Location

Guthlaxton Committee Room
County Hall
Leicester Road
Glenfield
Leicester
LE4 4DG

Information about the venue can be found here: http://www.rfkm.org/

Location

Ruddington Framework Knitters Museum
Chapel Street
Ruddington
Nottingham
NG11 6HE

A summary of the result can be found HERE.

The Research Report from the 2011 survey, the Research Summary which compares the 2011 data with data from 2007, 2001 and 1991 where available and the Egeria overview of 20 years will be provided on Leicestershire County Council’s museums website in due course.  We have prepared a list of internal and external stakeholders who will receive email letters explaining about the Longitudinal Survey with a link to the reports on the website.  If you would like to have your contact details added to the list for the purposes of receiving a letter containing a link to the reports on the web, please email Yolanda Courtney on: yolanda.courtney@leics.gov.uk.

The plans follow recommendations from the independent Review of Cultural Education in England carried out by Darren Henley, managing director of Classic FM.  His review covers all areas of cultural education and aims to ensure that all children, especially those from poorer backgrounds, are able to access the arts.

The review was commissioned by Culture Minister Ed Vaizey and Education Secretary Michael Gove last year. The Department for Education (DfE) will invest more than £15 million over three years to lay the groundwork to make Mr Henley’s recommendations a reality while a number of DCMS arms-length bodies will be involved in funding and runnning schemes.

Measures revealed include:

A new national plan for cultural education
This over-arching strategy will set out a clear pathway from early years through to young people studying cultural education subjects at the highest level.

A new cultural education partnership group
This will include Arts Council England, the Heritage Lottery Fund, the British Film Institute, National Museums and English Heritage – to ensure money is evenly distributed across the sector as a whole, rather than on the current piecemeal basis.

New national art and design Saturday clubs
Funding of £395,000 over three years, and additional funding from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, will be used to establish local clubs based on the model set up by Sir John Sorrell. The clubs will give students access to high quality specialist equipment and tuition at local colleges and universities.

Museums and galleries education
Funding of £3.6m over three years to encourage more school visits to museums and art galleries, so that all children and young people can learn about and experience at first hand our most treasured artefacts and works of art.

“Heritage schools”
English Heritage will work with schools to encourage them to explore historical sites in their local area. This proposal will receive funding of £2.7m over three years.

How to use technologies to visualise, interpret and present historic, their artifacts and history.

How to engage the wider public in community heritage projects.

Using digital technologies to increase visitor numbers to heritage group sites anad increase membership of community heritage groups.

Further details, including the timetable for the day, can be found here: http://digitalbuildingheritage.our.dmu.ac.uk/conference-open-day/

All through the day there will be an exhibition in the foyer showing the digital technologies that can be used in built heritage applications and you will be able talk to experts about how your community group can use them. Tea, coffee and a buffet lunch will also be available so why not register for the FREE conference / open day and come along and see how De Montfort University can help you and your community heritage organisation.

Location

Hugh Aston Building
De Montford University
Leicester
LE1 9BH

Jenny Gammon, Assistant Director Economy and Culture stated: “We are delighted to receive external recognition for all the hard work and time given by our staff and volunteers, at library and heritage sites, as well as other teams across the County.  We are constantly searching for new ways to connect with our communities, and those who volunteer with us not only give something significant to the community, but without exception gain a lot as individuals.”

Justin Brown, Head of Enterprise, added “with so many staff and volunteers involved in such a wide variety of activities, Economy and Culture can be rightly proud of its achievement.  By encouraging and supporting volunteers, Economy and Culture is providing much needed support in the community and offering real opportunities for personal and professional development for its staff.”

Investing in Volunteers is the UK quality standard for all organisations involving volunteers.   Investing in Volunteers aims to improve the quality of the volunteering experience for all volunteers and for organisations to acknowledge the enormous contribution made by volunteers.  Investing in Volunteers is managed by the UK Volunteering Forum and delivered by Volunteering England, Volunteer Development Scotland, Volunteer Development Agency in Northern Ireland and Wales Council for Voluntary Action.

Economy and Culture was assessed against a range of best practice standards and proved to excel in all aspects of working with its volunteers.

Councillor Sue Wooley, who was interviewed as part of the assessment of the organisation, stated: “We are very lucky in Lincolnshire, we have great volunteers and lots of things wouldn’t get done without them.”

Jonathan Platt, Head of libraries and Heritage, also stated “Volunteering encourages people to interact at a local level, and gives people a healthy outlook. They are an integral part of our service delivery and we couldn’t operate without them.  Undoubtedly they add value to everything we do, often bringing knowledge and skills that we don’t have.”

Investing in Volunteers is unique in that it is the only standard that focuses on volunteers.  It is based on four areas of volunteer management; planning for volunteer involvement, recruiting volunteers, selecting and matching volunteers and supporting and retaining volunteers.  Further information about the Standard can be found on http://www.investinginvolunteers.org.uk.  The Standard will enhance volunteer management and is rigorous but designed to be simple to implement and not to generate large amounts of paperwork.  It is the only quality standard that has independent external validation with a UK Quality Assurance Panel that makes recommendations to the UK Volunteering Forum, the awarding body.

The 2012 survey aims to establish a comprehensive overview of the current state of the sector, including the impact of cuts on museum activity. The data will be compared with the results from the MA's survey in 2011, providing the sector with an insight into year-on-year changes. The 2012 survey will also ask museums to look ahead to the coming year to see how the museum landscape is changing and how museums are planning to react to budgetary changes.

The survey can be found on the MA’s website here: http://www.museumsassociation.org/forms/cuts-survey   The survey will remain online until Tuesday 7th May and the results will be published in the July edition of Museums Journal.

If you have any questions or queries as regards the survey please contact gina@museumsassociation.org

Over the next three years, the National Heritage Landmarks Partnership Scheme is inviting independent museums and industrial sites to bid for grants from a fund of £500,000 per year to create interpretation and education projects detailing the history of industrial development. Proposals need to demonstrate significant impact and heritage benefit.

Up to four projects will be selected in each annual funding round, with a maximum £120,000 available to each applicant.

The first funding round is open to applications until 29 June.

Further details can be found at: http://www.aim-museums.co.uk/pages/pg-25-aim-biffa-award-the-national-heritage-landmarks-partnership-scheme/

There will be winners from each region in the UK, who will each receive a £500 prize. From the regional winners, an overall winner will be chosen, who will receive an additional £2,000. Prizes will be awarded at a ceremony at the British Museum in July.

The application form and more information about the award is on the British Museum website at http://www.britishmuseum.org/marshaward

The closing date for applications is 30th April.

All Our Stories grants of between £3,000 and £10,000 are available to a wide range of organisations, including community groups, heritage organisations and charities. The deadline for applications is 31 July and successful organisations will be contacted in October.

The scheme has been developed to support a new BBC 2 series, The Great British Story – A People’s History.  All Our Stories will also feature in five BBC Learning events at flagship heritage locations, which will be run in tandem with the TV series, to get people involved with their local heritage.