Our strategy - Museums Association

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Our strategy

Strategic Framework

Our strategic framework covers our work between April 2020 and March 2025. It is shaped by our trustees, members and staff and is the result of significant research, evaluation and collaboration. Below is a summary that sets out our mission and values, alongside our vision for museums. Four aims underpin our work over this period and are supported by priorities for each of our core areas of work. In early 2021/22 we reviewed and reprioritised the framework to take into the impacts of the global pandemic and other major societal changes, such as the Black Lives Matter movement.

Our mission

Inspiring museums to change lives

Our vision

Inclusive, participatory and sustainable museums at the heart of their communities

Our values
  • We lead with courage and passion
  • We champion diversity and equity
  • We work collaboratively, inclusively and ethically
  • We campaign for social and climate justice
  • We lead change by example
Our aims
  • Empower museums to change lives
  • Support museums to be ethical in everything they do
  • Campaign for museums to address the climate crisis
  • Develop a dynamic network of members to deliver our vision
  • Deliver empowering, relevant and dynamic collections
Our priorities

Advocacy
To support recovery from the impact of the pandemic, we will build on the successes of our recent advocacy work and collaborate with our partners to make the case for investment in museums to politicians, stakeholders and funders across all nations.

Priorities:
– Campaign for equitable funding and resources across all nations
– Empower museums with resources to advocate for themselves

Ethics and sustainability
We will challenge ourselves and the museum sector to be more ethical in our work with our collections, audiences, sponsors and partners. We will focus on tackling the climate crisis, decolonising our museums and taking an ethical approach to our workforce.

Priorities:
– Campaign for museums to address the climate crisis
– Challenge museums to decolonise and democratise our collections

Impact
We will build on our flagship Museums Change Lives campaign, encouraging more museums to work in new partnerships to deliver social impact, be relevant to their communities, and tackle pressing contemporary issues in society.

Priorities:
– Deliver a new campaign on learning and engagement
– Review, refresh and refine Museums Change Lives and the Collections Fund
– Explore the impact of Black lives Matter on communities and museums

Inclusion
Museums will be better, richer and more engaging places if our audiences and workforce are representative of the communities we serve. We will lead by example to set standards, campaign and offer advice and guidance in each nation, adhering to our languages policy, to achieve this.

Priorities:
– Campaign for representative workforce and audiences
– Take significant action to improve our accessibility and inclusivity

Engagement
In order to achieve our mission and vision we need a dynamic and engaged membership. We will engage more with our members, supporters and programme alumni to ensure we work with and represent everyone working in and with museums.

Priorities:
– Create new ways for our members to participate and contribute
– Devolve power and agency for members to be more engaged and represented

Museum workers
We will campaign for a representative workforce that has fair and equitable pay, progressive rights and conditions, and a sector that seeks to support the health and wellbeing of its people.

Priorities:
– Campaign for workers, volunteers, and trustees to be representative of communities
– Campaign for equitable pay and conditions for all workers
– Support workforce wellbeing campaign

Professional development
We will ensure our professional development offer is values-led and meets sector need. We will prioritise the AMA and FMA and build on our work on inclusion and online learning. 

Priorities:
– Ensure our professional development programmes deliver our aims and values
– Build new audiences for professional development across our community

Membership
Following the delivery of our more inclusive membership structure, we will seek to engage all parts of the workforce, including front of house and operations staff, volunteers and the freelance community, reaching out to all museum workers in the light of coronavirus.

Priorities:
– Ensure new website and members’ app deliver benefits to essential members
– Recruit members representing all roles in the workforce and all of society

Content
Following our website redesign, we will radically refresh Museums Journal and our other printed and online content to ensure they meet our values and deliver engaging and high-quality content to our membership.

Priorities:
– Review, refresh and redesign Museums Journal in print and online
– Develop a digital content strategy and significantly reduce our printed output

Events
We will continue to deliver engaging, popular events, focused on our aims and new audiences. We will create new events and critically review conference and exhibition.

Priorities:
– Investigate new events for new audiences in person and online
– Radically refresh the annual conference and exhibition

Working practices
We will ensure that our working practices match our values – working collaboratively, championing equity and inclusion, significantly reducing our impact on the environment, leading change by example and having some more fun on the way.

Priorities:
– Ensure our terms and conditions and practices are progressive and inclusive
– Make our working spaces and places more accessible

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Annual Reports

Our previous and future work and notice of our Annual General Meeting 2023
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