We are delighted to be investing in and supporting freelance consultants as part of our National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) supported Rebuilding the Foundations: Gloucestershire’s Museums project.

We have recruited six consultants who will offer specialist support to the ten participant museums in:

  • Project and Partnerships Co-ordinator
  • Succession Planning and Recruitment (Volunteering);
  • Audience Development;
  • Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (Volunteering);
  • Safeguarding (Volunteering);
  • Project Evaluator;
  • We will also be recruiting a filmmaker to the project team very soon.

This team of tailored, specialist support will inform and underpin the museums’ future volunteer involvement and audience engagement, helping to engender a more outward-facing culture that genuinely widens the range of people involved in Gloucestershire’s museums.

About the project

Rebuilding the Foundations focuses on securing a future for museums that is engaged, relevant and sustainable. With specialist support from and in collaboration with the appointed consultants each participant museum will plan offers and opportunities that are more relevant and will result in an increased capacity and diversity of volunteers, leading to increased engagement and diversity in audiences and with their communities in order to deliver long-term resilience. The project will interrogate current models of volunteer involvement and audience engagement to invigorate museums’ thinking around appropriate structures and internal processes that help them to better roadmap for the future.

We are pleased to welcome…

Project and Partnerships Co-ordinator – Anna Bryant

Anna has extensive experience of working with museums in the South West and we are delighted to that she will be sharing her expertise with us  in order to support the development and delivery of all project activity against our project plan. Anna will support the project operationally but will also help to bring the museums together for inspiration, peer learning and support, as well as represent the project in building relationships with local partner organisations for museums to connect with and identifying opportunities for future working and collaboration beyond the life of the project.

Succession Planning and Recruitment (Volunteering) – Linda Brandish

Specialist volunteering support to help museums get ready to attract, recruit and retain volunteers will come from Linda Brandish who will support participant museums to build a structured plan for volunteer involvement, focussing specifically on developing the museums’ understanding of policies, processes and plans for diverse and well-supported volunteer recruitment at all levels of the organisation.

Audience Development – Stephen Foulger

Stephen will provide specialist audience development support, helping the participant museums with planning and priority-setting for effective audience development. Stephen will work with the museums to undertake a more targeted approach to providing relevant opportunities for audiences by helping each museum to develop a realistic and evidence-based strategy which informs, underpins and defines the museum’s audience-related activity.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (Volunteering) – Sam Munday-Webb

Additional tailored, practical help with in equality, diversity and inclusion in relation to volunteer involvement will come from Sam Munday-Webb, who joins the project team with an extensive background in theatre and education. Sam will work specifically on evolving the museums’ understanding and development of policies, procedures and plans for equality and diversity in volunteer involvement.

Safeguarding (Volunteering) – Sarah Hickie

Sarah will support participant museums to understand their safeguarding responsibilities in relation to volunteer involvement and how to discharge these responsibilities. This support will enable participant museums to involve people safely and appropriately and to move forward in priority areas.

Project Evaluator – Sarah Rickett

Sarah will be responsible for devising and delivering a programme of evaluation for the project, working closely with the project team, as well as the participant museums, to assess the impact of the project against the NLHF outcomes, its successes, and critically analyse the model of working that has been developed.

Find out more

Read more about the Rebuilding the Foundations: Gloucestershire’s Museums project.

South West Museum Development is committed to supporting and championing freelancers/consultants in the museums and heritage sector. Take a look at the resources available on our website for effectively commissioning, working with and supporting freelancers, put together in partnership with Museum Freelance.