Museum Policy

This section of the website will keep you up-to-date on museum policy developments from the MLA Partnership. Information on the Renaissance programme can be found in the Renaissance section.

Developing a National Strategy for Museums in England

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has tasked the MLA with delivering a unified national strategy for English museums, building on, developing and concluding the process behind 2005’s Understanding the Future: Museums and 21st Century Life, and the 2006 document Understanding the Future: Priorities for England’s Museums. Hedley Swain, the MLA’s Head of Museum Policy is leading this work.

How the strategy is developing

At the MA Conference in October 2007, Roy Clare, Hedley Swain and Alison Hems presented a session for delegates on how the National Strategy for Museums in England is developing. The presentation given by Hedley is below. It outlines the timetable, the vision and what the strategy will address. This isn't the final strategy, but gives an indication of what it will include. If you have any queries in response to this presentation please contact hedley.swain@mla.gov.uk.

National Strategy for Museums in England: MA conference presentation (83KB)

Following preparation of an initial draft before Christmas, and more recent discussion with DCMS, MLA is now preparing a final draft of a national museum strategy for English Museums. The strategy will build round three areas of actions, all of which are complimentary and interlinked:

• developing scholarship and curatorial excellence in order to engage effectively with audiences
• developing a  clear understanding of infrastructure and entitlement to best manage available resources
• developing governance, businesslike working, leadership and entrepreneurship to make museums sustainable and best equipped to deliver their potential.

The proposed timetable is to have the document finished in order to be launched by the Secretary of State at the Museums Association conference in Liverpool from 6th-8th October 2008.