding?
Business planning, workforce development, attracting new audiences and organisational improvement are all on the agenda for the selected development providers, but more generally, ACE is looking for the nine successful applicants to help increase the resilience and sustainability of the museums sector as a whole.
It's an ambitious project, but certainly no silver bullet for the cuts affecting museums up and down the UK – more than anything, it signals an interesting next 12 months for museum professionals.
So, what next for museums?
The fund will do plenty, but planning for better business, developing digital, increasing skills and knowledge, improving visitor engagement and attracting wider audiences are things all museums and their associated companies should be doing anyway.
The next year looks a tough landscape for museums professionals to navigate, so where should your museum be looking to improve and develop, what tools and skills can help you do it, where might you face problems in the next 12 months, and how can we solve them?
Join us from noon on Friday 11 May to answer these questions and more. ACE also opened applications for their Subject specialist networks today – groups of museums people with special expertise in various subject areas – why not come and join in with our very own version of one?
Panel (more to follow)
Hedley Swain, director, Museums and Renaissance,
Arts Council England
Hedley has been director, Museums and Renaissance at Arts Council England since 2011 – prior to joining ACE he was director of programmes at the Museums Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) of London. @ace_national
Jim Richadson, founder, Sumo, MuseumNext
Jim is the founder of Sumo, a creative agency that promotes some of Europe's best known museums and galleries – he is a leading thinker on the digital aspects of museums, a subject which he speaks and writes about internationally. Jim is also the founder of MuseumNext, Europe's big conference on the digital side of museums. @sumojim
Michael Spender, museum manager, Poole Museum Service
Michael has been museum manager for the borough of Poole since 2007 when he oversaw the redisplay of Poole Museum following major redevelopment. The Museum Service is one of the most successful in the South West and Michael leads its strong presence on Twitter. @PooleMuseum @MichaelSpender
Mar Dixon, social media and audience development consultant
Mar is a social media and audience development consultant in the cultural and creative fields – she is a lecturer, founder of CultureThemes and social media manager for Kids in Museums. @MarDixon @CultureThemes @KidsinMuseums
Keith Merrin, director, Woodhorn Trust
Keith is director of the Woodhorn Trust, which runs four museums in Northumberland, the Northumberland Archives and delivers heritage, arts and cultural education and outreach work with people throughout Northumberland and online. He is also council member of the Association of Independent Museums (AIM). @kmerrin
Oonagh Murphy, PhD student and freelance arts manager,
the University of Ulster
Oonagh researches on digital uptake and innovation in museums and develops transmedia experiences that excite and engage visitors – her latest project is the Foursquare Mayor Chair. @OonaghTweets
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