This page is dedicated to providing information about the Berkshire Hampshire Solent Museum Development Forum event that took place on the 23 February 2023 at the Wessex Learning Centre, at Winchester Cathedral.
If you have any questions about what is mentioned here, please get in touch with the event lead, Stephen Lowy.
Please navigate the links below to explore resources from the day along with some of the guest speaker’s presentations.
- Welcome to the Museums Conference, Corinna Westwood:
Chair of the Berkshire Hampshire Solent Museum Development Advisory Panel
- Winchester Cathedral and its Collections, Eleanor Swire, Curator & Librarian, Winchester Cathedral
- Keynote : Recruitment and Retention - challenges and opportunities; Tamsin Russell, Workforce Development Officer, Museums Association
Questions for Tamsin
How can you elevate health and wellbeing in a team experiencing change?
- Utilise the current structure, for instance include ethics and wellbeing to meeting agendas and the organisations risk register
- Role model good health and wellbeing as a leader
- Appreciate it is an individual thing – what does wellbeing mean for you?
Can you share examples of where apprenticeships are working well in museums?
- The museum sector has not
been an early adopter of apprenticeships - Natural History Museum has an innovative volunteering and apprenticeship model
- Go for more generic roles if you plan to have apprentices before moving to more specialist ones where training providers already are well established
Are there good examples of small museums mixing volunteers and paid staff to work together?
- Cases where this works, focus on what unifies volunteers and staff – passion for the museum, collection, community etc.
- Understand motivators and drivers for colleagues
- We are all ‘individuals’ – diversity of thinking should be cherished
- May be hard for individuals, especially volunteers, to keep up with rapid change – ask ‘where’s the rub?’, what is causing the tension?
- Museum Development in 2023 and beyond, Stephen Lowy, SEMD,
Case Studies: 
- A New Approach to Volunteering, Lisa Gale, Whitchurch Silk Mill
- 878 AD: weaving real and virtual into one heritage experience , Jaane Rowehl, Hampshire Cultural Trust
- Getting to grips with Collections Care, Sarah Girling, Isle of Wight Steam Railway
Questions For Case Studies
Q: For Lisa Gale – What is the relationship between volunteers and trustees?
A: Trustees are considered part of the museum team. The team are engaged much more with the trustees especially in active fundraising
Q: For Jaane Rowehl – Do you have an ongoing relationship with the developers?
A: Sugar Creative developed the app. All assets are managed separately and over time it will become easier as technology catches up. Will continue working with Sugar.
Q: For Jaane Rowehl – The project has a huge appeal for the neuro divergent, is the interaction with characters daunting for users?
A: Working on it. Will start with bringing it into the schools programme and working with digital company on pre-visits. They have considered noise.
Q: For Lisa Gale – Do you carry out appraisals for volunteers?
A: Not in the same way as paid employees, no. We have a People Committee and a volunteer is a member. Looking into undertaking more 1-2-1 meetings and volunteer audit/reviews.
Breakout Sessions
- Ukrainian Refugee Collection Project, Maria Ragan & Joanne Ainslie, St Barbe Museum + Art Gallery
- Environmental Sustainability and Collections Care, Claire Fry, Spencer & Fry
Sector & Funding updates
- Arts Council England, Simon Jutton, Senior Relationship Manager
The Project Grants is a rolling fund – competitive process and the success rate in the south is now around 30% whereas it was 40% previously. You can apply more than once to the fund so please don’t be put off if you are unsuccessful the first time. It prioritise’s against balancing criteria so look at the feedback given to you via Grantium and then do try again.
Unlocking Collections fund – time-limited priority aimed at increasing public engagement with collections. Update: it now runs up until the end of March 2024.
- Art Fund, Laura Summers, Senior Programme Manager