The Department for Communities has opened a consultation on the draft version of a new Museum Policy for Northern Ireland.

A vision document published by the department this week sets out the 12 policy aims that will form the backbone of the new policy. Individuals and organisations in Northern Ireland’s museum sector are invited to offer feedback on the document until 22 June.

The document will replace Northern Ireland’s existing museum policy, developed in 2011. It has been prepared “following engagement with people across the museums sector and research on modern, good practice, nationally and internationally”.

It is part of the NI Executive’s Heritage, Culture and Creativity Programme, which launched in 2024 to develop a raft of new policies for the department’s policy areas.

The proposed title of the new policy is “Accessible heritage: inspiring discovery, enhancing wellbeing and connecting communities”, and it covers three common focus areas shared across all of the department’s policy areas: people and communities; places; and partnerships.

The draft policy also sets out three overarching policy goals for the museum sector: strengthen; connect; and innovate.

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Strengthen

Building resilience, growing capacity and ensuring the sustainability of the sector.

People and communities

  • Supporting positive health and wellbeing through engagement and participation.
  • Inspiring creativity and supporting opportunities for life-long learning.

Places

  • Providing safe, accessible and inclusive spaces for everyone.
  • Preserving local histories including collections, traditional skills and crafts, and stories for people and communities.

Partnerships

  • Demonstrating the value of the museum sector in meeting government outcomes.
  • Investing to support a vibrant and connected accredited museums sector.
Connect

Realising the full potential of creative connections, intersections and partnerships.

People and communities

  • Supporting access to trusted information and resources.

Places

  • Celebrating and representing cultural diversity through collections, programming and storytelling.

Partnerships

  • Working with others to preserve, grow and celebrate local heritage, arts and culture.
Innovate

Fueling innovation and propelling growth, impact and reach.

People and communities

  • Working innovatively to drive participation and engagement.

Places

  • Contributing to the public awareness of Northern Ireland’s environmental challenges through sustainable operations, local actions and provision of information and resources.

Partnerships

  • Working innovatively with others to support positive outcomes for people and communities.

The department says the new policy will aim to “support the high standards and sustainability of the museums sector over the next decade and to encourage the role museums, and the people who work in them, can play in addressing their core functions and in contributing to community needs and to executive priorities and policy”.

It will provide the basis for public investment in the sector and aims to serve as a guide for the strategic planning of National Museums Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Museums Council, and for individual museums and galleries.

The minister for communities, Gordon Lyons, said in the foreword to the document: “Our museums are places that hold many remarkable and unexpected objects and collections that help tell the story of our people, our places and our heritage.

“They are heritage spaces that offer room for tranquil study and contemplation; but they are also full of life, delivering a huge array of events, courses and opportunities to hear the stories of generations past, and to tell our own.

“Without the knowledge, professionalism and curiosity of our museum professionals, the risk is that important and interesting connections to our past could be missed, misinterpreted or lost altogether.

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“This consultation marks an important step in the development of a new policy on how the Executive supports our museums sector and the people who work in it.

“And it is your chance to give your views on how our heritage should be not only protected and preserved; but brought into the light and brought to life, to be shared and enjoyed.”