Accreditation Mentors

What’s an Accreditation Mentor?

Accreditation Mentors are experienced museum professionals who help smaller museums work towards, achieve and retain Museum Accreditation.

Does your museum require an Accreditation Mentor?

If you’re a smaller museum which does not employ a museum professional, then you should have an Accreditation Mentor.

Your mentor will provide professional advice to your museum’s governing body and practical help with developing a new accreditation application or making an accreditation return.

Accreditation Mentors must have at least 3 years’ experience working in museums with experience at management/curatorial level.

If you would like to know more about finding a mentor or becoming a mentor yourself, please contact our Accreditation Advisor, Philip Claris at [email protected].

Take a look at the list below of all the museums in our region currently seeking a mentor.

Why become an Accreditation Mentor?

Being a mentor can give you valuable additional experience. It’s a two-way learning process, for the museum and for you: as a mentor you will learn from the different experience and knowledge of those involved with the museum, and gain experience of a different type of organisation. If you work in a defined role in a department within a museum, working with a small museum can give you new perspectives on a whole organisation. Or, you could develop a specialism further by mentoring a museum with similar collections or services.

Mentoring will give you access to networks and networking opportunities. It builds a stronger sector which supports the exchange and development of professional knowledge and shares expertise.

Mentoring improves confidence in communicating and listening effectively by consciously focusing attention on supporting an organisation to achieve its goals. Such skills are valuable to you and your employers. Mentoring can also present cost-effective training and development opportunities.

What’s the commitment?

It’s estimated that being an Accreditation Mentor takes around 4 days per year, and that this should include at least 1 visit and 1 attendance at a meeting of the governing body. It’s a voluntary, unpaid role with a formal agreement made between you and the museum. It is expected that the mentored museum will pay your travel expenses, though if your mentoring is part of your museum service’s role in the community, this might be paid by your employer.

What is the process of becoming an Accreditation Mentor?

First please contact [email protected] and your local Museum Development Officer if you are interested.
Next you’ll need to fill in an expression of interest form and send it to the Accreditation team at Arts Council England.
The Arts Council team will check to see that you have at least three years’ relevant professional experience and that you can demonstrate a commitment to continuing personal development.
Accreditation Mentors are now able to serve on a museum’s governing body as a voting member, so if you have a trustee with suitable skills and experience, they can also be your Accreditation Mentor.

What about mentor support and networking?

If you’re an existing mentor we’d like to know what sort of support you need. Are there specific areas you’d like training in? Would you appreciate the chance to meet with other mentors in a peer network, in your area, in person or online?

Contact our Accreditation Advisor, Philip Claris [email protected] to feedback to us about your mentoring experience and support needs, or if you’d like to find out more about becoming an Accreditation Mentor.

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Does your museum need an Accreditation Mentor?

If you are seeking an Accreditation Mentor for your museum, please contact [email protected] and we will advertise the opportunity on your behalf.

Current Accreditation Mentoring Opportunities

The following museums are currently seeking Accreditation Mentors:

Bluebell Railway Museum Uckfield, East Sussex

Blue Town Heritage Centre Sheerness, Kent

Buckingham Old Gaol Museum Buckingham

Burford Tolsey Museum and Archive Burford, Oxfordshire

Champs Chapel Museum East Hendred, Oxfordshire

Charlbury Museum Charlbury, Oxfordshire

Dorking & District Museum Dorking, Surrey