Mentoring support at Staithes Museum

Having faced a fragile financial position, The Minories has massively improved earned income, becoming much less reliant on any one revenue stream. In this episode, I speak to Emma Howe and Darren Smith to discover how they've put The Minories' finances on a much more stable footing.

There's an ambitious capital redevelopment programme underway at Birmingham Botanical Gardens. In this episode, hear how the team have rebuilt the Birmingham Botanical Gardens brand and business resilience from the ground up. Plus, find out what a triple bottom line is. With Sara Blair-Manning and Jen Ridding.

Three Rivers Museum Trust have recently achieved Accredited Museum status after a four year process that was both challenging and rewarding. We spoke to Chair, Fabian Hiscock, and Trustee, Susan North, to hear what they learnt during the process. Fabian and Susan share their key considerations for other volunteer run museums applying for Accreditation for the first time, or for trustees new to the sector and approaching re-Accreditation.

The New Stories New Audiences (NSNA) programme, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and managed by AIM, offered grants of up to £15,000 to smaller museums to tell new stories, work with new partners, and reach new audiences. Across three cohorts, dozens of museums experimented, adapted, and learned. The Mixed Museum created a whole new digital exhibition dedicated to the life and work of Su Andi, working with Su Andi and The Saturday Club to ensure the exhibition is relevant to a younger audience.

Dr Laura Patrick, Regimental Heritage Officer / Director Virtual Military Gallery, Royal Irish Benevolent Fund, applied to AIM Higher for governance training following a rationalisation of the military museums in Northern Ireland. Three regimental museums with six collections and five Boards have been brought together as one museum across two sites with two new Boards; a collections trust Board responsible for all the collections and an operations Board to manage the business side of the museum. Consultant Hilary Barnard supported a review of the governance documents and delivered training with the two newly formed Boards responsible for Virtual Military Gallery. We chatted to Laura about her role in the formation of these two Boards.