Museum development officers

The museum development officers (MDOs) are in place to provide a range of advice and guidance to museums across the region. The support they provide will include museum accreditation, collections, audience development, funding, education and learning and workforce development.

Each MDO supports the museums in one county and each MDO can call on specialist support and advice, as required, from a team of Renaissance East Midlands staff.  

Each MDO should be the first point of call for any regional museum.

The MDOs work with each county’s heritage forum or museums forum to support each forum and individual museums. They will support activity during events like Museums and Galleries Month and they coordinate the Renaissance Heritage Awards.

The MDOs are supported by Museum 2 Business Adviser, Serena Lindsay, to work with a limited number of museums in Objective 2 areas to help them develop business skills –visit the M2B page for more information.

Regional Museum Fund

The museum development officers have access to the Regional Museum Fund offering museums grants of £250 - £3,000 to support their development plans.

The fund is financially supported by Renaissance East Midlands and MLA East Midlands and runs from 1 April - 31 December 2008.

Museums must apply through their county's museum development officer, who will assist in the application and help museums to select the best source of funding for each project.

Grants can be used for improvement schemes, as match funding for bigger projects, to support short term staffing or freelance costs but projects must include new services or improvements to current services.

The fund is open for museums, or groups of museums, but applications must be accompanied by a forward plan and priority will be given to museums working towards accreditation or to maintain accreditation standards.

Applications will be considered on a monthly basis between 1 April and 31 December 2008.

For more information download the guidelines for application below.

Regional Grant Fund guidance 2008-2009 (35 kb)
Regional grant fund application form 2008-09 (37 kb)