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‘The glue that binds us together’: Executive Summary

This is the second joint annual report of the network of West Midlands Museum Development Officers (WMMDOs).

Museum Development Officers provide advice and support to a wide range of museums in the region, helping them to develop and sustain the high standards that are essential for survival in an uncertain economic environment.

During 2010/11 the WMMDOs have focused on developing and supporting new partnerships and mechanisms for working differently. Organisational sustainability has been high on their agenda, along with volunteer development and use of digital media. The network has also extended its use of commissioning to help deliver museum development.

Achievements in 2010/11 include:

Support for 222 non-hub museums 93 museums supported in attaining or maintaining Accreditation 55 networking events or training courses organised 7,383 instances of general support and coaching £61,537.29 distributed to museums in support of improvements

The WMMDOs are also commended in Fast Forward, the regional survey of museum trends. This cites the continuous improvement shown by museums across the region as a ‘dramatic indication’ of the impact of the work of the WMMDOs.

Feedback from the museums themselves has been uniformly positive. In particular, the museums see the WMMDOs as a link with the wider sector and a source of advice and information about stewardship, funding, policy initiatives and networking.

A typical comment came from one museum curator, who described the WMMDOs as ‘the glue that binds us together’.

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Contents

p.3 Introduction

p.4 Supporting a wide range of museums and heritage organisations

p.5 Partnerships and networking

p.8 Strategic and cross-regional working

p.10 Distributing resources

p.14 Improving standards

p.16 Training and skills development

p.18 Raising the profile of West Midlands museums

p.20 Making an Impact

p.24 Looking to the future

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Introduction

The West Midlands Museum Development Officer (WMMDO) network is managed by the Marches Network which is made up of senior museum officers in five counties. This group grew out of a mutual recognition of the benefits of working in partnership to achieve shared goals and to champion the heritage of the West Midlands.

The WMMDO network was set up in 2003 and has received Renaissance in the Regions funding since 2004. The WMMDOs are each based in a local authority museum service but provide strategic guidance and support to a wide range of museums and heritage organisations in the region, large and small. One of the principal aims of the network has been to spread the benefits of Renaissance funding more equitably across the region.

The WMMDO network promotes sound governance and facilitates partnership working, joint marketing initiatives and skills development. The WMMDOs are also able to provide the many museums and heritage organisations in their areas with intelligence about funding opportunities and information about wider initiatives that are of benefit to the region. Above all, the network promotes the sharing of best practice across county boundaries.

The WMMDOs also provide support for specific project development and funding applications, as well as offering small grants to help museums achieve recognised standards in collections care and visitor services.

A majority of museums in the West Midlands are operated by independent charitable bodies and many are run solely by volunteers. The WMMDOs have been instrumental in guiding many of these museums through the process of achieving Museums Accreditation (the national minimum standard for museums). They have also become recognised as an important part of the voluntary sector infrastructure, helping museums to connect with their local communities and get the best out of their volunteers.

There is a very high awareness of their work among museums in the region with most museums reporting a positive relationship with their MDO. In many cases, this has resulted in practical improvements which would have been difficult to achieve without WMMDO guidance and support.

The impact of the work of each MDO is measured against specific local criteria and outputs. Collectively, the work of the network is currently measured against a set of Renaissance/ MLA performance indicators. These are used by the museums that the WMMDOs serve to provide crucial evidence of the real impact of the programme.

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Supporting a wide range of museums and heritage organisations

The West Midlands is a region of great variety, encompassing heavily built up areas and wide rural stretches. Museum provision reflects this variety and includes local authority, independent, regimental, university and company museums, as well as National Trust properties, historic houses and other heritage sites.

Many of the smaller independent museums are volunteer-led and volunteering is a crucial element of the regional museum economy. Some volunteer groups are currently in the early stages of museum development and the WMMDOs are a vital source of coaching and advice for these ‘proto-museums’.

During 2010/11 WMMDOs provided more than 9808 hours of support to non-hub museums.

WMMDOs support around 100 Accredited museums.

WMMDOs provided advice to more than 200 museums and heritage organisations across the region.

WMMDOs support at least 1720 unpaid or volunteer workers in museums and heritage organisations.

WMMDOs support over 1082 paid workers in museums and heritage organisations.

Source: Annual WMMDO client satisfaction survey 2010/11

WMMDOs provide advice and support in a variety of ways including site visits, one-to-one coaching sessions, advice given over the phone, newsletters, e-alerts via social media and direct mailings. They also organise Network events and training sessions, and offer strategic advice and brokerage.

“Our MDO is always available at the end of the phone or email. She is an incredibly vital contact in terms of knowing what is going on across the region and who we can turn to for help or advice. She is friendly, approachable and passionate about the museums and is a true advocate.”

Case Study: Support for new Nicolson Museum, Leek A new museum opened in the old Arts Club room of the Nicholson Institute in Leek in September 2010. The museum displays material, previously held in storage, which illustrates the rich social history of the area. Staffordshire’s Museum Development Officer and Flying Collections Assistant gave direct support in identifying and mounting objects for display in the new museum.

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Partnerships and networkingPartnership working and networking are essential parts of a Museum Development Officer’s role. The WMMDOs have instigated or been significantly involved in a variety of project-based partnerships in their own areas and are also integral to a wide range of Sub-regional, Regional and National strategic partnerships. For example, one of the WMMDOs is a member of the Association of Independent Museums Council which held a conference on tourism in Warwickshire during the year. As part of the Renaissance West Midlands Workforce Development group, WMMDOs also helped structure and run a high level volunteers’ conference in the region.

Case Study: PEEP and VIEW+

The transnational partnership project Promoting Early European Photographers (PEEP) involved Herefordshire’s MDO working with a variety of partners, including The Share Initiative (TSI) and museums from Swansea, Iceland, and Slovakia. Supported through the European Commission’s Grundtvig programme, the project is using an archive of photographs by the Leominster photographer Thomas Henry Winterbourn which has been acquired by the MDO for the Museum Resource and Learning Centre’s collection. The MDO has worked closely with the Slovakian partners in the design and wording of their academic posters.

The Winterbourn collection is also being used as the basis of the VIEW+ project, which is providing volunteers with lifelong learning sessions and training in collections care. Groups of volunteers are being encouraged to take on aspects of project work including exhibition development.

The WMMDOs are currently involved with the following national and regional partnerships:

National Museum Development Network Association of Independent Museums Council Creative Apprenticeships implementation group Marches Network West Midlands Museums Policy Forum West Midlands Regional Culture and Sport Network Renaissance WM Workforce Development Task and Finish Group Renaissance West Midlands Audience Development Steering Group West Midlands Hub Education Working Group Fast Forward Editorial Board

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Museum on the Move Emergency Response Network

Sub-regional and local partnerships include:

Sub-regional museum and heritage fora and networks Birmingham Creative Education Network Black Country Collections Online Black Country Creative Education Network Black Country Heads of Service Distinctly Black Country Landscape Network Herefordshire Archive Forum Herefordshire Cultural Consortium Herefordshire Life Partnership Shropshire Volunteer Community Council Staffordshire X-Domain Learning Network Staffordshire Museums Network Warwickshire Social Media Development Group South Warwickshire Heritage Volunteers Partnership Learning Worcs (cross-domain learning network) Advisory partnership with the National Trust

Case Study: Priceless – Young Carers Documentary 2010-11

This nine month project, which culminated in a documentary film, engaged a group of young carers (aged 7-17), encouraging them to tell their stories and open up about their lives. It was part-funded by an MDO grant, in partnership with the Shropshire Council Museum Team, Red Cross and the Hive (a young persons’ arts centre in Shrewsbury). Making a film was their own choice, and introduced the young carers to a range of new skills including research, interviewing, camera handling, music composition and graphics. The project offered participants mutual support through a shared experience and has secured further funding from another source to continue. It is a clear example of good practice in developing innovative partnerships with third sector and private bodies to share resources and expertise.

In addition to formal partnerships, WMMDOs have been instrumental in facilitating a variety of informal networking events to update colleagues with policy developments and encourage an exchange of information and best practice. WMMDOs also serve on, or advise, a variety of museum trust boards.

Case Study: Every Object Tells a Story

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Ten museums in Staffordshire came together to create a family trail which ran throughout the summer in 2010. The trail linked the partner museums and gave visitors an opportunity to win a personalised behind the scenes tour of a museum of their choice.

The ‘Every Object Tells a Story’ brand was also used for joint promotion in publicity developed and produced by the Staffordshire Destination Management Partnership throughout 2010.

Case study: Heritage Open Days

Herefordshire’s Heritage Open Days began four years ago with 9 sites involved. The partnership has now grown to 30 museum and heritage sites and is set to rise again in 2011. While some sites are regularly open to the public, many are privately owned or only open for special events. Promotion is co-ordinated by the MDO, providing the participating sites with a higher profile than they would achieve independently.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the partnership not only encourages local tourism on the day but also promotes return visits, particularly within the friends and family market.

Strategic and cross-regional working

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The WMMDOs meet regularly in order to monitor progress on projects and discuss new initiatives. The WMMDOs also attend the Marches Network meetings, providing appropriate input into the delivery of the network’s development plan. They have made a significant contribution to the various regional Renaissance working groups as well as the national Museum Development Network.

The WMMDOs work with wider regional cultural networks and with their respective local strategic partnership groupings, in order to ensure the presence of a museums’ perspective within broader strategies.

The WMMDOs provided active support for the 2010 West Midlands Fast Forward benchmarking survey and, as in 2008, an MDO sat on the editorial board. They encouraged museums to participate, assisted them in completing the survey and advocated the use of the survey as a benchmarking and organisational improvement tool. The WMMDOs acted a key point of contact for the data analysis team, for checking museum contacts and advised on survey distribution timetable, to ensure maximum return from rural museums, and those with seasonal opening hours. This support was crucial in achieving a high return rate of 79% (170 museums from across the region).

“The MDO is an important asset; one that represents local museums and acts as a voice at regional level”.

Cross regional events and programmes organised and delivered by the WMMDOs during 2010/11 included the Family Friendly Mystery Shopper programme and grant schemes. For the 2011/12 business plan the WMMDOs will work more closely together on delivering regional projects.

Case study: Family Friendly Mystery Shopper

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The Mystery Shopping initiative built on an earlier project which took place in 2009. Its aim was to encourage museum and gallery staff to think more deeply about the overall quality of experience offered to family visitors. It was designed both to help individual staff develop their own skills and confidence and to share skills, knowledge and experiences within the sector.

Twenty-two museums and heritage sites took part, including local authority and independent museums, some professionally staffed, others volunteer run and a National Trust property. Visits took place between late October 2010 and mid-January 2011.

Shoppers were generally complimentary about the overall experience of their visits, and displays and facilities were generally rated as good or adequate. Feedback from the participating venues was positive and both shoppers and venues stated how much they had valued the experience. Small grants were made available for sites to implement shoppers’ recommendations.

The WMMDOs have commissioned an evaluation report for the Family Friendly Mystery Shopper project. The findings of the report will be disseminated at a regional conference in September 2011.

Distributing Resources

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A significant proportion of the Renaissance funding for WMMDOs is distributed as grants to their clients. The way in which these grants are allocated differs according to local needs and priorities. However, they are all designed to help museums improve their practice and facilities in line with the standards set out in Fast Forward, the West Midlands regional benchmarking project.

In 2010/11 a total of £61,537.29 was distributed in the form of 98 grants to 92 non-hub museums and heritage organisations in the West Midlands for the improvement of their services. These included local authority, independent, university, regimental and company museums, together with National Trust properties. This represents a 24% increase compared with the previous year, when grants amounting to £49,623 were distributed to 64 organisations for service improvements.

Distribution of WMMDO grants 2010/11

Number of grants

Value of grants

£

% split (value)

% split (distrib)

Local Authority 25 20233.16 33% 25%Independent 59 36863.78 60% 60%National Trust 2 900.00 1.5% 2%Regimental 10 1707.35 3% 10%University 1 1000.00 1.5% 1%English Heritage 0 0 0 0National 0 0 0 0Company 1 833.00 1% 1%Total 98 £61,537.29

Although the total value of grants is relatively small and the average individual grant is modest, the response from clients indicates that these small grants have a real impact in terms of improvement. Many museums report that a small investment enables them to make significant changes to the visitor experience.

Projects that received grant funding in 2010/11 include:

volunteer recruitment and management access improvements audience development improving the visitor experience meeting and maintaining the Accreditation standard income generation and fundraising support ‘greener museum’ initiatives a young carers project purchase of equipment to improve collection care

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“The small grant scheme has enabled us to purchase equipment and materials we could not otherwise have afforded.”

Case Study: Worcestershire Small Grants Scheme

10 museums benefited from small grants designed to improve the visitor experience.

One beneficiary was Tudor House heritage centre in Worcester, which improved its offer for children. Following a visit from members of the Young Consultants project, the centre developed a Tudor House character trail, along with the introduction of new dressing up costumes and audio in one of the rooms. Another recipient was the Elgar Birthplace Museum which improved access for elderly visitors by acquiring portable seating that can be used throughout the building.

Other museums were able to improve the quality of their interpretation, develop activities aimed specifically at young visitors, make provision for visitors with access issues, provide oral history training for volunteers and to undertake visitor research.

“It is difficult to see how a small museum like ours, with minimal staffing and almost no budget, could continue to exist and improve without the help and financial support of the MDO and her resources.”

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The small grants programme also provides a means of focussing museum activity around regional strategic priorities and as a way for WMMDOs to intervene strategically in the way museums operate. In Staffordshire, for example, a new strand of the Small Grants scheme has been launched with the aim of promoting greener museums.

Case Study: Greener Museums Grant Programme

A grant of £1953 helped the Museum of Cannock Chase to reduce its energy consumption by installing a lower wattage gallery lighting scheme. The new lamps are designed to reduce the heat in the galleries, helping to improve environmental conditions. Visitors appear to be spending more time enjoying the galleries, which are noticeably cooler than previously.

At the Izaak Walton’s Cottage, a grant of £700 helped to create a garden arbour, which will give visitors the opportunity to sit and reflect on nature, in the manner recorded in Walton’s Compleat Angler. The timber was sourced from sustainably managed local woodlands and the design is based on the timber frame construction of the cottage. The arbour was created with help from students from Walton Hall Special School, who also helped to install bird and insect boxes.

Opening of the garden arbour, Izaac Walton’s Cottage

At Cheddleton Flint Mill volunteers used a small grant of £595 to clear and develop a patch of overgrown land adjacent to the museum buildings and canal. The grant paid for garden tools, seeds and equipment. Part of the area was seeded with a grass and flower seed mix selected for species appropriate to the area, an allotment was established and an insect house created from sticks and twigs from the site clearance.

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As well as distributing resources, WMMDOs offer crucial support to museums in developing funding applications to other agencies such as the Heritage Lottery Fund and grant-giving charitable trusts. In Worcestershire, for example, the Almonry Heritage centre in Evesham received advice and support in preparing a bid to HLF that would address a number of identified needs and ultimately improve public access to the collections.

The WMMDOs have also encouraged the museums to develop income generation strategies and fundraising plans in the hope that they will be better able to develop a sustainable funding base.

Case Study – Income and Fundraising Support Project

In response to requests from museums for fundraising and income generation advice, the Conurbation Museums Officer (CMO) developed a support project. The aims of the project were to:

provide fundraising and income generation advice which met the museums’ organisational needs

help organisations to develop a strategic approach to fundraising improve the long-term economic sustainability of museums in the Conurbation

The CMO noticed that whilst many museums wanted to increase their fundraising and income generation capacity, most did not have a fundraising strategy. The CMO commissioned an experienced fundraising consultant to work with three museums on a one to one basis. The Consultant met with museum representatives to discuss their income and fundraising needs. These meetings were crucial and enabled the Consultant to gain an in-depth understanding of the museum’s fundraising requirements.

Following the meetings the Consultant produced a detailed report for each museum. The report provided details of potential income and fundraising streams, and recommendations for the museum to implement. In response to the report, the museums have developed their own fundraising and income generation strategies. Benefits and Impact

This project has had an immediate impact on improving fundraising skills for museums staff and volunteers. The Pen Room has quoted the Consultant’s report in funding applications, and has established a team of volunteers with specific responsibility for fundraising. All volunteers at the Pen Room are now tasked with seeking fundraising opportunities and are aware of the role they have to play in generating income. As a result of these initiatives, the Pen Room has generated over £56,000 of income during 2010.

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Improving standards

One of the most important roles of the WMMDOs is to help museums in the region to improve and maintain standards. In particular, the WMMDOs have helped West Midlands museums to achieve the Accreditation standard by providing crucial advice and guidance. During 2010/11, 93 museums were given practical support in maintaining or attaining the Accreditation standard.

“We couldn’t have achieved Accreditation at first attempt without the advice and financial support of the MDO.”

The WMMDOs offer advice and support over a wide range of issues, including collection care, interpretation, visitor services, access improvements, education, volunteer recruitment and marketing. This advice often leads to real improvements. In Staffordshire, for example, four sites were given help to improve their understanding and use of environmental monitoring procedures and equipment. They were given loaned equipment and given training and, after six months, reported significant improvements.

Case study: Flying Collections Assistant

Staffordshire’s Flying Collections Assistant initiative has been running since 2008. Its aim is to support museums working towards the Accreditation Standard, raise standards in collections care and promote best practice and sustainability. The scheme has supported 20 museums to successfully achieve Accreditation status.

The following comments from museums involved in the project are typical;

“As an organisation with no prior knowledge or experience of museum Accreditation we have been on a steep learning curve. The Flying Collection Assistant’s help has been invaluable. It has been necessary to change our outlook on all aspects of the business from how we preserve the past to presenting it in the present”.

“The Flying Collections Assistant provided much needed capacity to break the back of the collection inventory. The museum is much closer to achieving its goal of dealing with the documentation backlog. This would have taken a great deal longer to achieve without this assistance as we only have a part time collections assistant. It has helped to achieve our Accreditation goals.”

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The important role of the WMMDOs in helping to raise standards in museums across the region is commended in the most recent (2010) edition of Fast Forward; the mapping document that provides a trend analysis of the West Midlands museum sector. The Fast Forward Executive Summary states that ‘Renaissance has funded Museum Development Officers in each county and the Conurbation, who work mainly with smaller, often voluntary museums. The continuous improvement shown by ‘All’ museums year on year is a dramatic indication of the success of this.’ (p.6).

Elsewhere, the report comments on the way in which the efforts of the Museum Development Officers have helped Fast Forward ‘to attract strong support from across the region and the sector and thus to yield useful data.’ (p.10)

“Our MDO has been a very helpful source of advice and support. By directly providing grant funding our service has certainly been improved, enabling us to purchase environmental monitoring equipment which is now in use. Through the mystery shopper project we gained information on what we did well and how we could improve our museum. The follow-up funding is enabling us to create a professionally designed and printed trail for the site.”

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Training and skills development

As well as regular network or forum meetings, the WMMDOs organise a variety of training and learning events.

In 2010/11 there were 55 events and training sessions convened by WMMDOs around the region covering issues and topics such as:

Mystery Shopper training Increasing volunteer numbers Accreditation What’s Eating Your Collections Fire safety Disability awareness (Visually impaired people) Oral History training Fast Forward Engaging schools Documentation Marking and labelling objects

The WMMDOs worked closely with the Renaissance West Midlands Workforce Development team on developing the content of their regional training programme and gave active encouragement to their clients to take up the training opportunities offered by the programme.

Case study: Worcestershire

Museums across Worcestershire were able to address training needs in areas such as retail, marketing, event planning and customer service by using consultants and sharing local expertise. The MDO also arranged for 16 members of staff from Worcestershire museums to undertake the City and Guilds Accredited Welcome Host Gold training. Through this, staff from Avoncroft Museum and Forge Mill Needle Museum joined staff from Museums Worcestershire to gain a recognised qualification in customer service.

The WMMDOs have also continued to improve their own skills and knowledge base. Professional Development activities in 2010/11 have taken in attendance at a range of conferences and sectoral seminars, as well as training courses and workshops. These have included:

MDO Conference AIM Conference Emergency Response Network Conference Management Academy

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Renaissance West Midlands Aspiring Leaders programme Museum Mentor update sessions Fast Forward training day Accreditation, the Way Forward HLF funding workshop How to Run a Focus Group Recruitment and Selection Course Child Policy Workshop

“We really appreciate the guidance we get from our MDO highlighting training opportunities and have taken advantage of a number of sessions in the last 12 months. Consequently we have been up-skilled and had our awareness raised in a number of key areas, helping us to better manage our museum.”

Case Study: Volunteer Recruitment Programme

Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum, wanted to recruit more volunteers to present planetarium sessions, improve incentives for volunteers and establish a volunteer management programme. £968.00 was allocated from the Programme Support scheme to support Thinktank’s volunteer recruitment project.

Rutu Joshi was a volunteer recruited during the project. Although her first language is not English, Rutu is now leading three planetarium sessions every Sunday. She incorporates traditional Indian constellation stories into her presentations. These stories involve stars that are familiar to us, but they are interpreted in a completely different way.

Rutu is a deeply committed volunteer who braved severe weather conditions in December 2010 to deliver her sessions. In recognition of this she was named National Volunteer for Museum Learning 2011 by the Marsh Trust.

Benefits and impacts

Volunteers recruited during the project have enabled Thinktank to increase its capacity to deliver presenter-led planetarium shows by 16%. Rutu’s contribution alone has led to 50% more presenter-led sessions on Sundays. The Planetarium Manager comments, “The Programme Support award came at a very good time for us, providing a welcome boost towards formalising our Volunteer Programme. We have now increased momentum to continue growing our team of volunteers.”

Raising the profile of West Midlands museums17

As many of the projects initiated and supported by the WMMDOs involve partnership working and innovative practice, they also offer an opportunity to raise the profile of West Midlands museums. There have been a number of joint promotional and marketing initiatives which offer levels of exposure that smaller museums in particular would not be able to achieve on their own. In Herefordshire, for example, the MDO has been contributing monthly articles on a museums and heritage theme to Herefordshire Life magazine. These articles have created new interest in the county’s heritage and the events diary is now an established source of ideas for people looking for somewhere to go. Every museum and heritage site is featured at some point throughout the year and the articles seem to be encouraging visits both from local residents and holiday-makers.

Case study: Audiences Shropshire Pilot Project

This project seeks to bring arts and heritage organisations together to develop and share best practice in audience development work. The initiative is supported by Audiences Central, MLA and Shropshire Council. Audience development networks have been set up to promote joint working around a range of cultural agendas, such as digital participation or audience diversity. The networks also promote workforce development and will help ensure that large and smaller organisations have access to the expertise and knowledge needed to facilitate sustainable audience development.

Many of the projects are also concerned with audience development, particularly in terms of using collections to engage with groups who may not have previously felt a connection with museums. In Staffordshire, for instance, the mobile museum visited young offenders’ institutions to deliver learning experiences which benefited 217 young people and 69 staff. Other projects have been directed specifically at school age children with the aim of nurturing audiences for the future.

Case study: Young Curators Touring Exhibition

The Young Curators project brought together four Staffordshire museums and their neighbourhood schools. Each school created a small display using objects from the local museum’s collections. A touring exhibition, made up of four separate displays, was shown in every district in the county. The project was awarded Runner Up in the category ‘Best Exhibition on a Shoestring’ at the Renaissance ‘Best of the West Awards’. The partner museums were; Staffordshire County Museum, the Ancient High House (Stafford), the Museum of Cannock Chase and Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Museum & Art Gallery.

Case study: Take One18

The Take One project was set up to encourage new ways of looking at objects in museums, providing training and supporting material for museums, archives and schools. The project adopted the principles of the National Gallery’s Take One Picture which uses a single object as a starting point for cross-curricular activities. Five schools worked on the project at their own sites using Hereford Museum and Art Gallery’s stuffed sturgeon, Svetlana, as their Take One object. Their work was then exhibited at the Gallery itself alongside similarly inspired work from Hereford College of Art students. One museum also joined forces with a Pupil Referral Unit to develop a new partnership using the skills learned.

Publicity for the project in Herefordshire Life created a huge amount of interest in the museum, including increased activity on Svetlana Sturgeon’s Facebook and Twitter pages. A follow-up project with a new key object is planned.

Making an impact

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For the second year, the WMMDOs used a common evaluation and satisfaction survey to capture opinions and feelings about the services they offer. This was designed to measure the impact of their work against Generic Learning Outcomes (GLOs) and Generic Social Outcomes (GSOs).

Museums across the region were asked to respond to a set of range statements in order to identify the impact of the MDO’s services on their organisations. The range statements were designed to show how the WMMDOs have helped to:

improve levels of knowledge and understanding improve skill levels promote positive attitudes and values to work foster feelings of enjoyment, inspiration and creativity encourage actions and behaviour that progress the organisation and

individuals enable the museum to be valued as part of a strong and safe community ensure the health and wellbeing of visitors and volunteers by providing better

experiences for them facilitate the museum's active contribution to strengthening public life.

Questionnaires were sent to all WMMDO clients. 107 completed questionnaires were returned. The return rate differed from county to county. Worcestershire noted a drop in the return rate compared with the previous year while Staffordshire recorded a response rate of 54% from their client organisations.

The response of the museums to the survey is summarised below.

Improved levels of knowledge and understanding

88 respondents out of 107 (82% of completed surveys) reported that they felt more knowledgeable as a result of the work of their MDO.

“Our MDO supports our organisation by organising training and by attending museum/heritage meetings in the area and hearing about the issues that affect us. Our MDO enables the museum to be better informed and to actively improve the services we offer and the work we do.”

Improved levels of skill

40% of respondents felt that they had become more capable and skilled in their work.

“Our MDO arranges training programmes that enhance our staff skill base and help our organisation to deliver best practice”

“The MDO’s guidance has enabled us to carry out work that would not otherwise 20

have been possible and enabled us to keep up to date with changes in education and other relevant areas.”

Positive attitudes

Half of those who returned the survey reported that they felt inspired and enthusiastic as a result of contact with their MDO.

“Our MDO has an extremely positive attitude which is quite infectious.”

Confidence and motivation

56% of respondents said that they felt more confident and motivated as a result of the WMMDOs work.

“We were like innocent but enthusiastic children to start with and now we appreciate the scale of the task that we have taken on but have been given the guidance to feel confident that we are doing the right things.”

Encouraging actions and behaviour that progress the organisation and the individual

Just over half of the museums reported that they felt increasingly successful and self-sufficient.

“The MDO has supported us through a new and sometimes complex transformation, made us aware of funding and training opportunities, facilitated networking opportunities and functions and provided advice on all aspects of running a successful heritage site.”

Providing better experiences for visitors and volunteers

71% agreed that they were able to provide a better experience for both visitors and volunteers.

“Our MDO has provided a group of volunteers with a view into the professional world of museum working. She has networked with us and provided key information and links as we needed them. She has been supportive and enthusiastic regarding our

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aims and provided us with a reality check when needed.”

“The support of our MDO is vital to us as a small independent Museum. It is a source of information, advice and contacts, and these translate into tangible benefits for both our collection and our visitors.”

Facilitating the museum's active contribution to strengthening public life.

Slightly more than 50% of respondents agreed that their museum was demonstrably valued by both visitors and local people, while 46% felt that they were seen as ‘an important contributor to local life ‘.

“Through the MDO we have had the opportunity to get involved in a number of great projects that have raised our profile in the community.”

Satisfaction survey 2010/11

Museums were also asked what they saw as the major strengths and successes of the MDO programme. The most frequently mentioned attributes were -

networking opportunities and better links with other museums access to information about wider sectoral issues

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access to training and skills development for staff and volunteers small grant scheme support for funding applications help in achieving Accreditation help with collections management and interpretation better awareness of family friendly access

The uniformly positive response of the museums reflects the findings of Fast Forward, which comments that ‘the work of Museum Development Officers with smaller museums in each sub-region continues to show marked improvement in the areas against which they are measured.’ ( p.120).

Looking to the future

The wider environment in which WMMDOs operate has changed and will continue to change with the demise of MLA and the end of the Renaissance in the Regions

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programme in its original form. Funding was only confirmed for the first quarter of the 2011/12 business plan, as the MLA had indicated that a new museum development delivery model would be introduced in August 2011. When it was announced that the MLA would be disbanded and Arts Council England (ACE) would be taking over MLA functions for Renaissance funding, these plans were delayed. The WMMDOs, through the Marches Network and Wolverhampton Arts & Heritage then submitted business plans for Renaissance funding for the remainder of the financial year 2011/12.

ACE has now confirmed (as of December 2011) that there will be interim museum development funding available until 31st July 2012, when the new ‘delivery model’ will be put in place. Long-term contracts for delivering museum development in each region are due to be put out to tender in February 2012, once the new Renaissance major grants programme has been announced. ACE has committed £3m a year for three years from 2012 for museum development.

While it is difficult to plan effectively without knowing the exact implications of these changes for continuity and capacity, the existing WMMDOs will work on the assumption that they will continue to deliver much needed advice and guidance to museums in the region beyond August 2012. Contracts will be awarded via an open bidding process so there is no guarantee of continuity. Once the new model is established, it will be possible to plan for a three year period, which can only be of benefit to the sector. These changes also provide the WMMDOs with an opportunity to create a single business plan for the region. (Currently, for Renaissance funding purposes, there are separate business plans for the Conurbation and the other WMMDOs).

The 2010/11 work programme has clearly indicated how the WMMDOs can deliver regional projects whilst ensuring they continue to provide bespoke solutions for their regional museums. This year has provided the stepping stones for the network to move forward in the new strategic arena and the 2011/12 business plan will have a greater focus on shared themes and delivering outcomes across the whole region.

No-one is better placed than the WMMDOs to represent the concerns and address the specific needs of the museums in the region. As might be expected in the light of diminishing resources, the over-riding preoccupation of the museums is sustainability. Allied to this are concerns about income generation and fundraising, future governance arrangements, volunteer recruitment and management, audience development and marketing.

The WMMDOs are acutely aware of these concerns, as they have developed valued relationships with a diverse range of museums and heritage organisations within the West Midlands. Their detailed and sympathetic understanding of the nature and potential needs, of both the heritage sector and local communities in the region means that they are well positioned to adapt to the new model of delivery. Above all,

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they have gained a reputation for effective intervention and making limited resources go a long way.

Comments included in the satisfaction survey clearly show that smaller, local museums, in particular, regard the WMMDOs as a vital life-line, helping them to stay afloat in difficult times. The WMMDOs not only provide practical support, but also access to the wider museum community. They have become trusted friends to these museums, providing reassurance in a period of uncertainty.

WMMDOs are already in a position to meet ACE's priorities for museums. They support activity which develops new and imaginative partnerships and mechanisms for working differently. These include volunteer development, encouraging resilience and sustainability in organisational health, contributing to local and tourist economies, driving innovation and promoting shared learning to enrich people’s lives. WMMDOs promote excellence and raise standards of delivery.

With new Accreditation in mind, WMMDOs have been actively promoting collections management through, documentation, preventative conservation, heightened awareness and strategically targeted training utilising examples of best practice.

The last word should go to the museums themselves:

“In a small museum it is important to know that we are part of a museum community with which we can keep in touch.”

“The MDOs are the best thing to come out of Renaissance. The reason is that they support ALL museums in the region and bring us together to provide better services.”

“A continuation of this advice and support is crucial to our future well-being and development.”

“We could not survive without them!”

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