SHARE Museums East
Museum Development funding
In addition to the National Portfolio Organisation funding, Norfolk Museums Service (NMS) has also been awarded significant funding from Arts Council England to lead on museum development for the region.
NMS is one of only nine partners nationally to receive funding from Arts Council England to provide professional support, advice and guidance to museums to raise standards across the sector. NMS has been awarded £1.74m in the period 2018-22 for the 163 Accredited museums in the East of England. This important work is being delivered through the SHARE Museums East programme.
SHARE Museums East is managed by Norfolk Museums Service on behalf of museums across the East of England. It is delivered in partnership with other organisations including:
- Association for Independent Museums
- Cambridgeshire County Council
- Collections Trust
- Essex County Council
- Hertfordshire County Council
- Luton Culture
- Suffolk County Council
- University of Cambridge Museums
In addition to our major partners listed above there are those, too numerous to mention, who contribute to the SHARE programme - by their skills and knowledge, their resources (including making venues freely available), their time, or simply their support over the years. We thank all our partners for their contributions.
SHARE Museums East
SHARE Museums East's mission is to support excellence, resilience and cooperative working in museums in the East of England.
Since 2009, SHARE has established a track record of working successfully with museums through its innovative approaches to skills sharing, delivering training and support to, their staff and volunteers. We have invested in and brokered development opportunities to improve museums' services and ensure sustainability, and facilitated collaborative working partnerships.
In our 2015-18 programme we worked with nearly 80% of the region's Accredited museums through development programmes, grants schemes and 225 training events attended by nearly 4,000 delegates.
Our 2018-22 programme has been developed in consultation and collaboration with the sector. It is flexible, responds to need and is designed for museums of all sizes. Plans for 2018-22 include:
- developing the capacity of museums to receive loans from National museums and other major lenders
- developing museums' understanding and use of audience data to improve the visitor experience
- improving museums' financial resilience through our 'Think Like a Business' programme
- supporting museums to adopt environmentally sustainable practices
- diversifying the workforce of museums to improve long-term resilience
- helping museums develop family-friendly activities and practices
We continue to represent and champion the interests of the East of England museums' sector and are extremely proud of the museums within the region.