Culture Knowledge and Understanding 09.09.11

8/2/2019 Culture Knowledge and Understanding 09.09.11

1/20

Culture,knowledge andunderstanding:great museums

and librariesfor everyone

A compAnion document

to Achieving greAt Artfor everyone


2/20

Page 1

Contents

02 Foreword by Dame Liz Forgan

04 A shared vision

07 Executive summary

09 Today and looking orward

15 Long-term vision and goals28 Our role in the museums andlibraries sectors 201115

31 Our plans 201115

34 Evaluating success

35 Have your say


3/20

Culture, knowledge and understanding: great museums and libraries or everyone

In spring 2011 Arts Council England asked Baroness Morristo provide anindependent view on its strategic ramework,Achieving great art for everyone. Specically, we asked herhow the Arts Council could adjust its vision or the arts in thenext 10 years to embrace the museums and libraries sectorsand serve its new wider sphere o infuence.

We had accepted our new responsibilities with delight but also withcaution. We were conscious o the limited role we could play in thedevelopment o both libraries and museums, under current undingconstraints. We were determined that all the work we had donesetting clear new directions or the arts should not be prejudiced byother calls on our energy and attention. But we were also determinedto do everything possible to support these important institutions,their proud histories and unique collections, and to make the mosto the opportunities presented by the wider cultural remit comingour way. We were thereore reassured by the enthusiasm with which

Estelle approached her review, and excited by the opportunities she saw.In particular, we are grateul to Baroness Morris or so clearlyidentiying both the essential dierences between museums, librariesand the arts, and also the many things they share. Distinctive skills,disciplines and purposes must be understood and respected but thepotential or these three great strands o our culture drawing closertogether is rich in opportunity or artists, scholars, audiences andvisitors o all kinds. The alchemy is in the connection between thepast, the present and the uture; between creative and interpretativeskills; between reading, seeing, hearing and thinking; betweendierent aspects o the cultural lie o the nation and its citizens.

Pages 2/3

But the key test o this vision can only be whether the public hasaccess to better museums, libraries and arts experiences as a result.As I argued in my oreword toAchieving great art for everyone,excellence must be our guiding star. For museums and libraries, aswith the arts, we will unashamedly ocus our support on the mostexcellent; we will seek out originality and innovation, curatorial andscholarly endeavour, inspiring interpretation and real engagementwith people and communities.

In the current scal squeeze, it is perhaps no surprise that peoplesometimes question the role o public unding in culture, seeing it asan add-on or nice to have in straightened times. I would ercelyargue the counter: that the arts and culture are absolutely central tothe lie o the nation, and that every individual should have the rightto experience their richness as part o their lie experience, personaldevelopment and wellbeing. I would go urther, and say that at timeso diculty, they are even more important, but that this is why publicunders must be stringent in demanding excellence.

This is the challenge handed to the Arts Council as we take upa broader cultural baton: to support and encourage our culturalinstitutions to provide the public with simply the best possible. Withinthis shared purpose, I believe that arts organisations, museums andlibraries are well placed to claim their rightul place as an essentialpart o civil society.

foreword

dame liz forgan,Chair, Arts Council England
http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/publication_archive/review-arts-councils-strategic-framework/http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/publication_archive/review-arts-councils-strategic-framework/http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/about-us/a-strategic-framework-for-the-arts/http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/about-us/a-strategic-framework-for-the-arts/http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/about-us/a-strategic-framework-for-the-arts/http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/about-us/a-strategic-framework-for-the-arts/http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/about-us/a-strategic-framework-for-the-arts/http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/publication_archive/review-arts-councils-strategic-framework/


4/20

Culture, knowledge and understanding: great museums and libraries or everyone Pages 4/5

a shared vision

alan davey,Chief Executive, Arts Council England

Arts Council England has, over many years, developed manyareas o expertise: distributing Treasury and Lottery unding toenable the artistic lie o the nation to fourish; developing thearts and the public appetite or all that they can oer; and takinga central role in cultural leadership and advocacy. I think we areat the heart o what this country is about curiosity, challenge,creativity, free expression, an appreciation of beauty and acapacity for wonder, ensuring the arts are there and can helppeople understand the world they live in and approach.

In December 2010, when the Secretary o State or Culture askedus to take on the museums and libraries responsibilities that theMuseums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) had ullled, weaccepted with excitement, tinged with nervousness, recognisingthe many opportunities i we get it right.

The arts have in many ways changed and shaped my lie, but whenI think about it, so have museums and libraries. I remember well the

local library where I grew up and the thrill o having your own ticketsand being allowed to choose your own books: the transition to theadult library and the place where I ound the space to read and study:the place where I ound a Greek/English text o The Odyssey, adoredthe story in English and vowed one day to read ancient Greek. I alsoremember the local museum with its reconstructed period streetand strange household objects rom beyond my grandparents time;it made the history o where I came rom live.

So actually, my lie has been shaped by the whole spectrum oarts, museums and libraries what in bureaucratic terms we cansay is a single cultural oer. It makes sense and it will make senseas we represent these sectors together going orwards.

Since we were asked to take on these new responsibilities wevebeen working hard to integrate them and this autumn a new cohorto expert sta is joining us as we begin to take up the reins romthe MLA. As part o the process we have been listening careully topeople working in museums and libraries, as well as in the arts sothat we can begin to understand their particular needs and prioritiesand articulate what our new broader role will mean.

We had a strong context within which to approach the exercise, having

recently completed a major strategic review in partnership with the artssector. Achieving great art for everyone, published in November 2010,provides a ramework o ambition or the Arts Council, setting out theelds in which we want public subsidy to ensure that rst o all excellentart happens, and that people can experience it.

So the challenge became: was the ramework robust enough toaccommodate our new, wider responsibilities and to guide thework we would do with museums and libraries? Where did it needadjusting? We asked Baroness Morris to give us an external viewo this and her report was published in the summer. Meanwhile,we carried on talking and listening.

This companion document to our strategic ramework representsthe culmination o these initial conversations. It is meant to be readalongside the original, but also to stand alone. It ocuses on museumsand libraries, and how the long-term goals we established to guide

our investment in the arts will be modied to guide our work withmuseums and libraries. In particular, it claries the ramework orthe decisions we will make or the remainder o this spending period.It also starts to explore some o the benets and opportunities ormuseums and libraries and the arts in being able to work across awider cultural ootprint.
http://[email protected]/http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/publication_archive/review-arts-councils-strategic-framework/http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/publication_archive/review-arts-councils-strategic-framework/http://[email protected]/


5/20


Unlike Achieving great art for everyone, which was built on twoyears o consultation, this document is not a nal statement. Whilewe can provide relative clarity about our directions in the short-term,we recognise we have a lot to do to get the best out o an alliancebetween the arts, museums and libraries in the long-term. So wehope that what is set down here is viewed more as an initial marker,a shared starting point that will prompt longer, deeper conversationsover the coming year to inorm how we position a single vision orthe arts and culture into the next spending period. In uture, we donot expect to publish separate rameworks or the arts and or museumsand libraries, but beore we can bring them together, we must dothe proper groundwork.

Alongside this document, we are publishing a number o pieces owork that have inormed it, notably areview o evidencethat weundertook both to amiliarise ourselves with the landscape and toinorm our research work in uture. We hope that, in combination,they convey the opportunities we can glimpse, and the excitement weeel about a single vision placing the arts, museums and librariesat the heart o civic lie and serving the public in a simpler, moreconnected and powerul way.

Arts Council England is the lead body charged with developingthe arts in England.In October 2011, we will add museumsand libraries to our responsibilities. As with the arts, this willsee us championing, developing and investing in museums andlibraries so that peoples lives can be shaped and enriched byartistic and cultural experiences and knowledge.

A 10-year strategic ramework

In November 2010, the Arts Council publishedAchieving great art foreveryone, a strategic ramework or our work over the next 10 yearsthat will encourage shared purpose and partnerships across the arts.This companion document is our rst attempt to integrate museumsand libraries into this ramework. It is designed to provide certainty asto the programmes the Arts Council will run rom 201115 whilesoliciting urther debate about the directions we should take in thelonger term.

Long-term goals

At the heart o the ramework are ve 10-year goals, the substanceo which have been adapted to refect the needs and priorities ormuseums and libraries and sit alongside our existing goals or the arts:

Goal1:Excellenceisthrivingandcelebratedinmuseumsandlibraries Goal2:Morepeopleexperienceandareinspiredbymuseums

and libraries Goal3:Museumsandlibrariesaresustainable,resilient

and innovative

eXeCutive summary

Pages 6/7
http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/about-us/a-strategic-framework-for-the-arts/http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/publication_archive/museums-and-libraries-research-review/http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/publication_archive/museums-and-libraries-research-review/http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/about-us/a-strategic-framework-for-the-arts/http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/about-us/a-strategic-framework-for-the-arts/http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/about-us/a-strategic-framework-for-the-arts/http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/about-us/a-strategic-framework-for-the-arts/http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/publication_archive/museums-and-libraries-research-review/http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/about-us/a-strategic-framework-for-the-arts/


6/20


today and lookingforward

Goal4:Theleadershipandworkforceinmuseumsandlibrariesarediverse and highly skilled.

Goal5:Everychildandyoungpersonhastheopportunitytoexperience the richness o museums and libraries.

This section sets out why the Arts Council believes each goal is animportant area o work and what we will do to deliver it.

Our role and plans 201115This section describes how the Arts Council sees its role in museumsand libraries in the short-term, and the ways in which we will champion,develop and invest in these sectors. Itprovides details o theprogrammes the Arts Council will run rom 201115 including theFuture Libraries programme, Renaissance in the Regions, the standardsand cultural property unctions that will transer and the projects thatthe MLA had put in place in celebration o the London 2012 Olympicand Paralympic Games.

Working together or change

In the long-term, we expect that Arts Council England will nothave separate strategies or museums, libraries and the arts. Wewill use the same ramework to drive all o our programmes and

inorm all o our unding decisions. We will evaluate our successusing common goals or museums, libraries and the arts, and willestablish a robust evidence base that can inorm our policy-makingand demonstrate public value in what we und.

In the short-term, however, we believe that we must rst refecton the diversity o our extended remit to understand ully thespecic challenges and opportunities acing museums and libraries.We welcome your responses to this document, which we hoperepresents a shared starting point or our uture work together.

The landscape

Englands museum sector has grown organically over the lasttwo hundred years and currently numbers some 1,600 individualorganisations. It is extraordinarily diverse, with no one typicalmuseum or museum type. A great strength o the sector is thisdiversity, and the range o unding, governance, collections,sta and interpretation methods within it. Some museums have seenspectacular improvements in the last 15 years. A number o actorshave resulted in buildings being revitalised, extended and rebuilt,learning and education programmes growing in quality and stature,and innovative public programmes inspiring more people. A newoptimism, entrepreneurial spirit and leadership have emerged amongmuseum sta. A wealth o statistics, some o which we explore inthe accompanying evidence review, show how this transormation

has had a major impact on audiences.

Englands library sector is similarly diverse, comprising thousandso public, academic, urther education and school libraries, aswell as private and specialist libraries. Together, this country-wideinrastructure oers cultural content, inormation and knowledgeto users locally, nationally and globally. Although public librarieshave seen a decrease in the numbers o people borrowing books,evidence shows that where there has been strategic investment suchas in promoting childrens reading visits rise. And patterns o use

Pages 8/9
http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/publication_archive/museums-and-libraries-research-review/http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/publication_archive/museums-and-libraries-research-review/


7/20


are changing, with a signicant increase in users accessing servicesdigitally. Libraries have innovated in response, oering enhanced digitalprovision and actively promoting libraries as local social spaces whichcan draw in and support new users. Unlike museums or the arts,dierences in peoples socio-economic status do not aect theirlikelihood o using a library; neither does illness or having a disability.

The nancial pressures acing public, school and academic librariesin the last two years has driven communities to acknowledge their

importance and value, oten in dramatic ways.

Indeed, it is a challenging climate: changes in museums and librariesthemselves and in the way their users are living their lives would besucient reason or continued development. Changes in society bringurther pressing challenges, with the economic downturn continuingto catalyse a ar-reaching reorm o public services. Even or those notat the oreront o new and dierent approaches to delivery in localauthorities, it is clear that the pace o change requires ever greaterresilience and adaptability rom individual services and a more emphaticand collective demonstration o public value.

Achieving excellence

Excellence underpinsAchieving great art for everyone. Ourconversations with the museums and libraries sectors have shown

that excellence is, o course, equally important to them. Theexcellence o their collections and the scholarship that goes withthem is the springboard rom which other things come.

Excellence is not easy to achieve. Economic pressures require an evermore eective and determined use o investment to care or, updateand redisplay collections and to continue to promote the research andscholarship that sits at the heart o many museums and libraries.Economic pressures equally require a commitment to innovation andservice development, which in turn demands a better understanding opublic interests and needs. Communities increasingly want to be ableto access knowledge, inormation and collections online as well ason-site; they want to participate in the interpretation o collections;they want to discuss and debate the issues raised and share theirviews with others. Many o the challenges these trends present are

shared across the arts, but some are very specic to museums andlibraries as they navigate their way between traditional and emergingpractices. For example, the success o the negotiations betweenlibraries and publishers to provide public access to e-books is criticalto the ongoing innovation o the library service; so too is the livedebate in museums about the way they preserve, record, develop andprovide access to their collections particularly those not on display.

Connecting with people

One measure o excellence in museums and libraries is in the degreeo their engagement with people, which is critically dependent on thequality o the experiences they oer and the depth and authenticityo those experiences. Many have a long track record in this respectand have done much to engage diverse audiences. The role librariesplay as inormation and learning resources to help create empoweredand inormed citizens and promote equality o opportunity is evidentin the breadth o their audience. There is a big opportunity or librariesto lead the way in increasing engagement across the cultural sectors.

Whilst there is much to celebrate, there are no grounds or complacency.Museums and libraries share with the arts the need to continue tobroaden access, and many common challenges exist. Demographicchanges, a growing and ageing population, dierent consumptiontastes and patterns accelerated by new technology, and the changing

needs o users, are all creating new demands and pressures.

The Arts Council is keen to see museums and libraries continuingto innovate in their approaches to engaging with communitiesand making more eective use o volunteers; we are keen to seethem working together to achieve this. We see real opportunities toachieve economies o scale and greater impact where museums andlibraries are innovating in digital media to promote their programmes,or sharing their assets in collaboration with one another and withexternal partners. We also see opportunities or the sectors to sharetheir data and knowledge about users and non-users and to promoteeach others work more eectively to support people who wantto learn. Finally, we see great advantage and opportunity in the artsbeing able to learn rom the very important role that museums andlibraries play in promoting lielong learning, particularly or older people.

Pages 10/11
http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/about-us/a-strategic-framework-for-the-arts/http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/about-us/a-strategic-framework-for-the-arts/


8/20


concerns that museums and libraries share with the arts take onadded signicance in organisations that have to plan or a long-termsustainable approach to the care o collections. And the economicthreat to the smaller museums and libraries, particularly in rural areas,will need our particular attention; although, here, the joining upo cultural and arts provision within the Arts Council may oer sharedlearning and opportunities that could benet everyone.

Changing lives and communities

The role museums and libraries play in relation to a broader range opublic outcomes (health, education, return to work) is likely to take ona new importance in a context o widespread public reorm, as wellas strengthening the case we can make or the importance o culturalservices to civic lie. It will be very valuable or the arts to draw onthe partnering skills that museums and libraries have developed andtheir experience o innovating in the ace o change. It is this contexto change that requires a new emphasis on dynamic sector leadersand a willingness to embed responsiveness into governance, deliveryand management structures. Whilst the Arts Council is committed topromoting the specialist expertise that sits at the heart o museumsand libraries, we recognise that we must also support these sectorsto embrace new skills and knowledge and greater capacity to adaptto change.

A urther challenge or museums and libraries will be to ensure thattheir workorces are more refective o the communities they serve.Whilst these sectors have concentrated to great eect in broadeningaudiences, the diversity o the workorce remains a challenge. Pocketso best practice have the potential to show the way; we will be seekingto identiy and promote these examples as we tackle the sharedchallenges o pushing or equality o access to the training, work andcareer opportunities that our unding supports.

Future resilience and sustainability

The issues outlined in Achieving great art for everyone are as applicableto museums and libraries as they are to the arts; bluntly, economicdownturn is a reality or everyone. But a key dierence between them isthat a large part o the museums and libraries sector is more vulnerableto the changes occurring at a local level, with budgets reducing andlocal authorities looking or new delivery models. Some local authoritiesare considering outsourcing, merging or handing over servicesto others; some are reducing investment and introducing shorterhours or sta reductions; a ew are closing museums and libraries.Independent university and volunteer-run museums and librariesare equally under pressure as government and private investment isreduced and as people have less money to spend on leisure activities.

In this context, the Arts Councils commitment to quality is as validor museums and libraries as it is or the arts, since this is whatwill shore up their long-term public value. So too is its ambition tostrengthen a mixed economy or culture. Museums and librariessimilarly need to strengthen their business models, diversiy theirincome streams and look at new ways o encouraging private givingand supporting enterprise. Likewise, they need to continue to explorenew ways o collaborating and improving eciency in order to thrivenot just survive. For the Arts Council, the imperative to enhance ourrole as an investor that understands how to support and position artsand culture becomes even greater. We will have responsibility or, butrelatively ew unds to invest in, museums and libraries. Those undswe have will have to work hard, as catalysts or change, alongside thecore unding provided by others, such as local authorities, with whomwe will work even more closely.

There are other specic challenges or museums and libraries. Thedigital agenda is a challenge and opportunity across the arts, museumsand libraries, but the co-existence o digital and print-based ormspresents a special challenge or libraries, with users wanting toaccess books and inormation in dierent ways. The environmental

Pages 12/13


9/20


The next creative generation

Achieving great art for everyone makes the case that young peopleare leading the way in engaging with new technology, equipping themto make and debate their own arts, break boundaries between artorms and pioneer new sources o knowledge. This is amiliar territoryor museums and libraries, many o which have been active earlyadopters o technology as a means o engaging and delivering servicesto young people. There is still more work to do to help young audiencesuse these resources to support their own learning and development.For example, many museums use websites to provide access to a widerange o inormation, but ew have yet moved onto creating deeperand more innovative opportunities or digital engagement at a personaland creative level. In this, museums and libraries ace similar challengesto the arts with regards to their young audiences.

In other respects, museums and libraries can clearly lead the way.In recent years, libraries have successully invested in work withthe youngest o audiences, knowing that being able to read atan early age critically enhances later success in lie. Libraries andmuseums play an essential role in supporting learning, both in andoutside the classroom. Beyond supporting school-based learning,they also provide sae and inspiring spaces or many young people places in which to meet riends or start to explore their own creativeand intellectual interests and gain a broader understanding o theirown world and that o other people. We know that they are well usedand highly valued, providing young people with access to stimulatingexperiences, collections, books, inormation, music, lms, activities andthe internet. They help with the transition to adult lie, too providingaccess to inormation and advice and support or lielong learning.

Focusing our eorts behind long-term change

As the Arts Council publishes this document, it has yet to take on itsnew responsibilities. Even when this happens, in October 2011, werecognise how much we will still have to learn. And as with the arts, weare clear that all o the Arts Councils aspirations depend on collaborationwith unded organisations. But we also eel that it is important that wecan articulate a clear understanding o the unique role we will play, thestrategic vision behind our work and some clear goals and priorities.

Arts Council England is the lead body charged with developingthe arts in England. As o 1 October 2011, it adds the ollowingresponsibilities to its remit:

librariesdevelopmentandimprovement RenaissanceintheRegionsfundingprogrammeforregionalmuseums museumsdevelopmentandimprovement,includinganumber

o programmes intended to support and develop the standardso museums across the UK (Accreditation, Designation and theprovision o national security advice)

anumberofstatutoryculturalpropertyfunctionsthatMLAcarriedout on behal o the Department or Culture, Media and Sport(Acceptance in Lieu, Export Licensing and the administration o theGovernment Indemnity Scheme)

anumberofMLA-initiated2012LondonOlympicandParalympic

Games programmes.In reviewing these changes to our remit, we have considered thechanges needed to our mission, vision and goals.

long-term visionand goals

Pages 14/15


10/20


Mission

Our mission is great art or everyone.

Our expanding remit will see us championing, developing and investing inmuseums and libraries, so that peoples lives can be shaped and enrichedby artistic and cultural experiences and knowledge.

Vision

Our vision is o England as a world-leading creative and cultural nation.In 2021 the arts and cultural landscape is thriving, with museumsand libraries playing an active and central role. Our organisations areinternationally renowned or their excellence and leadership diversenew work and knowledge is being created, disseminated and enjoyed;collections are being conserved, sustainably managed, displayed,interpreted, discussed and shared; cultural and artistic orms are evolvingand there are more opportunities or cross-ertilising and sharing ideasand practice; artists, scholars, sta and the public can develop theircreative talent and knowledge; growing audiences are engaging withand helping to shape the arts and culture in new and inspiring ways.

Arts organisations, museums and libraries are at the heart o society,valued and used by local communities across the country. Libraries rolein providing access to and interpretation o high quality inormation aswell as literature and other art orms is recognised. Arts organisations,museums and libraries are the bedrock o the creative, local and touristeconomies, contributing to the nations prosperity, its sense o identityand its international reputation.

Large and small arts organisations, museums and libraries make up astrong ecology that achieves more impact through greater collaborationand innovation.

Arts Council England contributes to a resilient mixed economysupporting arts organisations, museums and libraries, which also drawsupport rom a wide range o public and private unding sources.Artists and organisations have responded with commitment andbrilliance to the challenges o the decade, including environmentaland technological change.

Above all, there is a sense that outstanding arts and cultural experiencesbelong to and are available to everyone. They are unmissable; they oer

unique experiences, insights and opportunities. Whatever your ageor circumstances, there are ways to participate, to nd out more and toget involved.

Long-term goals

We plan to ocus our activity, working with and alongside manypartners, to achieve a small number o long-term goals. We haveadapted the substance o the goals to refect the needs and prioritieso museums and libraries and to sit alongside our existing goals orthe arts. They will guide our work with these two new sectors.


11/20

Pages 18/19Culture, knowledge and understanding: great museums and libraries or everyone

exll s alba ssa lbas

Goal 1

What will we do?

We will ocus our investment on those excellent and orwardthinking museums and libraries best able to drive innovation,care or their collections and share learning. We will supportthose looking to expand their horizons, whether throughambitious programming, new ways o engaging people orinternational partnerships that bring new collections andinsights to communities.

We will work with partners to champion and support thesustainable development o the collections and scholarshipthat sit at the heart o our most excellent museums andlibraries. We will promote research and curatorship and therole played by many dierent kinds o experts in bringingcollections and knowledge to lie.

We will support those museums and libraries at the oreronto embracing diversity through co-production with users, givingpriority to those who are developing their oer in consultationand partnership with the people using their services.

We will build on good practice in supporting and enhancingexcellent standards in museums and libraries. We will lookto learn rom this best practice to explore benefts or the artsas we review and develop our own standards programmes.

Lastly, we will support purposeul partnerships across the arts,museums and libraries to drive up the excellence o all. Wewill invest in those artists, organisations and collaborationsexploring the boundaries between dierent cultural ormsor between art and science or art and technology and the waysin which dierent intellectual starting points can illuminatedierent perspectives and create new audiences or the benefto all.

Why this goal?

Feedback rom our conversations suggests that or museums and

libraries, as much as or the arts, it is the quality, range and relevanceo the oer, and the imaginative programmes that involve and engagepeople with it that is the oundation o their ongoing success. Someo our museums and libraries are recognised as being among thenest in the world and we want all our museums and libraries to taketheir place with the nest. But as with the arts, excellence does not

just happen; it requires a steadast commitment, particularly at timeso economic hardship. Without this commitment, the achievementso museums and libraries would diminish and audiences would suer.


12/20


m lxa a sb ssa lbas

Goal 2

Why this goal?

Museums and libraries enrich peoples lives. They play a critical rolein creating empowered and inormed citizens and they hold anincalculable importance within places and communities, promotingunderstanding and cohesion and inspiring pride. Everyone shouldhave the right to benet rom the collections and knowledge thatpublic unding supports within museums and libraries.

What will we do?

We will build on the role that museums and libraries play at theheart o communities, inspiring civic pride, a sense o place andmaking a valuable contribution to local economies by drivingvisits and tourism.

We will support museums and libraries work with communities,learning rom their work with the public as active partnersand creators. We will consider how the arts might beneft romthe culture o volunteering that sustains many museums andlibraries links with their local audiences.

We will place museums and libraries at the heart o our workwith the people and places o least cultural engagement,looking to learn rom the success o libraries in attractingpeople that the arts fnd it hard to reach and encouragingcross-cultural partnerships.

We will develop our touring and digital work to encompassmuseums and libraries and encourage a greater sharingo collections and assets, extend reach and generate richerexperiences or audiences.

We will embrace the lielong learning work that museums andlibraries have led the way on, building this into our broaderwork with the arts. We will champion the importance o creativeexperiences to peoples wellbeing and development and the roleaccess to knowledge and inormation plays in supporting andinspiring these.


13/20


mss albas assaabl,sl aa

Goal 3

Why this goal?

Public investment in museums and libraries is reducing and thereare many changes happening in the communities they serve.The uture growth and success o museums and libraries dependson them adapting to these changes. It depends on the Arts Councilworking in partnership with co-unders to make the case or properuture investment.

What will we do?

We will strengthen our relationships with the co-underswho are so critical to museums and libraries, especially localgovernment, the heritage sector, higher education and privatebeneactors.

We will support, encourage and promote those museums andlibraries that are the most innovative and enterprising, buildingstrong business-like models rom which others can learn.We will champion a debate with others about the uture omuseum and library services.

We will work with partners, including government, toencourage and enable a higher level o private giving to thearts and culture, advancing our work around philanthropyto embrace our wider role. We will encourage those museumsand libraries built on the philanthropic donations o anearlier age to continue these proud histories, emphasising theimportant role o local people and communities as champions,advocates and undraisers.

At a time o unding reduction the duty to make maximum useo physical and human resources buildings and expertise ispressing. We will encourage networking, collaboration andpartnership across museums, libraries and the arts, to stimulatelocal innovation, share learning and capture efciencies.


14/20


t lasa wka s al skll

Goal 4

Why this goal?

Unless the museums and libraries workorce is diverse and highlyskilled, it will not reach its potential. To make an enduring contributionto civic lie, museums and libraries must be staed by people whoboth refect and can inspire the communities that they serve. Diversityin the workorce is important to museums and libraries buildingdiverse collections and developing new perspectives. And the ongoingdevelopment o an ever-wider range o skills is essential to enablingthese sectors to adapt to change.

What will we do?

We will act as a steadast champion o diversity across the arts,museums and libraries, ocusing in particular on creating equalopportunities to enter these workorces.

We will encourage skills development, collaborative workingand knowledge sharing, seeking to ensure that mainstreamunding responds to the training needs o museums andlibraries. In this, we will encourage museums and libraries toembrace a wide range o skills while recognising and rereshingthe expertise that has traditionally sustained them.

We will renew our commitment to leadership development,exploring what constitutes excellent, honest, courageous andadaptive leadership across our wider remit.

We will learn rom museums and libraries work withcommunities, particularly those museums and libraries that areembedding these skills in new, more responsive and diversegovernance and delivery models.

We will build cultural advocacy skills across the arts, museumsand libraries, so that the people working in them can becomemore confdent collectively in winning support or thecontribution that the arts and culture sectors can make to society.


15/20


e la s as x ss ss

a lbas

Goal 5

Why this goal?

Museums and libraries contribute to the development and well-beingo children and young people. They provide learning resources andexperiences that can uel childrens curiosity and critical capacity, aswell as helping them to challenge and understand their place in theworld. Access to the knowledge, experiences and treasures withinour museums and libraries is every childs birthright. This is essentialto inspiring uture audiences and the next creative generation.

What will we do?

We will initiate a debate about what constitutes excellent artsand cultural provision or children and young people by buildinga shared quality ramework that draws on models like InspiringLearning or All.

We will argue or a coherent and targeted approach to highquality arts and cultural provision or young people, workingwith national and local government, unded arts and culturalorganisations, museums, libraries and other partners, schoolsand higher and urther education institutions.

We will ask the newly established group o Bridge organisationswithin our national portolio o unded organisations to pioneernew relationships between education, the arts, museumsand libraries.

We will use Renaissance and our investment in partners tobuild on the world-leading practice in museums and libraries,looking to share learning across the arts about those brilliantprogrammes that have been inspired by, and produced or,with and by children and young people.

We will adapt our children and young peoples programmesArtsmark and Arts Award to promote this best practice.


16/20


The purpose o the Arts Councils strategic ramework is to setout what we want to achieve over the long-term. However,we will continue to set out the operational detail o what wedo according to the unding cycle set by central government.The next Arts Council Plan will be published in autumn 2011and will cover the period 201115.

When we publishedAchieving great art for everyone, which wasbuilt on extensive consultation, we were sure both o our long-termstrategy and our short-term priorities. This companion documentis dierent in that we want discussion to continue to stimulateour long-term thinking but at the same time we want to providecertainty as to our short-term priorities. These next two sectionsthereore describe our policy in some detail or the period 201115,throughout which we will continue to integrate museums and librariesmore ully into our work in time to make the case or the nextspending period (201518).

Our role

A partnership approach is undamental to the successul delivery oour strategy: serious engagement with long-term ambition requiresshared purpose and joint eort. This is particularly the case or theArts Council in the museum and library sectors as we will have morelimited unds to invest. We have thereore thought very careullyabout how we can work most eectively across our three roles ochampioning, developing and investing to achieve the most impact.With libraries, or example, our immediate ocus will be on publiclibraries but the wider library sector will eature in our thinking aswe develop an approach to supporting the whole library sector.

Championing museums and libraries

We will ocus our museums advocacy work on the regionalmuseums that benet rom the Renaissance unding programme,working with partners such as the Association o IndependentMuseums, the Museums Association and the National MuseumsDirectors Conerence to build a compelling excellence agendaor regional museums to which all museums can contribute. Wewill look to build partnerships, good practice and evidence to help usmake the case or the continuation o the Renaissance programmeinto the period 201518.

Similarly, with libraries, we will ocus our advocacy work on publiclibraries. We will work with partners such as the Local GovernmentGroup, the Society o Chie Librarians and the Chartered Instituteo Library and Inormation Proessionals to develop clear messagesabout the public value libraries can provide and a shared vision orthe library service in 10 years time. We will build our knowledgeand skills to argue or libraries contribution to outcomes acrossgovernment into the period 201518 as part o our wider voiceor culture.

our role in themuseums andlibraries seCtors

201115
http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/about-us/a-strategic-framework-for-the-arts/http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/about-us/a-strategic-framework-for-the-arts/http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/about-us/a-strategic-framework-for-the-arts/


17/20


Developing museums and libraries

Our development work tends to be ocused on the most pressingissues we identiy within the goals. Our frst task in relation tomuseums and libraries will thereore be to continue to gatherintelligence and capitalise on the incoming expertise o museums andlibraries sta to improve our picture o current and uture challengesand opportunities. We will also act in response to eedback that weneed to move quickly with regard to the ollowing issues.

For regional museums, we will ocus on developing resilience andempowering leadership. We will work hard to strengthen networkswithin the sector, both by positioning the various unding streamsand programmes we will be running within a coherent and connectedramework, and by looking to build relationships, or example betweennational and regional museums. We will also lay the oundations ora strong inrastructure or learning and knowledge transer.

Our development work or libraries will ocus on promoting excellence, strengthening the reading, inormation and learning role o libraries;developing new ways or people to access the cultural knowledgeand experiences that libraries oer and identiying innovative andeective ways o responding to the challenges which the sector willace in the years ahead. Again, we will work in partnership to achievethis, as well as using our wider remit to encourage better long-termlocal partnerships between libraries, museums and the arts.

Investing in museums and libraries

As with the arts, we will use the ve goals as a ramework or ourunding decisions and to establish clear relationships with those weund. For museums, we will use Renaissance to drive developmentand deliver excellence in Englands regional museums, ocusing inparticular on strengthening the oundations o excellence, resilienceand leadership in 201215. For libraries, we will ocus our resourceson research and supporting innovation and leadership; the FutureLibraries programme will be a key tool in delivering improvements.

The year 2011/12 is a transitional year, with most sta andprogrammes being transerred rom MLA to the Arts Council in October2011. We have been working closely with the MLA since the beginningo 2011 to ensure the smooth transition o those programmes thatwill transer without any change in scope (the standards programmes,the cultural property unctions and the plans MLA had put in placein celebration o the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games).At the same time, we have been ocusing on the implementationo new approaches to Renaissance and the library development andimprovement agenda and we will start to implement these plans romthe date o publishing this document.

Our plans or Renaissance and museum development

Renaissance in the Regions was launched in 2002 to bring abouttangible change in the ambition and quality o regional museums

across the country. An independent review o the programme waspublished in July 2009, ollowing which the MLA put orward avision or the next stage. The Arts Councils brie was to carry theseplans orward in the most appropriate way, with a budget o 43mper annum or 201215. The Arts Council will look to build on theachievements o the programme so ar, using the ve goals set outin this document, to drive development and encourage excellence inregional museums.

our plans 201115

Pages 30/31


18/20


For 201215, the our strands o Renaissance will be:

aprogrammeofmajorgrants astrategicsupportfund abodyofnationalprogrammes analstrandthatunderpinstheArtsCouncils

commitment to museum development.

The national programmes are among those responsibilities transerring

on 1 October 2011, and will continue as beore. They support themuseum inrastructure and include the Accreditation and Designationprogrammes and the provision o national security advice. In addition,Arts Council England will maintain the commitment to the V&APurchase Grant Fund and PRISM. Many o these programmes areUK-wide, oering benet to the countries outside England, and somesupport other sectors, such as archives.

We will take a new approach to the other three strands, starting withthe launch o a major grant programme. This will begin with an openapplication process, similar to the Arts Councils National Portolioprogramme. It will look or a group o regional museums with theappetite and capacity to play a wider leadership role in developingexcellence across the museum sector. The application process will openin September 2011 and conclude early in 2012.

The Arts Council will develop a complementary unding stream similarto the MLAs plans or a challenge und. This will take eect later in

2012 and will target those development gaps within the Arts Councilsve goals that are not addressed by the recipients o major grants.

Finally, a strong commitment to museum development will bemaintained, with 3m investment; Arts Council England will seethrough the plans the MLA had been developing to strengthen theinrastructure in this important area.

Our plans or libraries

Our rst action will be to develop the Future Libraries programme.Building on the partnership approach that has characterised theprogramme so ar, the Arts Council will run a two-stage approach, over18 months, rom autumn 2011 to the end o March 2013, with therst stage delivered in partnership with the Local Government Group(LGG). This will ocus on the immediate challenges aced by libraries inthe current climate, and the LGG will identiy a number o authoritiesor the Arts Council to support in implementing the ideas and bestpractice that came out o the original programme. The learning will bedeveloped into expert guidance, which can be played into the secondstage, which will ocus on long-term goals, strengthening the sectorand encouraging partnerships and innovation at a local level.

Our plans to integrate museums, libraries and the arts

At the same time as rolling out these dedicated museum andlibrary unding programmes and services, we will look to all o ourprogrammes and investments to consider where an integratedapproach would work best or all. Focusing in particular on ourparticipation and children and young people work, we will pilotprogrammes that look to encourage collaboration betweenmuseums, libraries and arts organisations, exploring theopportunities that can be grasped through an integrated approach.

We hope that children and young people could particularly benetrom this, but also that a more joined-up sector could considerablyenhance the inormal learning oer or people throughout their lives.

Pages 32/33


19/20


Since the publication oAchieving great art for everyone, we haveworked hard to develop a perormance management ramework thatwe will use to help us evaluate whether we are succeeding in whatwe set out to do. The unding agreements we have negotiated withour National Portolio organisations will enable us to gather consistentinormation and a coherent body o evidence, which will in turn driveour case or investment at the next spending review. Our plan is tointegrate museums and libraries into this work.

We will also use the perormance management ramework to renewour commitment to research over the next 10 years. The evidencereview published alongside this document is our frst analysiso the evidence base or museums and libraries, its strengths andshortcomings, and how we need to strengthen the way in whichevidence is collected shared and used by museums and libraries. It alsoidenties some possible areas or uture research. As with theLong-term vision and goals section o this document, we welcome

your views on our analysis so ar.

evaluating suCCess

We will run an inormal consultation, rom September 2011to the end o March 2012, as part o the continual processo getting to know our new stakeholders. During this period,we will:

engagewiththemuseumsandlibrariessectorsthroughtheprogrammes we are implementing, specically Renaissance andthe Future Libraries programme

workwithkeypartnersliketheAssociationofIndependentMuseums, the Museums Association, the National MuseumsDirectors Conerence, the University Museums Group, the LocalGovernment Group, the Society o Chie Librarians and theChartered Institute o Library and Inormation Proessionals toconsult with the wider constituencies they represent

continuetotakeanactiveroleinmeetingsandconferencestackling issues relevant to museums and libraries

encourageanactiveengagementwithstakeholdersatalocal

level, including by running a urther programme o regionalconversations in spring 2012.

This programme will see us actively soliciting debate about thecontents o this document. In addition, we welcome individualresponses. What else should we be considering as we plan orthe next 10 years? What challenges and opportunities have weunderplayed or not yet identied? What are your issues and views?

You can get in touch by emailing:[email protected] look orward to hearing rom you.

have your say

Pages 34/35
http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/about-us/a-strategic-framework-for-the-arts/http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/publication_archive/museums-and-libraries-research-review/http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/publication_archive/museums-and-libraries-research-review/http://[email protected]/http://[email protected]/http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/publication_archive/museums-and-libraries-research-review/http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/publication_archive/museums-and-libraries-research-review/http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/about-us/a-strategic-framework-for-the-arts/


20/20


Arts Council England14 Great Peter StreetLondon SW1P 3NQ

www.artscouncil.org.ukEmail: [email protected]: 0845 300 6200Textphone: 020 7973 6564

Charity registration no 1036733

You can get this publication in Braille,in large print, on audio CD and in electronicormats. Please contact us i you need anyo these ormats.

ISBN: 978-0-7287-1504-2

Arts Council England, September 2011

We are committed to being open and

accessible. We welcome all comments onour work. You can get in touch by emailing:[email protected]

Acknowledgement: this publication is theresult o the generous advice and thoughtuland expert contributions o many peopleworking in museums and libraries.

Written, edited and produced by Arts CouncilEngland, with thanks to MLA colleagues.

Design: Blastwww.blast.co.uk
http:///reader/full/http//:[email protected]:///reader/full/http//:[email protected]

Culture Knowledge and Understanding 09.09.11

Documents

Transcript of Culture Knowledge and Understanding 09.09.11