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CyMAL: Museums Archives and Libraries Wales Museums Current Awareness Service - Bulletin 138 Information about the Museums Current Awareness Service can be found on CyMAL's pages on the Welsh Government website. http://www.wales.gov.uk/cymal WELSH GOVERNMENT - CYMAL Getting fit for fundraising Cardiff - 28 February 2014 Wrexham - 13 March 2014 This course is suitable for those who are new to fundraising and/or thinking about implementing fundraising in their organisation for the first time. It will improve the understanding of heritage organisations of the key issues to consider before starting fundraising. By the end of the course participants will: - understand what is meant by fundraising and the different sources of fundraised income - understand the legal requirements and best practice in relation to fundraising - be able to decide whether their organisation is fit for purpose - appreciate the skills and approaches required to fundraise - understand the fundraising planning cycle Cardiff - http://tinyurl.com/pst3q8t Wrexham - http://tinyurl.com/nulnnk8 WELSH GOVERNMENT Minister announces new strategic approach for Welsh heritage The Minister for Culture and Sport, John Griffiths has announced new measures for the benefit of the Welsh historic environment - including regular strategic plans for the historic environment of Wales, the creation of a new independent advisory panel and the decision that Cadw and the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales will remain separate organisations for the time being. The Minister's announcement followed the publication of the response to the Welsh Government's consultation, The future of our past. Work, which will include discussions with key interest groups, will now begin on developing the proposals contained in the consultation document over the next year, before introducing legislation on the historic environment to the National Assembly in 2015. The consultation received responses from 177 individuals and organisations and helpful views were also expressed at two stakeholder workshops. http://tinyurl.com/ply5e82 Future of Our Past consultation responses: http://wales.gov.uk/consultations/cultureandsport/heritage-bill/ Commission on Public Service Governance and Delivery report The Commission reported on its findings on 20 January 2014. This report examines all aspects of public service provision in Wales under five themes - complexity; scale and capability; governance, scrutiny and delivery; leadership and culture; and performance and performance management. Its findings are available as a full report, which contains a detailed analysis of the evidence received, or a summary report, which focusses only on the findings and recommendations. http://tinyurl.com/owczwtp NATIONAL ASSEMBLY FOR WALES Debate: Ensuring Wider Access to our Heritage and Culture - Tuesday, 21 January 2014 http://www.assemblywales.org/docs/rop_xml/140121_plenary_bilingual.xml#123621 MUSEUMS ASSOCIATION MA meets with Welsh culture minister The Museums Association (MA) president David Anderson and director Mark Taylor met with the Welsh culture minister John Griffiths recently to discuss issues affecting the Welsh museum sector. The meeting covered a range of topics, including the difficulties museums in Wales, particularly local authority museums, are facing as a result of budget cuts, as well as the progress of Wales' national museums strategy and need for a new strategy in 2015. http://www.museumsassociation.org/news/18122013-ma-meets-welsh-culture-minister ASSOCIATION OF INDEPENDENT MUSEUMS Upcycle your museum: Make the most of what you've got - Dudley, 19-21 June 2014 Underpinning AIM's 2014 Annual Conference is the spirit of independent museums that makes them good at making the most of what they've got. 'Upcycle your museum' will focus on a range of subthemes which can provide economic and visitor-focused benefits based on independents' rich collections. The conference will highlight the economic benefits of going green with environmental improvements which save money and demonstrate good practice in running our diverse institutions http://www.aim-museums.co.uk AIM Training Grants changes - next deadline 10 March AIM Training Grant applications will be accepted in four quarterly periods in the future. In 2014 this will be 10 March for courses between 1 April-30 June (including AIM Conference); 10 June for courses between 1 July-30 September, 10 September for courses between 1 October-31 December and 1 December for courses between 1 January-31 March. The grants, which aim to assist staff and volunteers at member museums to meet their training needs and broaden their skills, are given towards fees, accommodation and travel costs for courses, seminars and workshops, conferences, study visits and mentoring placements. http://www.aim-museums.co.uk/content/aim_training_grant/ AIM Success Guide of the month - Successful Governance in Independent Museums Successful Governance in Independent Museums is written by Adrian Babbidge of Egeria Heritage Consultancy, who specialises in advice and training on museum governance, management, legal and financial issues. Effective corporate governance is now seen to be as fundamental as efficient management, he says. The author begins by asking 'What is Governance', and goes on to cover the structure of governing bodies; trustees' duties; board composition; the relationship between governance and management; the roles of chairman and secretary, and communication. The paper ends with a useful bibliography of other resources on the subject. AIM's new Success Guides replace the Focus Papers, they are free and you can download them as pdfs from AIM's website. http://www.aim-museums.co.uk/content/success_guides/. PROMOTING MUSEUMS Connect10 shortlist revealed as Museums at Night 2014 matches artists with venues The list of museums and galleries hoping to welcome a top artist for a Museums at Night event in May 2014 has been revealed with the public vote opening on Tuesday January 14. 3 Welsh venues have been shortlisted for the Connect10 Competition - Denbighshire Archives & Ruthin Gaol Museum - Swansea Museum - The Cardiff Story http://www.culture24.org.uk/places-to-go/museums-at-night/art461578 2014 Museum of the Year Applications are now open for the Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year 2014, the world's largest and most influential museum award, rewarding creativity and innovation. The Prize identifies the UK's finest museums and awards £100,000 to the very best - the 2014 Museum of the Year. The Prize champions the work museums do, encourages more people to visit and gets to the heart of what makes a truly outstanding museum. The shortlist of museums will be revealed on 23 April 2014 and a specially-commissioned film and photographs of the shortlisted museums will be made public. The winner of the 2014 Museum of the Year award will be announced at a ceremony on 9 July at the National Gallery. http://www.artfund.org/prize CONSERVATION Closure of Preservation Advisory Centre We are sorry to announce that the Preservation Advisory Centre will be closing at the end of March 2014. We are currently in discussion with other stakeholders in the heritage sector, with a view to sustaining services in some form. Please note that all scheduled training courses and PAS services will be delivered. http://www.bl.uk/blpac/ DOCUMENTATION, DIGITISATION AND ICT Digital Learning Network Conference 2014 - London, 4 April 2014 Formal Digital Learning Resources in Gallery, Online and in the Classroom This one day event will feature: - What Teachers Want: A session with primary and secondary school teachers - Case studies of best practice in Formal Digital Learning Resources, including: From inception to delivery: Museum of London web resources for teachers and students The full programme will be available early in 2014. http://www.digitallearningnetwork.net Jisc Digital Festival 2014 - Birmingham, 11-12 March After a two-year break the Jisc Digital Festival is taking a new guise aiming to not only showcase the best digital talent in the UK but provide ample networking opportunities. The festival will be innovative, informative and fun, showcasing and celebrating the very best in UK digital talent by bringing together experts and providers from the higher education, further education and skills sectors to share ideas and best practice. http://www.jisc.ac.uk/digifest TRAINING AND CONFERENCES Matter of Life and Death Project Conference - Bristol, 14th March 2014 The conference is a culmination of a 2 year public engagement project. The conference will share case studies of heritage and arts venues that have worked with other third sector organisations, schools or universities and medical organisations. The case studies will share - health, medicine and/or science collaborative partnership projects - science themed public engagement projects. This conference will be for academics, researchers, medical professionals and heritage organisations who are interested in cross discipline and cross organisational working on projects related to science, medicine, health and the history of medicine. If you are looking for new projects to share or partners to work with, there will also be an opportunity to do this as part of the day. More information will be announced as speakers are lined up. http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/matters-of-life-death-and-medicine-tickets-10220809717 Confident, Competent & Creative: interpretive planning foundations - Dudley, 28 February 2014 Even the simplest interpretive media can benefit from more insightful interpretive planning. Using a range of fast and effective tools and activities, this workshop is for new AHI members or those with little or no experience of interpretive planning who want to build or develop a solid foundation for providing better visitor experiences. http://www.ahi.org.uk/www/events/event_details/76/ 2014 Conference of the Visitor Studies Group We are delighted to launch our full programme for the 2014 Visitor Studies Group Annual Conference. Our theme "All About Relationships" elicited a wonderful response from around the UK and internationally and our programme provides the opportunity to hear about how organisations have built relationships internally and externally. On day one we will be joined by Mark O'Neill, Director of Policy and Research at Glasgow Life. Mark was appointed to this role in 2009 and previously he had been Head of Arts and Museums from 2005 and Glasgow Museums from 1998. On the second day of our Conference we will be joined by Lynda Kelly, Head of Learning at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney. Lynda is widely published on the subjects of museum evaluation and audience research. http://visitors.org.uk/node/531 WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT Cultural heritage sector called upon for careers events Cultural heritage organisations are being invited to collaborate with Creative & Cultural Skills in running careers events for young people. We want to help you run hands-on events for students aged 13-16, offering inspiration and insight into the kinds of heritage careers out there and the skills involved. If you are a museum or other heritage organisation and you are interested in running a careers event, or you already run events like these, we would like to work with you. Turn your event into a Creative Choices experience and we will provide extra resources, online tools, collateral and, if required, expert speakers from the sector. http://ccskills.org.uk/en/news/story/cultural-heritage-sector-called-upon-for-careers-events ACCESS, LIFELONG LEARNING AND SOCIAL INCLUSION Improving interpretation for senior citizens A new Heritage Interpretation for Seniors (HISA) project designed to improve the visitor experience for seniors in museums across Europe has been launched. Organisations from a number of European countries came together to consider how on-site interpretation and informal education can be improved for this age group, now frequently very 'active citizens'. This project builds on research that was recently conducted by the Group for Education in Museums (GEM) and the Age Collective that shows museums can contribute to the well being of older people. http://www.ssgreatbritain.org/about-us/press/improving-museums-europe Family Fortunes Workshop - Cardiff, 7th Feb 2014 It's a new year and a time to do new things so why not join Kids in Museums for their first Family Fortunes workshop in Wales this February. Get involved in a full day of challenging discussion, practical and useable ideas and a great selection of motivating speakers. Our workshop is great for people working in: Family Learning, Education, Visitor Services, Marketing, Interpretation, Volunteer Management, Audience Development. http://www.kidsinmuseums.org.uk/workshops/ FUNDING AND AWARDS Sainsbury's Welsh Community Grant Fund Grants of up to £500 will be awarded annually to charities and local community groups for a range of projects and activities which fit our core values of food, family, kids and health and also arts/culture, environment and social welfare. In this round we have £53,792.33 to award. Organisations can be any size as long as they support the community in Wales. Applications are online only and should take no more than 15 minutes. http://www.ccworks.co.uk/sainsburys RESOURCES Accreditation - good practice case studies The Collections Trust have put together a series of good practice case studies to illustrate how Accredited museums have developed their strategy and policy to meet the needs of their own services, as well as meeting the Accreditation Standard. The case studies focus on the way in which the process of developing strategy and policy impacts on the shape and quality of the service museums deliver. http://www.collectionslink.org.uk/programmes/museum-accreditation NEWS - WALES Zulu film and battle anniversaries marked in Brecon A concert to commemorate the defence of Rorke's Drift and a screening of the film Zulu are being staged in Brecon to raise funds to save a military museum. The 1879 South African battle was immortalised in the movie starring Sir Michael Caine and Stanley Baker. A special screening will mark the 50th anniversary of its premiere in 1964. Saturday's concert and Monday's film show will raise funds for a £500,000 campaign to buy Brecon's Regimental Museum of The Royal Welsh. The museum is home to 18 Victoria Cross medals - the UK's highest military bravery honour. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-25764266 Welsh Minister visits the Firing Line The Minister for Culture and Sport, John Griffiths, visited the Firing Line museum at Cardiff Castle to learn more about some of the upcoming projects taking place at the Museum. Commemorating over 300 years of service the Firing Line Museum was formed jointly by trustees of the 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards Museum and The Regimental Museum of the Royal Welsh. The museum contains a section dedicated to the First World War and was the location of the launch of Wales's programme commemoration of the First World War - Cymru'n Cofio Wales Remembers 1914-1918 back in November. http://tinyurl.com/otrwome NEWS - UK Treasure hunters found nearly 1,000 items in 2012 Amateur archaeologists with metal detectors found 990 items classified as treasure during 2012, according to figures from the British Museum. All of the rare coins, rings and brooches contain gold or silver, and many date back more than 1,200 years. The public reported more than 74,000 other historical items to the Portable Antiquities Scheme, which experts say has "revolutionised archaeology". More than 900,000 objects have been reported since it started in 1997. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-25748576 Elizabeth Bennett & Carol Whittaker Current Awareness Service Inclusion of third party information in the Museums Current Awareness Service does not constitute an endorsement by CyMAL. CyMAL takes no responsibility for the quality of third party events, products or services featured in this Newsletter. Whilst every care is taken to provide accurate information, neither CyMAL nor the editor undertakes any liability for any error or omission. If you know anyone who would like to be added to the circulation list, or would like a 'hard copy' of the main mailing, or if you don't have access to the internet and need prints from the sites listed - please contact Carol Whittaker. People who currently receive hard copies will continue to do so. Welsh and English versions of the bulletin will remain separate in response to requests from readers. --- Elizabeth Bennett CyMAL: Amgueddfeydd Archifau a Llyfrgelloedd Cymru - CyMAL: Museums Archives and Libraries Wales Llywodraeth Cymru - Welsh Government Rhodfa Padarn, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, SY23 3UR. Ffon/Tel: 0300 062 2101 Fax/Ffacs: 0300 062 2052 e-bost/e-mail: [log in to unmask]