Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft to explore ‘radically different’ operating model

Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft is seeking a consultant to help it develop a “radically different” operating model following its closure earlier this year.

The small independent museum closed its doors in February and made all of its staff redundant in May. Since then, the organisation’s board of trustees has developed a draft strategy, which includes a series of “hypotheses” that could bring financial sustainability, organisational resilience and community impact.

The board is now seeking a consultant or small agency to assess the practical, financial and organisational viability of each hypothesis, and explore how they could combine to create a new operating model.

The successful applicant or agency will ultimately develop a three-year action-research and business-planning framework, which the trustees can then use to secure funding for its implementation.

The brief for the £20,000 consultancy role states: “The [museum’s] board is taking an ambitious and unconventional approach to developing the operating model and plan for the future so this work will include extensive consultation with a wide range of stakeholders at the outset to discuss, gather insight and develop buy-in for this approach.

“Following the consultation, the objective of this work is to create a structured programme to test a set of hypotheses, building on what the board has created.”

The draft strategy will only be shared with shortlisted applicants, who must create a fully costed programme timeline. The deadline for tenders is 6 October, and more details on the application process are available online on Ditchling Museum’s website.

The strategy proposes a wide ranging consultation with former volunteers, local residents, potential funders and museum peers to test specifics such as practical barriers and the level of investment needed.

Sharing the tender on LinkedIn, trustee Nathanial Hepburn, who is also director of nearby Charleston, said: “We are taking a slightly different approach to reopening this special museum to deliver a bold and ambitious vision, while trying to minimise financial risk.”

Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft was founded in 1985 and redeveloped in 2013. It preserves the heritage of the art and craft movement since 1900, and displays work by makers associated with the South Downs village of Ditchling such as Eric Gill, Edward Johnston, David Jones, Ethel Mairet and Hilary Pepler.