In this issue

MDUK news

Accreditation update

Updates from Sector Support Organisations

 

MDUK news – we’ve rebranded!

The Museum Development Network has rebranded as Museum Development UK (MDUK). Through consultation with the design agency we commissioned, we realised that the term ‘network’ was too informal. MDUK sends out a much stronger message about the collaborative work we are delivering across the four nations – such as the recovery grants partnership with The Art Fund. You will note that the website has a new domain (mduk.org.uk) and pages are in the process of being refreshed with the new branding. To accompany this, we also have a new twitter handle @MuseumDevUK. Please follow, support and promote our collaborative work.

Alongside changes to MDUK, the collaborative work of Museum Development teams in England has its own identity with accompanying logos. Where previously we deployed Arts Council England logos as a shorthand to promote MD work in England, new logos have been created for Museum Development England. Over the coming weeks and months, the new branding will be rolled out region by region.

A further note on Art Fund / MDUK recovery grants – the quantitative evaluation report is available here. The report highlights the breadth and reach of MDUK to small to medium sized museums across the UK. The ambition is for MDUK to continue to work with Art Fund and other trusts and foundations to support the museum ecology to recover and reset in the months and years to follow.

Accreditation update 

by Annette French, Accreditation Manager, Arts Council England

Due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in March 2020, museums across the UK closed their sites because of the impact of the pandemic and in line with Government guidance.

In response, the UK Accreditation partners – Arts Council England; Museums Galleries Scotland, Northern Ireland Museums Council and the Welsh Government (Museums Archives Libraries Division) – paused the Accreditation Scheme with effect from 1 April 2020, and all Accredited museums in the UK had their current award status extended for an additional 12 months.

Eligibility has remained open throughout the UK for museums, galleries and heritage organisations considering a new applications to the scheme.

Due to the ongoing nature of the pandemic, and with a new national lockdown in place, the Arts Council is not able to confirm a full reopening date for the Accreditation Scheme at this stage.

In England, we will be phasing our approach to reopening the scheme, focusing initially on museums that are new to Accreditation and applying for the first time.

To support all Accredited museums in the UK, their current Accreditation award status is being further extended for an additional 12 months to 1 April 2022.

Whether museums hold a Full or Provisional award, it’s still Accredited, and they are able to apply for funding which has Accreditation status as an eligibility criterion.

Phased reopening

The UK wide Accreditation Partnership has agreed that plans for reopening and rollout will respond to the devolved approaches to lockdown and recovery for museums in each of the four nations.

In England, we are phasing the reopening of the scheme and will partially reopen by end of April 2021. Museums which are Working Towards Accreditation, or hoping to put in a new application, will be able to apply from 1 April 2021.

If museums have already applied and are awaiting an award outcome, we’ll give them the opportunity to update their information and review their application again. We’ll also give them longer to prepare by extending our target WTA period by a further 12 months automatically.

If they have a provisional review in progress, they’ll be able to review this, make any updates, and resubmit from April 2021 onwards.

For more information please see our detailed FAQs (which will be regularly updated as the situation develops) HERE

Updates from Sector Support Organisations

Engage

Question of Quality – Wales Arts Health & Wellbeing Network workshop series

This series of online workshops will support participants to reflect on their work in the context of health and well-being in order to identify what ‘good’ looks like and learn how to achieve it in practice. There is an important role for arts, health and wellbeing post Covid-19 as a source of support for individuals and communities. Whether work supports mental health and wellbeing, tackles loneliness and isolation, or helps build community connectedness, there will be a strong need for it after the immediate crisis of Covid-19 has passed. Yet, during times of economic insecurity, there will be challenges to face in terms of funding and resources for the arts. The ability to understand, articulate and assure the quality of work will become increasingly important.

for more information including workshop dates and booking visit the engage website

CONNECT: Powerful Communication and Defining Your Why

This participatory session led by theatre, drama and creative learning charity, Mortal Fools will focus on developing your elevator pitch – it will get you thinking about who you are, what you do, your personal values, what you love about what you do and how to effectively communicate that in a few lines. During this session, you will start to formulate a clearer articulation of your purpose within your work – the WHY you do what you do and passion for your work. You will consider WHY, HOW and WHAT your professional work is and how to use this structure to inform your personal communication strategy as a freelancer/professional. Mortal Fools will walk you through some practical tools to develop your confidence in self-promotion – including delivering your elevator pitch in a safe space with others. There will also be time for collective discussion about why it’s sometimes hard to effectively communicate what we do and the impact of the use of language.

for more information visit the engage website

Responding to the climate and ecological emergency

Hilary Jennings and Bridget McKenzie will facilitate this two hour course. It will introduce the context of the climate and ecological emergency and, using practical examples and creative visual approaches, explore how a holistic approach engaging the breadth of gallery and visual arts practice releases creativity and opens up opportunity.  Participants will be guided to share ideas and develop onward plans.

For more information visit the engage website

Carbon Literacy Training

A Carbon Literate citizen understands how climate change will affect them and the people around them, both geographically and sectorally and has acquired the knowledge and skills to develop their own responses to lowering their carbon footprint, and the carbon footprint of others. The training session will cover; The science behind climate change, What it means to be net zero carbon, How we can achieve net zero as a society, How we can achieve net zero as an industry, and What we can do as individuals, both in our own lives and within our organisations.

for more information visit the website

MODES

Can you help shape our next steps as a business? @modesusers are seeking a Business Review Consultant to help the MUA Board review the organisation’s current activities, leading to recommendations for our future development. The deadline for submissions is 8th Feb 2021.

To find out more, visit the website.