As the nine services that successfully bid to be museum development providers in England from 2015-18 gear up to submit their business plans to Arts Council England’s (ACE) by the November 7 deadline, museum development officers (MDO) hope this will end a period of uncertainty about their future.
The good news is that ACE has allocated £3m to museum development in 2015-16. But the fund is not ringfenced, so the following two settlements will depend on the outcome of the next comprehensive spending review.
But ACE’s three-year cycle is a welcome change from the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council’s one-year arrangement, say MDOs, many of whom survive on a series of short-term contracts, often paid through a combination of funds.
The MDO post at Essex County Council, for instance, is supported by arts council and local authority funding across four organisations: Norfolk Museums Service, Essex County Council, Museums Essex and Southend-on-Sea District Council.
The arts council funding is positive, as it shows support for museum development work, says Amy Cotterill, the MDO for Essex, but support from local authorities needs to continue to make it viable.
Gemma Dhami, the MDO for Worcestershire, says there is less and less local authority funding available. She adds that there used to be county museum officers in local authority museums, but those posts and specialist curator posts are increasingly being made redundant.
The nature of MDO work has changed considerably, says Tamalie Newbery, the executive director of the Association of Independent Museums. It is now more resilience orientated, with a greater focus on being entrepreneurial and capacity building.
Museum development support varies across the UK. The north-east, for example, has only one MDO, while the south-west has 11.
The south-west is also the only region to have benefited from an increase in local authority funding for museum development.
The secret of its success is data collection, says south-west MDO Tom Newman, using annual surveys of visitor numbers and other statistics to advocate to councillors “who aren’t necessarily familiar with museums in their locality”.
Other regions are taking notes and, from 2015, south-west MDOs will work in partnership with the south-east, East Midlands, and north-east to develop a data collection model and shared approaches to advocacy.
It is vital that MDO work continues to be funded, says Newbery, otherwise museum standards across the UK will fall significantly.
Scotland: Museums Galleries Scotland, the national development body for the museum sector, has 21 staff covering about 400 museums.
Northern Ireland: Northern Ireland Museums Council has two MDOs – one responsible for education and training and the other for collections and Accreditation – covering about 40 museums.
Wales: Cymal supports one MDO and provides free training events. Several local authorities including Conwy, Blaenavon, and Torfaen, have MDOs. They support about 90 museums.
Correction
07.11.2014
Amended to clarify that the MDO post at Essex County Council is supported by four local authorities rather than three. The fourth funder is Southend-on-Sea District Council.
The good news is that ACE has allocated £3m to museum development in 2015-16. But the fund is not ringfenced, so the following two settlements will depend on the outcome of the next comprehensive spending review.
But ACE’s three-year cycle is a welcome change from the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council’s one-year arrangement, say MDOs, many of whom survive on a series of short-term contracts, often paid through a combination of funds.
The MDO post at Essex County Council, for instance, is supported by arts council and local authority funding across four organisations: Norfolk Museums Service, Essex County Council, Museums Essex and Southend-on-Sea District Council.
The arts council funding is positive, as it shows support for museum development work, says Amy Cotterill, the MDO for Essex, but support from local authorities needs to continue to make it viable.
Gemma Dhami, the MDO for Worcestershire, says there is less and less local authority funding available. She adds that there used to be county museum officers in local authority museums, but those posts and specialist curator posts are increasingly being made redundant.
The nature of MDO work has changed considerably, says Tamalie Newbery, the executive director of the Association of Independent Museums. It is now more resilience orientated, with a greater focus on being entrepreneurial and capacity building.
Museum development support varies across the UK. The north-east, for example, has only one MDO, while the south-west has 11.
The south-west is also the only region to have benefited from an increase in local authority funding for museum development.
The secret of its success is data collection, says south-west MDO Tom Newman, using annual surveys of visitor numbers and other statistics to advocate to councillors “who aren’t necessarily familiar with museums in their locality”.
Other regions are taking notes and, from 2015, south-west MDOs will work in partnership with the south-east, East Midlands, and north-east to develop a data collection model and shared approaches to advocacy.
It is vital that MDO work continues to be funded, says Newbery, otherwise museum standards across the UK will fall significantly.
MDOs across the UK
Scotland: Museums Galleries Scotland, the national development body for the museum sector, has 21 staff covering about 400 museums.
Northern Ireland: Northern Ireland Museums Council has two MDOs – one responsible for education and training and the other for collections and Accreditation – covering about 40 museums.
Wales: Cymal supports one MDO and provides free training events. Several local authorities including Conwy, Blaenavon, and Torfaen, have MDOs. They support about 90 museums.
Correction
07.11.2014
Amended to clarify that the MDO post at Essex County Council is supported by four local authorities rather than three. The fourth funder is Southend-on-Sea District Council.
