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Catalysts for Change: Executive summary

West Midlands Museum Development Officers (WMMDOs) provide support to more than 230 museums in the region.

They are committed to driving up standards in collections care, visitor services and education.

They have helped around 100 museums attain museums Accreditation.

As a network WMMDOs provide museums with a vital link to the wider cultural sector.

Since 2004 WMMDOs have committed around 55,000 hours to museum development activity.

They have delivered around 15,500 general support and coaching sessions to their clients.

They have been involved in the development of around 200 new partnerships across the region.

They provide training courses and mentoring support across the region.

They provide intensive capacity building support to smaller museums.

They have helped museums develop new audiences and become more family friendly.

They support the work of 1335 volunteers and 1082 paid workers in museums and heritage organisations across the region.

They provide advice to ‘proto-museums’ and non-museum organisations with heritage collections.

They have enabled museums to make significant improvements by providing grants. Between 2006 and 2011 they distributed £282,781 in small grants across the region.

There is a very high awareness of their work among museums in the region. Museums say they feel better informed and more confident in their work as a result of Museum Development Officer support and networking activity.

They are catalysts for positive change.

Contents2

p.3 Introduction

p.4 What is a Museum Development Officer?

p.5 The museum development philosophy

p.6 The West Midlands Network of Museum Development Officers

p.7 Supporting museums and heritage across the West Midlands

p.8 Successful and creative partnerships

p.9 Effective interventions: using limited resources for maximum impact

p.11 Distribution of grants

p.13 Driving up standards

p.14 Empowering museums

p.15 Sustainable museums

p.16 Reaching local communities

p.20 Challenging rural isolation and social exclusion

p.22 Inspiring learning

p.25 Measuring impact

p.26 The Egeria report

p.27 Looking to the future

p.29 Appendix 1: WMMDO partnership projects 2006-2011

p.35 Appendix 2: Projects supporting stewardship

p.38 Appendix 3: Funding

p.39 Appendix 4: Outputs

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Introduction

The nature and range of museums in the West Midlands is diverse. There are more than 200 museums in the region, attracting more than 7 million visitors each year. The largest group of museums are independent charitable trusts, many of which are very small organisations that are heavily dependent on volunteers. A significant number have no paid employees and an annual income of less than £10,000. In 2010 it was estimated that there were more than 5,400 volunteers providing support to the region’s museums (Fast Forward Survey 2010).

Many of these museums rely heavily on the advice and support of Museum Development Officers (MDOs). While support for smaller museums had often been provided on a county-wide basis by local authority services, delivery mechanisms varied from area to area. When the Renaissance in the Regions programme was set up by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) in 2002, with the aim of transforming England’s regional museums, it included a strand of funding specifically aimed at providing support to smaller museums. In the West Midlands this has been used to ‘share the benefits’ of Renaissance funding through the work of a regional network of Museum Development Officers.

The West Midlands network of Museum Development Officers was set up in 2003 and has received Renaissance funding since 2004. However, this funding has been provided on a year by year basis, which has limited opportunities to develop the strategic potential of the MDO role in the region.

The West Midlands Museum Development Officers (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. This work is heavily focussed on independent and volunteer led museums, but also includes support for smaller local authority museums.

Since the network was established, the WMMDOs have been instrumental in helping smaller museums to improve their displays, visitor facilities and education services through a mixture of guidance, advice and financial support. They have successfully guided many of these museums through the process of achieving museums Accreditation (the national minimum standard for museums). They have provided opportunities for museum staff and volunteers across the West Midlands to access training, development and small grant schemes. They have provided valued advice and signposting to a wide range of museums, heritage groups and proto-museums across the whole region.

The WMMDOs have already made a significant impact on the West Midlands museum sector. They have a high profile in the region and they are well-regarded by their clients. They have also been instrumental in the development of a national network of MDOs and organised the first national MDO conference in Birmingham in 2006. This report provides a summary of their achievements to date, as the first phase of Renaissance in the Regions funding comes to an end.

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What is a Museum Development Officer?

While there are various different delivery models for museum development across the UK, they follow a set of common principles.

Museum Development Officers provide free advice and guidance over a wide range of issues to museums and other heritage organisations within their locality. This advice covers topics including:

collections care and stewardship interpretation learning and education training and skills development funding governance partnership development brokerage strategic advice

They also supply coaching and training directly to their clients and offer signposting to other sources of support and information. Their support and expertise is particularly valuable to the large number of volunteer-led organisations in the sector, including ‘proto-museums’ (groups that are planning to set up a museum) and other non-museum bodies with historical collections. As MDOs are often the first point of contact for museums in their area, they act as a vital link with the wider museum community. They are particularly well placed to share best practice among a broad museum constituency. Their involvement in other strategic networks and partnerships means that they are also a source of up-to-date information on regional and national cultural policy and funding initiatives. By helping museums to connect with their local communities and develop their volunteers, they have become recognised as an important part of the voluntary sector infrastructure.

Underlying all their activity is the objective to build capacity and promote improvement, in order to better equip museums to engage with their local communities and ensure their sustainability.

In the West Midlands, each Museum Development Officer is located within a major local authority museum service. This is a mutually beneficial arrangement. The MDO provides additional skills and funding to support the local authority museum team. At the same time, the MDOs are able to draw on the professional support and advice of colleagues in those services. They are also able to develop useful contacts with other services, including education, community services, regeneration and tourism, which may provide development opportunities for their client museums to link into.

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The museum development philosophy

Empowering museums

• Inspiring public confidence in our museums• Enabling our museums to act in a professional manner• Instilling a “can do” attitude

Sustainable museums

• Facilitating the sharing and developing of collections and related expertise.• Looping museums into national and regional strategies• Encouraging sustainability and development

Reaching local communities

• Connecting museums with their communities• Enabling museums to respond to their audiences• Promoting positive attitudes towards diversity

Challenging rural isolation / social isolation

• Providing opportunities for networking and contacts• Brokering local connections and partnerships• Encouraging cross domain working

Inspiring learning

• Helping museums fulfil their potential as learning resources• Skilling staff and volunteers to fulfil their roles effectively• Offering personal and professional development opportunities

Meeting human needs

• Collaborating to deliver shared outcomes and objectives• Counselling and problem solving• Supporting the voluntary sector

Looking to the future

• Encouraging independence and ambition • Advocating the positive impact of museums• Aspiring to excellence

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The West Midlands Network of Museum Development Officers

The West Midlands network of Museum Development Officers is managed by the Marches Network. This is made up of senior museum officers in the West Midlands shire counties and representatives of the conurbation. The network grew out of a mutual recognition of the benefits of partnership working to achieve shared goals and to champion the heritage of the West Midlands. The Marches Network worked with MLA-West Midlands, until its demise, to review and advise on regional issues and to plan, bid for and deliver joint projects and programmes.

The Marches Network has been working since 2003, although initially on a mainly part-time basis. From 2006 it was predominantly funded through a Renaissance West Midlands work programme, ‘Building and Sustaining Capacity across the Region’.

Most local authority museum services in the region already provided development support in one form or another to smaller museums. Renaissance funding enabled the creation of dedicated posts to undertake these activities, freeing up the core capacity of those services. An MDO is now based in each of the West Midlands five shire counties:

Herefordshire Shropshire Staffordshire Warwickshire (including Coventry and Solihull) Worcestershire

A sixth MDO supports museums and networks in the urban areas within the West Midlands conurbation (Birmingham, Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton, together with Telford and Wrekin). In this way, museum development support is provided for the whole region.

Each MDO provides direct support to museums and heritage organisations in their own area, responding to requests for advice in person and by phone and e-mail. The WMMDOs also manage a small grants scheme, which is designed to address improvement priorities in collections care and visitor services. They are often asked to help with project development and external funding applications. Their guidance has also been crucial in helping their clients attain Museums Accreditation, the basic national standard for museums.

Within each area, the WMMDOs have been instrumental in the development of county and other local museum networks. Through these, they are able to share intelligence about national and regional initiatives, as well as information on training and funding opportunities. These meetings also provide an opportunity for sharing ideas and best practice, and often act as a catalyst for new partnerships between museums.

Because the WMMDOs work as a network they are able to achieve much more than would be possible if they worked in isolation. They have shared primary objectives which reflect regional and national priorities. They meet regularly to share intelligence, undertake joint planning and provide peer support. They are key players in the sub-regional museum forums, but bring a wider perspective because of their association with the principal museum services through the Marches Network.

Above all, the network promotes cross-working across county boundaries. It has been described as a ‘conduit that links every museum, however small, with regional and national developments while at the same time providing regular intelligence on the development, progress and needs of the smallest museums in the region.’ Crucially, WMMDOs have given non-hub museums a voice on regional strategic planning teams.

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Supporting museums and heritage across the West Midlands

Since 2004 WMMDOs have committed around 55,000 hours to development activity across the region. They have delivered around 15,500 general support and coaching sessions to their clients.

As well as established museums, both professionally staffed and volunteer run, their clients include local history societies with collections, historic railways, country houses, companies with historic collections, and ‘proto-museums’ (museums that are in the process of formation).

A majority of the museums served by WMMDOs are independent charitable trusts (33%, excluding National Trust properties). The second largest grouping is local authority museums (21%). There are a growing number of proto-museums in the region (18%). 42% of the museums have no paid staff.

Breakdown of West Midlands MDO clients

Type of organisation Conurb Hfords Shrops Staffs Warks, Cov & Solihull

Worcs Total

Local Authority 12 9 6 15 5 7 54Independent (charity) 15 13 18 16 17 19 98Regimental (charity) 0 1 2 2 3 2 10University 5 0 0 3 1 1 10National Museum 0 0 1 0 0 0 1National Trust (charity) 3 4 4 1 4 1 17English Heritage 1 1 1 1 1 0 5Commercial Company 2 0 0 3 2 0 7Private 0 5 2 0 3 2 12Proto-Museum 4 12 15 2 7 6 46Total 42 45 49 43 43 38 260Without paid staff 12 23 38 12 12 12 109

Source: WMMDO network (January 2012)

Successful and creative partnerships

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Partnership working is crucial for the success of museum development work. The WMMDOs are well respected within the wider museum community, contributing to a variety of sector-specific strategic initiatives at a sub-regional, regional and national level. These include:

County museums and heritage networks Black Country Collections Online The Marches Network Fast Forward Editorial Board West Midlands Museums Policy Forum AIM Council (Association of Independent Museums) National Museum Development Network Committee

They are also involved in many cross-sector groupings, including:

Sub-regional Cross-domain Learning Networks West Midlands Regional Culture and Sport Network Sub-regional STEMPOINTS and STEMNET (science education) steering group Audience Development, Tourism and 2012 Strategic Steering Group Creative Apprenticeships Implementation Group Regional Emergency Response Network Steering Group

At a more local level, the WMMDOs have been instrumental in brokering or assisting a wide variety of project-based partnerships. Since the Network was established, they have been involved in the development of around 200 new partnerships across the region.

With their intimate knowledge of the local heritage sector, they are uniquely placed to engineer productive partnerships that both help to deliver strategic objectives and meet the specific needs of individual museums. In many cases, a partnership not only directly involves several museums but also provides benefits for many others.

Case Study – Influencing national developments

In 2006 the WMMDOs were asked to help convene a national conference for MDOs. Since then they have been central to the organising of the annual conference, liaising with stakeholders such as the Association of Independent Museums (AIM), MLA and Renaissance and developing a more formal national network for, and of, Museum Development workers.

The MDO for Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull, who came from a non-museums background, was able to bring her own voluntary sector business experience to these activities and in turn gained much more knowledge of the wider museum sector. In 2008 she was asked to become a member of the AIM Council as an MDO representative. She is now, also, an elected member of the newly constituted Museum Development Network.

These partnership activities have provided extensive professional development for the individual MDO and at the same time ensured that the WMMDO network influences, and benefits from, national developments.

Effective interventions: using limited resources for maximum impact

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The WMMDOs have enabled museums to make significant improvements by providing grants. Between 2006 and 2011 they distributed £282,781 in small grants across the region. Around 370 grants, with an average value of around £770 were awarded during this period. Independent museums received the largest proportion (63%) of these grants, with smaller local authority museums accounting for a further 24%. The remainder was distributed to regimental, National Trust, university and company museums.

Although criteria differed from area to area, applicants for grants were usually asked to submit forward plans and to think about how they would evaluate the project on completion.From the outset, it was intended that small grants should help to achieve wider strategic objectives. In particular, it was envisaged that grants would help museums to make improvements in their Fast Forward baseline range statements for physical and sensory access and for informal learning (see p14).

Support and funding was not restricted to museums which had already signed up to Fast Forward, but any organisations given grant support which had not previously done so were encouraged to take part. In this way, it would be possible to demonstrate the impact of the grant scheme in terms of measurable improvements. Although the grants offered are relatively modest they have been directed towards making changes that make a real difference to museums.

A good example is the Conurbation Programme Support Scheme, which has been operating since 2006. Funded by Renaissance West Midlands, the scheme is managed by the Conurbation Museums Officer (CMO). It is open to all non-hub museums in Birmingham, the Black Country and Telford & Wrekin. Grants are available for projects that support regional strategic objectives. The objectives are linked to areas for improvement which are identified by the West Midlands Fast Forward surveys.

The programme can be used to finance a complete project, or as match funding for other funding bodies. Applicants do not have to provide match funding, and usually the grant covers complete project costs. The scheme provides funding for smaller-scale projects, which have a huge impact on museums. The grants fund projects that would fall below the minimum funding level for many funders. The scheme also funds projects such as purchasing collection care materials, which would not attract funding from elsewhere.

The programme is a key element in building stronger partnerships, focusing museum activity around regional strategic priorities and enables the CMO to intervene strategically within the operation of regional museums.

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Case study: Conurbation Programme Support Walsall Museum – Storage and display of advertising material

Walsall Museum was awarded £1,112 to purchase conservation storage materials and display materials for over 400 packaging materials, produced by the Walsall Lithographic Company. The company produced advertising for nationally known brands. The collection provides a unique social record of advertising during the 20th Century.

The scheme enabled Walsall Museum to improve public access to this collection. An award paid for the advertising materials to be professionally mounted. These were displayed in a dedicated exhibition. The remainder of the collection has been stored in conservation grade materials. The scheme also funded these materials. This has helped the museum to raise their standards of collection care, and ensure the long-term preservation of the collection.

“The scheme has been very important to us in terms of providing the funding for small but important projects that we would not otherwise be able to fund from within our own resources and which often fall outside the scope of other funding bodies.

The grants we have received as part of the scheme have enabled us to transform collections care, access and interpretation within the museum, providing enormous benefit to our visitors.

The scheme has always been extremely well run and is straightforward and easy to apply to”. (Walsall Museum)

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Distribution of grants by Fast Forward category 2006/07 – 2010/11

Number of grants awarded according to FF categories

2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 total % split

Local Authority 12 22 19 10 25 88 24%Independent 40 40 44 49 59 232 63%National Trust 2 8 1 1 2 14 4%Regimental 3 3 6 3 10 25 6.5%University 2 2 1 1 1 7 2%English Heritage 0 0 0 0 0 0 0National 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Company 0 1 0 0 1 2 0.5%Total number of grants 59 76 71 64 98 368

Value of grants awarded according to FF categories

2006/07£

2007/08£

2008/09£

2009/10£

2010/11£

total£

%split

Local Authority 8879 27211 18303 11854 20233 86480 30.5Independent 31948 39815 28999 33242 36864 170868 60.5National Trust 1772 ? 771 0 900 3443 1Regimental 2417 1657 5904 2330 1707 14015 5University 2259 1648 1000 1000 1000 6907 2.5English Heritage 0 0 0 0 0 0 0National 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Company 0 235 0 0 833 1068 0.5Total value of grants 47275 70566 54977 48426 61537 282781

Birmingham’s Hidden History: leaflet funded with the support of the Conurbation MDO

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Driving up standards

The WMMDOs have made a significant contribution towards the Accreditation scheme, helping around 100 museums in the region to achieve the standard. They have both provided advice and support to museums applying for Accreditation, and have worked closely with Regional Accreditation advisors and Museum Mentors. The number of successfully accredited museums is now noted on the annual client satisfaction survey returns.

WMMDOs have also been actively involved in supporting the West Midlands Fast Forward qualitative mapping surveys in 2008 and 2010. Fast Forward is compiled by asking museums to provide an assessment of their services and collections, which is then measured against a number of criteria and through peer review. The quality of services is evaluated against a series of qualitative range statements which cover:

collections care policy and planning audience development and marketing access – display access – learning disability access.

The WMMDOs have encouraged museums to take part, assisted them in completing the survey, and advocated the use of the survey as a benchmarking and organisational improvement tool. The WMMDOs also acted as a key point of contact for the data analysis team, for checking museum contacts, and advised on the survey distribution timetable, to ensure maximum return from rural museums, and those with seasonal opening hours.

The WMMDOs have also used the Fast Forward range statements as baseline criteria for allocating support to their clients. For example, Fast Forward reported in 2006 and in 2008 that standards of physical and sensory access were unacceptably low in a significant number of museums. Many of the small grants awarded by WMMDOs have been used to address this gap, and the 2010 survey records an impressive improvement in this standard.

A WMMDO sat on the editorial board for both the 2008 and 2010 surveys. The most recent Fast Forward survey had a return rate of 79% (170 museums from across the West Midlands). The support of the WMMDOs in encouraging even the smallest museums to complete the survey was crucial in achieving this high return rate.

‘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.’

Fast Forward 2010 Executive Summary

Empowering museums

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Much of the activity of WMMDOs is directed towards helping their clients to develop the self-confidence to work in a professional manner and make effective decisions that improve the capacity and sustainability of museums.

Sometimes, their interventions are quite low-key, but have a long term impact. For example, in Warwickshire, the MDO worked with a volunteer museum group to produce low-budget interpretation panels for an exhibition. This proved to be a successful ‘action learning’ exercise for the group, who were then able to see how brief texts with large fonts create better audience reactions. In Herefordshire, training in display techniques for volunteers was piloted at Weobley Museum and then delivered to other small independent museums. Training was delivered onsite in order to benefit as many volunteers as possible and focused on the physical elements of display. As a result, many volunteers felt empowered to undertake redisplays for themselves.

Between 2007/08 eleven museum and heritage organisations in Worcestershire took part in a programme of CRB checking for staff and volunteers working with young and vulnerable people. This was supported by the MDO with funding from the Sharing Benefits stream of Renaissance. All members of the county’s museums forum were encouraged to adopt a formal Policy for the Protection of Children, Young People and Vulnerable Adults, with the MDO offering an easily adaptable model policy.

In Worcestershire support has been offered to volunteer-led sites to enhance their self-reliance. The MDO has been working with the Tudor House in Worcester, for example, to facilitate a more sustainable volunteer work force. This has included advisory sessions on developing specific role profiles for volunteer recruitment and how to sustain the recruitment over the long term. Information and examples of good practice collected during this exercise were then shared with other sites in the county.

Case study: Improving capacity for Roman Alcester

The MDO for Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull worked with Roman Alcester, a newly formed voluntary museum, to improve its capacity to develop, run and market events. Although the museum had achieved steadily increasing visitor numbers in its first two years, it had reached capacity for the existing volunteers. With the support of the County Heritage Education Officer, the MDO and the volunteers developed a programme of summer events. The MDO helped the group to learn how to raise funds, produce resources, structure drop-in learning activities, administer child protection policies and undertake effective promotional activities. The volunteers ran three separate day sessions and a 3-day summer school, doubling visitor numbers and creating a demand for a museum club.

“I have enjoyed and greatly benefited both organisationally and personally from working with our MDO. I have found her to be very supportive, inspirational and adaptable and the role that is fulfilled by the MDO is one that I feel is crucial to the continued development and success of our museums.”

Sustainable museums

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The most commonly expressed concerns of museums in the region relate to issues of sustainability in an uncertain economic climate. Increasingly, museums realise that they need to share knowledge and expertise and demonstrate their relevance to wider strategic objectives, if they are to secure the resources they need to survive. The WMMDOs play a crucial role in facilitating mutually beneficial partnerships, connecting museums into national and regional strategies and encouraging sustainable development. WMMDOs have been involved in the creation of more than 200 partnerships since the programme began.

Case Study: Fundraising and income generation 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 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 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.

This project had an immediate impact on improving fundraising skills for museums staff and volunteers. The Pen Room (a volunteer run museum) 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 generated considerable levels of income during 2010.

In 2011 follow-up sessions were offered to participating museums, to ensure that their strategies are being implemented, and address any further income generation needs. The Pen Room is using this support in developing a HLF application.

The project was also extended to include a proto-museum, the Wrekin Museum Partnership.

Reaching local communities

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Many projects supported by the WMMDOs have involved helping museums to develop new and more diverse audiences, and to engage with their local communities. In particular, the WMMDOs have provided encouragement to museums to become more family friendly. This has been evident since the beginning of the MDO programme, which has always given a high priority to interventions that improve physical and sensory access and promote informal learning.

Small grants have been used to support a variety of projects designed to make collections more accessible for people with disabilities or at risk of social exclusion. Examples include improved interpretation and services for blind and visually impaired visitors at Thinktank, provision for hearing impaired visitors at the Black Country Living Museum and access ramps at Leominster Museum.

Case Study: Improving physical access at Leominster Museum

Leominster Museum opened in 1972 and is run and managed by a group of volunteers. As well as collections that illustrate local life, the site also includes a Victorian Stable and Cider Mill. These were inaccessible to mobility impaired visitors. A £2,000 grant enabled the museum to improve disabled access by installing ramps to the cider house and stable displays and providing a catalogue of objects and items on the first floor that remain inaccessible to disabled visitors. The project was a learning exercise for the volunteers, giving them renewed confidence in planning grant applications, which was then applied to a successful bid to the HLF.

In Birmingham, seven small museums took part in a joint Family Friendly promotion through a leaflet that was distributed through Audiences Central. In Warwickshire, The MDO worked with the Herbert Art Gallery and eight smaller museums to develop a Family Friendly partnership designed to develop resources and activities to attract under-fives and their families. This partnership has continued to evolve, alongside a joint marketing campaign.

In the conurbation, a series of programmes, using the Black Country Treasures banner, have targeted families and the wider community through public engagement (See case study p18).

Between 2005/06 Worcestershire’s MDO was instrumental in the launch of a comprehensive visitor survey, conducted simultaneously at all of the county’s museums. For some smaller organisations, this was the first time they had received user feedback.

The Audiences Shropshire project has provided arts and heritage organisations with opportunities to meet and consider how to raise their profiles. Audience development networks enable museums, galleries and heritage to work together to develop new approaches to sustainable development.

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Case study: Black Country Treasures

The Black Country Treasures project was designed to raise awareness of local museums and galleries and their collections, and to celebrate the creative heritage of the Black Country. The project was also intended to promote and consolidate cooperative working relationships between staff in different museums, libraries and archives within the Black Country. A series of participative events and activities were organised in each of the four Black Country districts. These focused on ideas and experiences relating to childhood, such as memories of summer holidays, school days, games and toys.

The project sought in particular to engage families and community groups. A number of activities were designed specifically for primary school pupils, and there were also a number of reminiscence sessions targeted at the elderly. The project aimed to engage at least 2,000 users across a range of activities.

The project was organised by the Black Country Creative Education Network (BCCEN), a group of educators from the museums, archives and libraries of Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton. The project was funded by Renaissance West Midlands, with a budget allocation of £13,000.

Events included:

glass fusing workshops at Broadfield House, to make glass tiles and pendants Treasured Memories, a family event day at Broadfield House including craft

workshops, Punch and Judy, childhood games, a barrel organ, face painting, and animals from Dudley Zoo

Seaside Memories, a family event day at Oak House Museum, West Bromwich, including a Punch and Judy show, donkey rides, traditional fairground games, live music and sandy beach

Little Treasures, a family event day at Bantock House, Wolverhampton, which included puppet-making, ‘craftplay’ workshops, storytelling, games, and music

creative workshops for schools at Walsall Leather Museum

The project engaged a wide variety of people from local communities. Many came in family groups and took part in inter-generational activity. Each of the events offered opportunities for people to take part and try out new activities. A visitor to Dudley’s Treasured Memories event enthused about making a treasure box with her two-year old daughter. Another parent commented, "It’s fantastic to provide children with creative, new experiences and opportunities on their door step." The leader of the Cub group that took part in the puppet making project at Bantock House said: “I found the experience enjoyable and learnt a lot. I was surprised what could be done with simple materials.”

The Black Country Treasures project succeeded in its aim of engaging families and community groups and encouraging inter-generational activity. It also succeeded in raising awareness of local museums and the creative heritage of the Black Country. A large majority of visitors to the different events felt that they had learnt from the experience. Many people said that they felt more positive about the local area. A majority said that they would be doing something different as a result of their experience. The project exceeded its target of engaging at least 2,000 users.

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Black Country Treasures event

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Case study: Family friendly mystery shopper 2010-11

The 2010/2011 Mystery Shopping project built on a previous project which took place in 2009. Its aim was to encourage front-line and support staff in museums and heritage attractions to think more deeply about the quality of experience offered to family visitors. It was designed both to help staff develop their own skills and confidence, and to share skills, knowledge and experiences within the sector.

Participating museums were visited by a mystery shopper who made an assessment of services and facilities. Following each visit, the results were fed back to the museum in the form of a report offering an independent assessment of its family friendly offer and recommending simple but effective improvements.

The project looked at four key areas: the pre-visit experience, arrival and welcome, the displays and facilities such as shop, café and toilets.

Shoppers were recruited mostly from participating museums and attractions. They were selected to include a cross section of both front-of-house and other staff and given training and advice on how to assess a venue against a standard set of criteria and how to give constructive criticism.

Visits were made to twenty-two museums and heritage sites in the region. These included seven local authority run venues, a National Trust property and fourteen independent museums, including both professionally staffed sites and smaller, volunteer run sites. Visits took place between late October 2010 and mid January 2011. Shoppers were generally complimentary about both the pre-visit experience and the sense of welcome they received. They were also positive about the overall experience of exhibitions and interpretation. Facilities were generally rated as good or adequate. The museums that were most highly rated by the Mystery Shoppers had well laid out websites, attractive promotional material and easy to read events calendars. They realised the importance of first impressions, with friendly and enthusiastic staff. The core offer included specific provision for children and opportunities for children and adults to learn together. In short, they all paid great attention to detail.

Feedback from the participating venues was consistently positive and shows that the project successfully achieved its aims. Both shoppers and venues stated how much they had valued the experience.

“It made us look at the whole site and the experience of the visitor from arrival right through to departure with a fresh pair of eyes.”

“The only surprise was just how useful the project was. It highlighted parts of the visitor experience - both positive and negative- that we had not previously considered being important.”

“It was incredibly valuable to have someone who we felt was honest with us giving feedback.”

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Challenging rural isolation and social exclusion

It is clear from comments submitted as part of the annual satisfaction survey that museums particularly value the opportunities provided by the WMMDOs for networking and developing productive partnerships. This is particularly true for smaller, volunteer-run museums in rural areas, who may sometimes feel that they are on the periphery of the museum world. Many regard the WMMDOs as a vital life-line, helping them to keep 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.

“For volunteer-led and smaller museums in particular these shared experiences have been useful in removing feelings of isolation that can become more prevalent during long winter closed seasons.”

The role of the WMMDOs in identifying mutually beneficial connections and brokering relationships with other services and local agencies is frequently cited. Many smaller museums have benefited from pooling resources and from engaging in cross domain working.

"Our MDO has helped us to build up valuable relationships with other organisations."

As well as combatting the isolation sometimes felt by smaller organisations in the region, the WMMDOs are helping to tackle social exclusion in the wider community. Outreach projects supported by the WMMDOs have involved family groups in areas of high deprivation, young people at risk of offending, people from minority ethnic communities, people with disabilities and with mental health problems, and people from other hard-to-reach groups. The Museum on the Move has taken exhibitions out to communities in isolated or economically disadvantaged areas, and to residential care homes.

Projects often involve joint-working with other community agencies. In Shropshire, the MDO supported the British Red Cross young carers’ project in providing a group of young carers aged 7 to 17 to undertake on a film-making project using the Hive media centre in Shrewsbury. The filming not only captured the experience of the young carers but also provided an opportunity to acquire new skills. The film is now a resource material for use in promoting the existence of young carers. In Worcestershire, support for a Traveller reminiscence project culminated in the provision of audio interpretation for a collection of Gypsy caravans.

"The WMMDOs knowledge is regional and national wide. As a result they are well placed to facilitate partnerships with other museums, access to grants and training; and to disseminate useful information about schemes and projects."

I

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Poster for Museum on the Move exhibition, Staying in, Going out, 2011

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Inspiring learning

One of the key priorities for the WMMDOs is to help museums in the region to develop and fulfil their potential as learning resources. They do this in a number of ways including guidance and advice, identification of training and professional development opportunities for staff and volunteers, brokering of partnerships between groups of museums and education providers, and funding support for projects designed to create learning resources.

The WMMDOs work with their clients to ensure that the region’s museums offer a comprehensive range of learning activities. They have helped museums to develop learning resources, informed by consultation with education providers, which offer new and different approaches to learning. Programmes support learning in subjects such as literacy, science, art and design, geography and citizenship. Activities supported include Living History sessions, Young Curator projects, themed loan boxes and teacher resources, on-line learning packages, and learning opportunities for children excluded from school.

Case study: SMART website

Between 2004/05, a consultant was commissioned to carry out a survey of formal learning provision in Staffordshire’s museums and to produce recommendations for possible future work and development by the MDO. This work led directly to the development of the SMART (Staffordshire Museums Activities and Resources for Teachers) website during 2005/06. The site is an easily searchable database of museums across the county with information about the formal learning provision that they offer, linked to a mapping system and the National Curriculum. The site has continued to be updated and is well used by teachers, sitting on the Staffordshire Learning Net. Further development of the site is planned in 2012/13.

Children re-enact drill practice at Southam, Warwickshire

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Several projects have involved the development of new learning resources. The volunteer run Waterworks Museum in Herefordshire created a DVD for secondary school children tracing the River Wye from its source in the Welsh Mountains to its mouth in the Severn Estuary. The DVD and accompanying publication can be used in conjunction with a visit to the museum or independently, to tie in with the geography curriculum.

Five Herefordshire museums took part in Art in a Box. This creative learning project offered a residency for an artist and a student to work with a museum to create an artwork in response to its collections. This was then used as a resource for literacy work within local primary schools. For many of the museums this was the first time that they had worked with an artist.

WMMDOs have supported projects involving literacy, numeracy, and information technology. They have also brokered relationships between museums and education providers, including schools, colleges and universities, and have supported INSET courses for teachers. They encouraged a number of museums to take part in the MLA's Learning Links scheme. This workforce development programme offered opportunities for museum educators to develop learning partnerships with other education professionals through experiencing each other's working environment and practice. One of these placements involved a classroom-based evaluation of a Museum on the Move (MOM) exhibition, which fed into the development of the next exhibition. Once the new exhibition was in place, MOM visited the school again and the KS1 children who had been consulted on the exhibition development acted as curators for the day, guiding visitors around the exhibition. This approach was repeated at three care homes, with the children acting as the experts and showing the residents around the exhibition.

Case study: The STEMWorcs project

Six small museums with under-developed learning provision took part in a project set up to develop resources focused on science and technology and promote museums as a cross-curricular learning resource. The STEMWorcs project was funded through the Sharing Benefits strand of Renaissance, and supported by the Hartlebury education team and the local SETPOINT, which is based at Worcester University.

Each partner developed an activity or resource that could be promoted to local schools and other learning organisations. The first of these was produced and piloted by the George Marshall Medical Museum. Their activity consisted of a led session delivered to a year five class, supported by objects from the collections, and combining source work with drama activities. Materials were left with the school to enable them to deliver the same session to a year four group. The year five pupils requested that they deliver the session themselves and the teachers reported that it went extremely well.

The response from teachers attending a STEM INSET was uniformly positive. Many said they had not thought of using museums to support the science and technology curriculum before but would do so in future. One partnership brokered as a result saw a Worcester school visiting the Transport Museum at Wythall to pilot the museum’s STEM resource. This was the first facilitated education visit the museum had hosted. The museum reported that the experience had given them “the confidence to be able to host more visits in the future, and to offer much more than just an historic journey round the site”.

A promotional CD ROM, showing education providers how local museums can support learning in science, maths and technology, was also produced. This was marketed and distributed through the SETPOINT. An “ideas book”, designed to encourage smaller museums to create similar science-based activities or resources, was also developed.

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In Shropshire, support was given to Mythstories Museum of Myth and Fable to develop a learning model which can be used to build confidence by museums which have no previous contact with secondary schools. The MDO also engaged the RAF Museum, Cosford, to act as a mentoring body to help inexperienced museums develop education planning skills.

The support of the WMMDOs for lifelong learning also helps to enhance skills and increase employability within the community.

On-site learning at the Cider Museum, Herefordshire

Case study: Staffordshire and Shropshire museum learning project, 2008/09

The MDOs for Staffordshire and Shropshire collaborated in the development of a long-term support programme for museums in both counties wishing to develop learning services on limited resources. The programme involved mentoring, peer review, and the creation of networking opportunities. Three education mentoring sessions were hosted by RAF Cosford’s Museum Education team, supported by the two MDOs. These covered ways of engaging with schools, increasing school visits, promoting collections to schools, and educational development planning. Clun Museum and the Welsh Guards Museum took part over the year with support from the MDOs.

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Measuring impact

Fast Forward, the West Midlands Museum qualitative mapping document, formed the evidence of need and basis for strategic direction of the MDO work, with targets based on improvement in the range statements. Fast Forward was established in 1996 and updated bi-annually from 2000 onwards, provides an analysis of regional trends in the performance of West Midlands museums and highlights areas where improvement is needed.

Initially the WMMDOs’ measures of success in addressing the target areas were set by reference to achieving specific improvements in Fast Forward average scores for all non-hub museums in the three areas of informal learning, disability access and policy and planning.

“GLO Light”, a simple version of Generic Learning Outcomes was developed by the MDOs to monitor learning outcomes for MDO supported projects in smaller museums.

The group also created a social outcomes mapping methodology for users of the Mobile Museums based on Shropshire County Council’s “Value of Culture” methodology. Data was collected from the autumn of 2008 onwards.

From 2009/10 onwards, the WMMDOs have used a common evaluation and satisfaction survey to capture opinions and feelings about the services they offer. This is designed to measure the impact of their work against both Generic Learning Outcomes (GLOs) and Generic Social Outcomes (GSOs).

Feedback from the museums has been uniformly positive. 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. The museums themselves report that they feel more knowledgeable, self-confident and capable in their work as a result of WMMDO support.

The WMMDOs have also compiled a series of case studies which demonstrate the impact of their interventions across all areas of activity.

In 2009, an independent report was commissioned by the Marches Curators Group to assess the impact and effectiveness of the WMMDO network. The report (summarised below) showed that there was a very high awareness level of their work, with almost all small museums having contact with their MDO. It was clear that the WMMDOs were highly valued by their clients, that their interventions had already led to improved ways of working by museums, and that there was a strong consensus that their absence would have a negative impact on the region’s museums.

“The West Midlands Museum Development Officers are now a recognised and valued part of the landscape across the shire counties, relied upon by local museums and heritage groups and by regional agencies both for their direct services and as vital links in the chain of communication.”

Renaissance West Midlands Hub Business Plan, 2006-08

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The Egeria report (2009)

In 2009 the Egeria Heritage Consultancy was commissioned by the Marches Curators Group to undertake a review of the role and activities of the West Midlands Museum Development Officers Network. Its report found that the MDOs are highly-valued, and increasingly seen as the key component in support for smaller local museums. Egeria also identified a strong strategic fit between the work of the MDOs and governmental policies intended to support the voluntary sector, and in creating a sense of identity and cohesion for local communities – 'place-shaping'.

Egeria found that the MDOs were making a significant contribution to each of the DCMS priority areas for museums – supporting excellence, promoting partnerships and building capacity. They had been particularly effective in encouraging participation in initiatives that both fulfil government priorities and meet locally-identified needs. Indeed, it found that there was a synergy between the strategic and pastoral roles of the MDOs.

The report also commented on the many ways in which the MDOs contributed to the overall delivery of the Renaissance West Midlands business plan, through their support for Accreditation, workforce development, audience development and entrepreneurship and by their participation in Renaissance working groups and regional or sub-regional committees.

The strengths of the MDO network were identified as follows;

shared primary objectives which reflect regional and national priorities a comprehensive regional overview provided by the Marches Curators Group it links Renaissance with every museum in the region, however small, keeping them

up to date with wider developments MDOs, by being allied to local authority museums services, have a strong

awareness of, and contacts with, other relevant services areas such as education, community services, leisure and tourism

It enables the MDOs to work effectively as a group, undertaking joint planning, sharing intelligence and providing peer support

The report recommended that the MDOs should work in even closer alignment. In particular, the report concluded that the MDOs should;

adopt common systems to avoid each area collecting evidence in different ways and presenting it in different formats

adopt a small number of common targets and means of measuring both performance and impact, including both quantitative and qualitative indicators

Commending the ‘energy and commitment’ of the MDOs, Egeria concluded that their achievements so far ‘create a strong foundation for the Network to continue its work’.

Looking to the future

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During 2010/11 the WMMDOs have worked more closely together across the region. Although, for Renaissance funding purposes, the shire county MDOs and the Conurbation MDO had separate business plans, these mirrored each other.

The WMMDOs directed their activities to five core themes during 2010/11.

1. Developing and achieving new partnerships and mechanisms for working differently 2. Exploiting the potential of digital and social media 3. Championing and leading the Green and Tourism agenda 4. Volunteers and volunteering development 5. Organisational sustainability

Cross regional events and programmes delivered by the WMMDOs, relating to these themes, have included a conference on Family Friendly Museums, Volunteer Development, Green Tourism projects and Programme Support Awards, which have supported the five core work strands. They have also encouraged museums to use the Association of Independent Museums (AIM) Economic Impact Toolkit.

The network has also continued to adopt the commissioning model, and commissioned a local consultant to work with museums on developing their volunteer recruitment. In the conurbation the income and fundraising project continued, with sessions delivered to the Pen Room and a new proto-museum, the Wrekin Museum partnership.

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 local museum clients. This year has provided the stepping stones for the network to move forward in the new strategic arena.

The WMMDOs have continued to communicate and disseminate best practice to their client museums. Some have developed new social media forums for distributing information and advice. Due to variances in regional ICT infra-structure, not all the WMMDOs have been able to do this, but continue to disseminate information in a format appropriate for their regions, such as newsletters, and county forum meetings. The WMMDOs have also met on a monthly basis to review progress and have attended the Marches Network meetings, providing appropriate input into the delivery of that network’s development plan.

The 2010/11 transition year has allowed the WMMDOs to explore new ways of working, and different processes, but has highlighted the need for a more transparent financial system. The restrictions imposed through the separation of the Conurbation MDO project from the other MDOs, and quarterly profiling and spending requirements, have made financial administration of joint projects and initiatives difficult.

The WMMDOs play a vital role in the life of the regional museum community, delivering a broad portfolio of services to their clients. They help to realise a wide range of policies and strategies covering education, cultural heritage, conservation, tourism, and regeneration.They are helping to improve the quality of life for communities in the region through initiatives designed to combat isolation and promote inclusion. They support education and lifelong learning, helping museums to improve their learning provision for people of all ages and encouraging people to develop their creative potential and acquire new skills.

Above all, in helping museums to raise their aspirations, improve their services and realise their potential as a community resource, they are a powerful catalyst for change.

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WMMDOs support museums to develop family friendly facilities

Appendix 1: WMMDO partnership projects 2006-2011

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Herefordshire Heroes, 2006 – 2008

Partners: Cider Museum, Hereford Museum and Art Gallery, Herefordshire Light Infantry Museum, The Judges Lodging, Mappa Mundi and Chained Library, St John Medieval Museum and Coningsby Hospital, Violette Szabo Museum, Waterworks Museum

This project sought to raise the profile of museums in Herefordshire by highlighting their associations with a series of remarkable people. These were selected both to encourage a better knowledge of the achievements of local historical personalities and to foster an empathy with the visitor. The Herefordshire Heroes included the sixteenth century soldier and philanthropist Sir Thomas Coningsby, cider-makers HP and EF Bulmer, artist Brian Hatton, Second World War secret agent Violette Szabo, and Canon Thomas Thornton, creator of the Chained Library at Hereford Cathedral. Visitors were encouraged to connect with these personalities and understand better their lifestyles, how they fitted within the county’s history and how certain museum objects related to them. Illustrated information sheets on their life and history were researched and produced by the MDO and distributed as a pack to the nine partner museums. The packs encouraged visits to other museums as well as the site where the pack was picked up. The packs were also used for joint outreach publicity, particularly at summer galas and events.

Stewards of heritage paper conservation project (2006-8)

Partners: Northgate Museum, Oswestry Railway Centre, Ludlow Resource Centre, Market Drayton Museum & Radbrook Culinary MuseumA MLA West Midlands funded project to help museum staff and volunteers to develop a better understanding of the conservation needs of paper collections. Following training volunteers have implemented a programme of mechanical surface cleaning of paper-based objects.

Critical Friend I & II (2006/7) (2009/10)

Partners (Critical Friend I): Staffordshire Heritage & Arts Service and the School Improvement Division of Staffordshire County Council. Partners (Critical Friend II): As above, with a further 6 museums and Curriculum Advisors

This project undertook a review of formal education programmes in some Staffordshire museums in order to develop an overview of the individual activities run by the museums and to make direct links with the National Curriculum. This was then used on the SMART website www.smartmuseums.org to maintain and update information available for teachers. A written report offering practical advice was produced for each museum. A series of downloadable PDF documents for teachers using the SMART site was developed to give guidance and support on the practicalities of making a museum visit.

A further six museums took part in the Critical Friend II (2009/10) project to look at Cross Curricular links in existing formal learning provision.

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Museum on the Move (2006-2011)

Partners: Staffordshire Museums & Arts Service, Walsall Museums Service, Dudley Museums Service, Sandwell Museums Service, Wolverhampton Arts + Heritage Service, The Lapworth Museum of Geology (Beneath our Feet exhibition only).

Museum on the Move (MOM) is a mobile museum exhibition housed in a vehicle around the size of a mobile library. Exhibitions installed in the vehicle included Beneath Our Feet (2008/9), Our Games Our Story (2009/10) (Olympic themed display), The Best Days of Our Lives (20010/11) and Staying In – Going Out (2011-12).

The Conurbation Museums Officer (CMO) project managed the delivery of the project in the Black Country from 2006-2011, working on the installation of MOM exhibitions, and supporting Staffordshire Museums & Arts Service with the 2011/12 exhibition. The CMO also line managed an Administration Support post and monitored the operating budget (£55,000 a year), for Staffordshire and the Black Country. From 2008-11 the CMO supported Staffordshire and the Black Country in attracting over 32,500 visitors to the MOM exhibitions. The CMO played a pivotal role in developing the project and managing partnership relationships, co-ordinating partnership meetings for Staffordshire and the Black Country and acting as a central contact point.

Everybody’s Different (2007/8)

Partners: Ancient High House, Borough Museum & Art Gallery, Staffs Heritage and Arts, Wedgwood Museum Trust & SCC Schools Improvement Division

This partnership produced resources for schools based on under-used elements of collections at each museum.

Black Country Creative Education Network (2007-onwards)

Partners: Black Country Living Museum, Black Country Creative Partnerships, Dudley MBC, English Heritage (West Midlands Office), Lace Guild, New Art Gallery, Walsall, Sandwell MBC, Thinktank, Birmingham, Walsall MBC, Wolverhampton Arts and Heritage, Wolverhampton Grand Theatre

The Black Country Education Network (BCCEN) supports heritage education and outreach staff, through sharing best practice models, providing networking opportunities, and working on joint initiatives. This cross-domain partnership has enabled members working in areas with high levels of deprivation and low educational achievement to deliver projects which they would not otherwise have the capacity to achieve. BCCEN projects have piloted a partnership delivery model for the sub-region, which has been adopted for other projects managed by Wolverhampton Heritage and Arts Service. The network is co-ordinated by the Conurbation Museums Officer (CMO) who organises meetings and activities, books speakers, and plays a crucial role in the development, support and evaluation of network projects.

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Heritage Open Days (2007-onwards)

Partners: Museums and heritage sites in Herefordshire

The local museum and heritage sector in Herefordshire has developed a strong partnership, co-ordinated by the MDO, to develop the tourism offer through participation in the national Heritage Open Days scheme. Joint promotional material provides participating sites with a stronger presence that they would achieve independently, allowing for better press coverage and higher visitor numbers each year. This in turn has made the attractions more sustainable and given each a higher profile in the eyes of the public.

The scheme was first run in Herefordshire in 2007 with only 9 local sites involved. By 2011 39 venues had joined the partnership, including some sites not normally open to the public. By familiarising local people with Herefordshire’s heritage attractions, the scheme also encourages tourist visits, particularly within the within the friends and family market.

Birmingham’s Hidden History: Family Friendly Leaflet (2007/8)

Partners: Aston Manor Transport Museum, Pen Room, Police Museum, RBSA, Selly Manor, Birmingham City University and Lapworth Museum of Geology.

The CMO produced a Family Friendly leaflet using support funding from the Renaissance Family Friendly funding stream. The leaflet publicised 7 venues in the Birmingham area. Photography produced for the leaflet, was re-used by the venues for their own publicity. 10,000 copies of the leaflet were distributed through Audiences Central.

Discovering Shropshire’s History Project (2007 onwards)

Partners: Shropshire County Council (Archives, Museums, Libraries, Adult & Community Education Service, Tourism), Shropshire Sites and Monuments Record, Shropshire Biodiversity Partnership Shropshire Regimental Museum, Shrewsbury Museums Service, Clun Museum, Drayton Museum, Northgate Museum, Llanymynech Limeworks Heritage Project, Newport History Society, Friends of Much Wenlock Museum, The Four Parishes Heritage Group, Staffordshire County Council and other groups.

The website www.discovershropshire.org.uk brings together Shropshire’s Museum Service and Archives collections databases, together with the County sites and monuments records. The MDO for Shropshire funded the development of a fourth portal which can be used by small museums to add information about the county’s local history, archaeology and natural environment. Small grants enabled Clun Museum, Drayton Story Museum, Oswestry Railway Museum and Sleap Aircraft Recovery to purchase appropriate equipment and software. The MDO also arranged training for volunteer-run museum staff to acquire documentation and digitisation skills so that they might enhance access to their collections.

The website now contains over 4 000 resources, 800 pages and the ability to search across 20 000 database records. More than 20 groups and organisations have contributed material to the site.

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Black Country Treasures Projects: 2008-2012

Partners: Walsall Museums Service, Dudley Museums Service, Sandwell Museums Service, Wolverhampton Arts + Heritage Service, Dudley Archives, Dudley Libraries, Wolverhampton Libraries, delivered through the Black Country Creative Education Network (BCCEN).

The Conurbation Museums Officer (CMO) has supported the BCCEN to deliver a series of projects under the Black Country Treasures banner:

Tales of the Black Country Treasures (2008-9) Story telling project using objects from the collections of partner museums. 294 school children in the Black Country took part. The project was showcased at the GEM conference.

Black Country Treasures Young Curators Exhibition (2009-10)Developed by pupils from local schools, this exhibition toured museum venues in the Black Country. The CMO provided co-ordination and logistical support. 8,861 people visited the exhibitions.

Black Country Treasures On Tour (2010/11)A series of public engagement events, celebrating the collections and stories of the Black Country were held in museums across the conurbation. The CMO developed an evaluation framework, to support the National Indicator set, and commissioned an evaluation report. Over 2, 270 people attended the events.

Black Country Treasures – Getting To Know You (2011/12)Tying into the Social Care agenda, the CMO has been supporting the network to deliver a series of engagement events across the Black Country. These sessions have been designed to gauge demand from the Adult and Social Care services for museum activities. The CMO has produced and distributed publicity materials for the events.

Stories From Your Attic (2008/09)

Partners: Staffs Heritage and Arts, Staffs Libraries & Information Service and Staffs and Stoke-on-Trent Archive Service (2009/10)

Reader Development Fund money supported a story teller to work with a Lichfield primary school to develop stories based on collections from the County Museum and Archive collections.

“Yes! We Have No Bananas” (2009-10)

Partners: Knutton St Mary’s Primary School, Library and Information Service (Newcastle and Knutton Libraries) Staffs Heritage & Arts, SCC Schools Improvement Division and members of Knutton’s local community.

An intergenerational project at Knutton St Mary’s Primary School focusing on wartime rationing and funded through the MLA/HLF Their Past Your Future programme. Outputs included the creation of a Key Stage 2 resource for primary schools.

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Early Years Marketing Project (2009/10)

Partners: The Herbert Art Gallery and eight other museums.

This Family Friendly project brought partners together to develop activities and resources to attract under- fives and their families. It involved a joint marketing campaign and has continued to develop.

Staffordshire Transformational Learning Project (2009/10)

Partners: Staffs Heritage & Arts, Staffs Libraries and Information Services, Staffordshire County Council Adult and Community Learning This project developed taster sessions for adult carers across a variety of subject areas, including museums.

A History of The World (2009/10)

Partners: BBC, British Museum and museums across the West Midlands

WMMDOs teamed up with museums and local radio stations to choose objects to be part of the BBC’s A History of the World national campaign. In Staffordshire, for example, ten of the county’s museums participated in the project. In the conurbation, Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton took part, along with the Black Country Living Museum. In Warwickshire, more than 1000 people attended a joint BBC, Warwickshire & Coventry network event at the Herbert which highlighted ten objects from eight museums. The partnership continued with WMMDO involvement in arranging co-ordinating events and trails, to promote the initiative and their museums.

Every Object Tells a Story (2010/11)

Partners: Staffordshire County Museum, Claymills Victorian Pumping Station, Museum of Cannock Chase, Newcastle Borough Museum & Art Gallery, the Wedgwood Museum Trust, the Nicolson (Leek), Staffordshire Regiment Museum, Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum, the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery and Tamworth Castle

A family trail was developed linking the 10 partners and visitors had an opportunity to take part in a free prize draw to win a personalised behind the scenes tour of a museum of their choice. The ‘Every Object Tells a Story’ brand was also by the Staffordshire Destination Management Partnership to promote museums.

Birmingham Creative Education Network (2009-onwards)

Partners: Fifteen museums, archives and heritage organisations in Birmingham.

In 2009, in response to requests from the wider sector, the Conurbation Museums Officer established a Birmingham Creative Education Network. The network supports heritage education and outreach staff by providing opportunities to network, share knowledge and good practice, and to develop joint initiatives.

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Mystery Shopper (2009/10, 2010/11)

Partners: Twenty-two museums across the region

In an initiative led by the Shropshire county service, WMMDOs were instrumental in co-ordinating an innovative Family Friendly Mystery Shopper partnership programme aimed at staff and organisational development. A further programme, involving 22 sites, took place the following year. 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 commissioned an evaluation report for the Mystery Shopper project, which was presented at a regional conference in September 2011.

Oswestry Heritage Forum (2010-onwards)

Partners: Fourteen-plus heritage groups in Oswestry

The MDO for Shropshire has been working with the newly-formed Oswestry Heritage Forum. Early intervention and relationship-building has encouraged the group to focus on shaping a heritage offer that does not rely on a static museum building.

The group’s first project was a Heritage Open Days offer in September 2010. Four days of events with a family friendly focus and special openings took place throughout the borough with over 14 partners involved. Additional partnership support was secured from the local Community Regeneration Officer. Evaluation of the event was used to inform future activity, including the planning of an Open Day programme for 2011 with an emphasis on heritage volunteer opportunities in Oswestry.

WMMDOs are also involved with the following partnerships:

Renaissance West Midlands Audience Development Steering Group Black Country Heads of Service Connecting for the Future Family Friendly Marketing Group Herefordshire Cultural Consortium Midlands Hub Education Working Group Regional Emergency Response Network Steering Group Renaissance Workforce Development Task and Finish Group Staffordshire Hoard Education Group Warwickshire Social History Curators Group Various individual museum trustee board attendances

Appendix 2: Projects supporting stewardship

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Environmental Monitoring in Herefordshire 2004 (on-going)

The MDO has encouraged many of the independent museums and archives in Herefordshire to adopt environmental monitoring systems. Thermohygrographs are on long term loan from the MDO at six sites which are usually recalibrated and their data checked every 3 months. Other sites have now acquired their own monitoring equipment and small grants have been provided to a number of museums to create a better environment for their collections.The monitoring has encouraged museums to look at how they might improve the stability of their environments. Grants have been provided for a number of projects, including insulation and secondary glazing at Leominster Museum, which has stabilised fluctuations in RH and temperature and reduced heating costs, and the provision of a humidifier for Cradley Local History Centre Archive.

Flying Collections Assistant for Staffordshire (2006/07 & 2008-2012)

Staffordshire’s Flying Collections Project was developed in 2006 as a means of giving direct support to museums preparing for the Accreditation Standard. Initially for 6 months, a Flying Collections Assistant (FCA) was appointed to work with museums on specific collections based tasks to improve their Fast Forward scores, to develop some basic training support and to assist with some hands on collections work.

By 2008 the project had developed more fully into direct support for Accreditation preparation and the FCA worked with approximately 20 sites to produce the policies and paperwork necessary to reach the Standard. The FCA’s role was to develop best practice and raise standards in collections care, support volunteers and promote sustainability and resilience. All 20 museums successfully achieved the Accreditation standard and the role developed further to co-ordinate and deliver partnership projects such the ‘Young Curators’ exhibition (2010/11) and the new exhibition for the Museum on the Move, ‘Staying in Going Out’ (2010/11). In 2011/12 the role continues with work around the sustainability agenda through partnering museums in the Greener Museums Programme and use of the AIM Economic Toolkit.

Evaluation and feedback from the museums involved was extremely positive;

“The Flying Collections Assistant provided much needed capacity to break the back of our 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 the assistance as we only have a part time collections assistant. It has helped in the long term to achieve our Accreditation goals.”

“As an organisation with no prior knowledge or experience of museum Accreditation we have been on a steep learning curve and 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.”

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WMMDOs encourage museums to raise standards of collections care

Flying Collections Assistant for Shropshire (2007/08)

A Flying Collections Assistant worked closely with 10 organisations focusing on standards, collection care and training to supplement the MDO role. Clients including Clun Museum and Oswestry Railway Museum were helped to develop access policies and make physical access improvements. Training workshops provided ten museums with the skills to confidently assess collections conditions, identify damage, and write condition reports. Other museums were helped with environmental monitoring and textile conservation.

Environmental monitoring equipment loans, Worcestershire (2007/08)

Three hand-held, ELSEC monitors were acquired for loan to small museums. These monitors check temperature, relative humidity, lux levels and ultra-violet light, and can be used for spot checks or short periods of data logging. It was intended that this equipment should be used to help with calibration of older instruments, take spot-check readings in areas of particular concern and help museums to lever in funding for new/updated monitoring equipment. In response to feedback from borrowers, an accompanying resource containing advice sheets, sample record sheets and details for further reading was also developed. Twelve emergency response kits, part-funded by the MDO, were also distributed to museums in the county.

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Improving environmental monitoring standards

Disaster taskforce, Worcestershire (2007/08)

A one-off grant of £1500 was awarded to a consortium of six museums to create a disaster taskforce and recovery resource. The museums, which included the County and City services, three independent museums and a small town museum, pooled their existing disaster response resources and acquired new equipment, which was housed in a secure store. Access to this resource was offered to all museums in the county, should the need arise, and provision was made to undertake routine monitoring and to replace equipment on a planned basis.

Staffordshire Environmental Monitoring Project (2009-12)

Since 2009 the Environmental Monitoring Project has supported twelve museums to develop their environmental monitoring capacity and knowledge. Partners have included volunteer run museums with little or no knowledge of environmental monitoring and control, together with professionally staffed sites that wanted to improve their monitoring capacity.

Museums were loaned data loggers to record environmental conditions in display areas, stores or exhibition cases for a six month period. Staff received training to interpret and use the information provided by the data loggers and helped to create an action plan to implement improvements.

Each site was benchmarked against Fast Forward and all sites made significant improvements. Staff and volunteers gained a fuller understanding of the environmental monitoring process, why it is important and how to interpret results. A grant of £500 was awarded to each site at the end of the project to support the purchase of monitoring equipment.

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Appendix 3: Funding

The MDO programme was supported through a Renaissance West Midlands work package, Building Capacity and Sustainability across the Region (WM203).

In 2004/05, the budget for the programme was split into five equal parts, with £10,000 each allocated to Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. In each county this was then split between support for county networks and the promotion of improvements on Fast Forward baseline range statements for physical and sensory access and informal learning, through grant aid and other means. Support and funding was not restricted to organisations which had already appeared in Fast Forward but organisations which had not previously taken part were strongly encouraged to do so.

The budget allocation for 2005/06 was £125,000. This again was split into five equal parts, with £25,000 allocated to each county. Half of this allocation was directed to the support and strengthening of the County networks, including the liaison with regional officers in the Hub and assisting with the spread of best practice. There was an expectation that at least £7,500 of the remaining £12,500 would be available in the form of small grants. It was recognised that flexibility was needed to enable each county to respond to differing local circumstances, and also to allow trialling of different methods of working.

From 2006 funding was also included for the post of Conurbation Museums Officer. A budget of £247,500 was provided for the regional programme, and a new formula adopted for allocation to each county. Each sub-region was given a core allocation of £15,000, with an additional sum allocated on a pro-rata basis according to the number of museums in each area. A further £2,500 was included for administration.

Revised MDO funding split, including Conurbation 2006/07

Number of museums

% split

Core£

Pro rata£

Total£

Black Country, Telford & Wrekin, and Birmingham

39 21.2 15,000 33,383 48400

Herefordshire 22 12.0 15,000 18,832 33800Shropshire 24 13.0 15,000 20,543 35500Staffordshire & Stoke 37 20.1 15,000 31,671 46700Warwickshire, Coventry & Solihull 37 20.1 15,000 31,671 46700Worcestershire 25 13.6 15,000 21,399 36400Admin charge 2500

Total 184 100.0 90,000 157,500 250,000

The same allocation was made for 2007/08, rising to £278,802 in 2008/09. For the interim year of 2011/12, MLA allocated £290,692 to the region for museum development. 70% of this funding was allocated on the basis of the number of accredited museums, museums seeking Accreditation and museums without staff needing curatorial advice; 15% was allocated on population; and 15% was allocated on geographic area.

WMMDO Funding allocations 2006 - 2009

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2006/07 Allocation £Conurbation 48400Herefordshire 33800Shropshire 35500Staffordshire 46700Warwickshire 46700Worcestershire 36400Total £247,500

2007/08 Allocation £Conurbation 48,400Herefordshire 33,800Shropshire 35,500Staffordshire 46,700Warwickshire 46,700Worcestershire 36,400Total £247,500.00

2008/09 Allocation £Conurbation 53,240Herefordshire 40,206Shropshire 40,043Staffordshire 51,153Warwickshire 54,120Worcestershire 40,040Total £278,802

Funding Split 2007 - 2009Conurbation 150,040 19.5%Herefordshire 107,806 14%Shropshire 107,643 14%Staffordshire 144,553 19%Warwickshire 147,520 19%Worcestershire 112,840 14.5%Total £773,402Appendix 4: Outputs

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MLA Outputs 2004-5

1. Number of museum staff attending training courses supported by the MDF

395

2. Number of hours of MDO activity supported by the MDF 2,426 hours

3. Number of museum users participating in education programmes supported by the MDF

11

4. Number of new partnerships developed with the support of the MDF 45

5. Grants awarded to museums from the MDF:Number of grants 40

Total value of grants £18,6226. Number of museum corporate or forward plans prepared with the support of the MDF 87a. Number of museums receiving advice from MDF funded MDOs (general support)

317

7b. Number of museums receiving advice from MDF funded MDOs (coaching)

126

MLA Outputs 2005-6

1. Number of museum staff attending training courses supported by the MDF

365

2. Number of museum development posts or hours of MDO activity supported by the MDF

3,374 hours

3. Number of museum users participating in education programmes supported by the MDF 54. Number of new partnerships developed with the support of the MDF 14

5. Grants awarded to museums from the MDF:Number of grants 47

Total value of grants £50,4266. Number of museum corporate or forward plans prepared with the support of the MDF

6

7a. Number of museums receiving advice from MDF funded MDOs (general support)

273

7b. Number of museums receiving advice from MDF funded MDOs (coaching)

112

Note – Line 7b gives number of museums not individual sessions

MLA Outputs 2006-7

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1. Number of museum staff attending training courses initiated by the MDO

212

2. Number of hours of MDO activity, including support from other staff 7,196

3. Number of museum users participating in education programmes supported by the MDO

14

4. Number of new partnerships developed with the support of the MDO 22

5. Grants awarded to museums from the MDF:

Number of grants 59Total value of grants £47,277

6. Number of museum corporate or forward plans prepared with the support of the MDO 57a. Number of museums receiving advice from MDOs (general support)

303

7b. Number of general support and coaching sessions delivered 1585

Note: includes data for Conurbation but excludes Shropshire (no data provided)

Line 7b now gives number of individual sessions rather than museums

MLA Outputs 2007-8

1. Number of museum staff attending training courses initiated by the MDO

296

2. Number of hours of MDO activity, including support from other staff 10,492

3. Number of museum users participating in education programmes supported by the MDO 583

4. Number of new partnerships developed with the support of the MDO 49

5. Grants awarded to museums from the MDF:

Number of grants 77Total value of grants £65,988

6. Number of museum corporate or forward plans prepared with the support of the MDO

17

7a. Number of museums receiving advice from MDOs (general support)

563

7b. Number of general support and coaching sessions delivered 2738

MLA Outputs 2008-9

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1. Number of museum staff attending training courses initiated by the MDO

663

2. Number of hours of MDO activity, including support from other staff 13,922

3. Number of museum users participating in education programmes supported by the MDO

223

4. Number of new partnerships developed with the support of the MDO 56

5. Grants awarded to museums from the MDF:

Number of grants 71Total value of grants £55,041

6. Number of museum corporate or forward plans prepared with the support of the MDF

33

7a. Number of museums receiving advice from MDOs (general support)

822

7b. Number of general support and coaching sessions delivered 1727

MLA Outputs 2009-10

1. Number of museum staff attending training courses initiated by the MDO

2. Number of hours of MDO activity, including support from other staff 9213*

3. Number of museum users participating in education programmes supported by the MDO

Discontinued

4. Number of new partnerships developed with the support of the MDO Discontinued

5. Grants awarded to museums from the MDF:

Number of grants 69Total value of grants £49,623^

6. Number of museum corporate or forward plans prepared with the support of the MDF

Discontinued

7a. Number of museums receiving advice from MDOs (general support)

539

7b. Number of general support and coaching sessions delivered1810

* does not include Shropshire (est 1429)

^ includes estimated grant of £3,590 from Shropshire

Additional outputs 2009-10

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Number of non-hub museums supported 171

Number of museums supported in attaining or maintaining Accreditation with the support of the MDO

76

Number of events or training courses organised by MDOs 51

Satisfaction Score (annual survey) 100%

No of Volunteers (annual survey) 1308

CPI/MLA Outputs 2010-2011Output 20E Number of hours of support provided to Non-Hub

museums9808

CPI Number of non-hub museums supported (CPI) 222  Number of museums supported in attaining or

maintaining Accreditation with the support of the MDO93

Output 20C Number of museums receiving advice from MDOs 531  Number of incidences general support and coaching

sessions delivered 7383

Output 20B Number of Non-Hub museums supported with training 257  Number of events or training courses organised by

MDOs 55

Output 20D Number of Non-Hub museums supported with significant support or capacity building (2 -3 days a quarter)

65

Output 20A Number of Non-Hub museums supported with grants 92Value of grants £61,537.29

  Satisfaction Score (annual survey) 96%  No of Volunteers (annual survey) 1335

MLA Outputs

1. Number of museum staff attending training courses supported by the MDF

2004-5 2005-6 2006-07 2007-8 2008-9 2009-10395 365 212 296 663 discontinued

2. Number of hours of MDO activity

2004-5 2005-6 2006-07 2007-8

2008-9 2009-10 2010-11 Total

2,426 3,374 7,196 10,492 13,922 9213 8200 54,823

3. Number of museum users participating in education programmes supported by the MDF

44

2004-5 2005-6 206-07 2007-8 2008-9 2009-1011 5 14 583 223 discontinued

4. Number of new partnerships developed with the support of the MDF

2004-5 2005-6 2006-07 2007-8 2008-9 2009-1045 14 22 49 56 discontinued

6. Number of museum corporate or forward plans prepared with the support of the MDF

2004-5 2005-6 2006-07 2007-8 2008-9 2009-10 2010-118 6 5 17 33 discontinued discontinued

7a. Number of museums receiving advice from MDOs (general support)

2004-5 2005-6 2006-07 2007-8 2008-9 2009-10 2010-11317 273 303 563 822 539 531

7b. Number of general support and coaching sessions delivered

2004-5 2005-6 2006-07 2007-8 2008-9 2009-10 2010-11 total126 112 1585 2738 1727 1810 7383 15,481

Additional outputs from 2009/10

2009/10 2010/11Number of non-hub museums supported 171 222Number of Non-Hub museums supported with significant support or capacity building

65

Number of museums supported in attaining or maintaining Accreditation 76 93Number of events or training courses organised by MDOs 51 55Satisfaction Score (annual survey) 100% 96%No of Volunteers (annual survey) 1308 1335

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Report prepared for the West Midlands network of Museum Development Officers and the Marches Network by Ian Lawley, December 2011.

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