Who we are
Museum Development Midlands (MDM), funded by Arts Council England (ACE), is delivered in partnership by Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust and Leicestershire County Council.
What we do
The MDM programme delivers great opportunities for development, training and grants to museums and heritage organisations across the Midlands. We empower them to thrive, through a varied programme of support informed by the ACE Let’s Create Strategy and the Accreditation Standard.
The Midlands Museum Sector includes English Heritage, Independent, Local Authority, National Trust and University; with a diverse range of collections covering archaeology, archives, buildings, ceramics, costume, decorative and fine art, geology, industrial heritage and social history.
How we operate
The MDM team is based throughout the Midlands. We hold trusted relationships with local museums and networks, established through this and the previous Museum Development programmes. This fosters new connections and peer relationships across the Midlands area.
The MDM programme benefits from an Oversight Board, a voluntary body comprised of museum professionals in the Midlands. The Oversight Board provides strategic advice for the programme and monitors delivery of our activity plans.
As a recipient of ACE funding we keep ACE’s Investment Principles at the heart of our working practices. Find out how we do this.
Museum Development Network across the UK
MDM is part of a national network of Museum Development providers across England.
The other four providers are:
National roles have been created within ACE to support the delivery of the Museum Development programme across England. The new roles comprise coordination and communication, data insights, national training and programme development.
Together we are known as Museum Development England (MDE).
MDE also works strategically with our counterparts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as MDUK.
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