Museum Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Roadmap

This Equality, Diversity and Inclusion roadmap has been developed as part of Rebuilding the Foundations: Gloucestershire’s Museums.  This project was funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund with support from Arts Council England and led by South West Museum Development.

The content was developed by Sam Munday-Webb in collaboration with Eleanor Moore as part of the project’s support to participant museums to prepare their organisations to reach more diverse audiences and volunteers.

As we cope with the effects of the global pandemic, there continues to be much for museums to consider in response to social and societal issues. This includes the Black Lives Matter movement, which came into the spotlight in 2020, and the mental health needs of younger generations including the effect lockdowns have had on them.

This roadmap is designed to help museums using it to:

  • Grow in self-awareness and to reflect on equality, diversity, and inclusion in their setting
  • Identify where the evidence shows that action is needed, in line with mission, vision and goals
  • Set their ‘direction of travel’ and revisit, review and re-set it regularly

Navigation through the roadmap varies, depending on your current needs and the journey you need to go on as a museum.

The process is a cyclical one: even when you’re finished, you should aim to head back to the start of the map and consider what else needs to be done to review and challenge your work.

This roadmap aligns with Let’s Create investment principles: Inclusivity and Relevance and Dynamism.  Find out more here: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/lets-create/explore-investment-principles

Accredited museums and those working towards Accreditation: this roadmap will support you to meet or exceed minimum standards for running your museum and engaging with users, as set out in the museum Accreditation scheme.  https://southwestmuseums.org.uk/what-we-do/accreditation/ .

The actions you agree to take through this process should be reflected in your museum’s plans.  This guide can help you with forward planning https://southwestmuseums.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/SWMD-Forward-Planning-for-Museums-guidance-ii.pdf