National Restrictions from 5th November – Resources for your Museum
Introduction
From Thursday 5th November until Wednesday 2nd December museums and galleries must close to the public.
Please read the guidance for DCMS sectors on the Department for Digital, Culture Media and Sport’s website and the draft legislation. We understand that DCMS will be updating its guidance and we recommend that museums check for any updates. We will try and keep you up to date via our E-Bulletin.
MDY Support
MDY and Arts Council England are working closely together to support your museum through the coming months and into the recovery and rebuilding phase. Currently, we remain available for our usual range of support through remote delivery and communications. MDY will also be aiming to make our remote working practices increasingly accessible and inclusive, e.g. by varying some of our networking meeting times. Sadly, due to the national restrictions we do not think it wise to visit you in person until they lift.
Your Financial Sustainability
Cashflow: In changing circumstances, it’s important to keep reassessing your cashflow projections. We can support you in that and a useful template is available from the Culture Recovery Fund guidance.
Insolvency risk: If your museum is at risk of insolvency over the next six months, please contact us by email or through this form. MDY and ACE are working to ensure that DCMS is aware of any museum at risk of insolvency or permanent closure.
Funding: Arts Council National Lottery Project grants are open for application and could be used to support great initiatives and reduce your financial exposure. You could look at bundling up pieces of work for the coming months to form a project in this period. Until March you will not be expected to contribute any match funding. For more information look at Arts Council National Lottery Project Grants website.
We will be reopening the MDY Small Grants scheme over the next couple of weeks, if there are smaller projects that will help you prepare to reopen and recover. The application form is on our homepage.
Staff costs: The government has updated its guidance on the furlough scheme and economic support on its news pages. We recommend that museums talk to their funders about using the furlough scheme in parallel with publicly funded grants.
Caring for your Volunteers
We know that many museums rely on the support of their volunteers and this does not always fit neatly into workforce planning guidance. Specific government advice on volunteering will be updated on the DCMS volunteering guidance page.
We have also found the www.heritagevolunteeringgroup.org.uk to be a great source of advice.
Caring for your Collection
The Collections Trust has produced a resource list on collections in lockdown.
Caring for your Audiences
We will all need our communities around us when we emerge from this crisis and start to rebuild. We have an opportunity to be there for our neighbours to share our heritage, inspire each other and care for one another. There are tons of sources of inspiration out there but as a quick refresh, our Celebrating Museums 2020 is a great place to start.
If you are planning to develop online or digital resources, you can use the Digital Culture Network’s range of guides, toolkits and practical advice.
Need a Break?
Hailing from the county of Ginger Parkin, Fat Rascals and KitKats we know the benefit of a tea break. We have a series of ‘Elevenses’ coming up before our next round of forum meetings. These are one-hour discussions, focusing on a theme or topic with an expert providing food for thought. Information about forthcoming events are on the training and events page. Everyone is welcome so please encourage your team to join the discussion.
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