Museum Accreditation advice
Important: Following the outbreak of COVID-19, Arts Council England paused the Accreditation scheme between April 2020 and October 2021. It is now taking a phased approach to re-opening the scheme in England.
Details and answers to Frequently Asked Questions about this phased re-opening here.
Applying for Museum Accreditation
Arts Council England administers the Museum Accreditation scheme (external link). Guidance documents on the scheme and information on eligibility and how to apply are on the Arts Council England website (external link).
In the first instance and before completing an Eligibility Questionnaire, please make sure that you contact the MDO for your area of London using this link.
Renewing your Accreditation status
The latest Return Schedule for invitations and deadlines has been published up as far as Sept 2024 deadlines and a further update is expected later in 2024.
If your museum is not yet on the list, you do not need to wait for this to begin preparing for your return, especially if you know you have policies and plans that are due for a review or update soon. See Maintaining the requirements of the Accreditation standard between returns for more information about what you can prepare in advance.
Support
Museum Development Officer teams (MDOs) across the UK provide advice on museum accreditation in their region. In London, the Museum Development Officers provide this support as part of their general advice-giving role and currently can do this through online meetings, over the phone, or through site visits. The following MDOs can offer localised guidance on the accreditation process:
Yvette Shepherd - Museum Development Officer, Organisational Health
Yvette provides general support and advice for museums in the following boroughs in south and west London: Harrow, Brent, Hammersmith and Fulham, Ealing, Hounslow, Hillingdon, Richmond upon Thames, Kingston upon Thames, Merton, Sutton, Croydon, Bromley, Lewisham, Greenwich and Bexley.
Helen O’Hara - Museum Development Officer, Central & East London
Helen provides general support and advice for museums in the following boroughs in central and east London: Camden, Islington, Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea, Wandsworth, Lambeth, Southwark, City of London, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Newham, Barking and Dagenham, Redbridge and Havering.
Ben Travers - Regional Museum Development Manager
Ben provides general support and advice for museums in the following boroughs in north London: Barnet, Enfield, Haringey and Waltham Forest.
Contact details for the MDOs are available on the contact the team page.
Resources
A number of resources are available to assist museums through the accreditation process:
An 'Introduction to Accreditation' video (external link, opens in YouTube) with Heather Lomas, Accreditation Adviser, includes: what it entails, how to make the first steps, and what support is available, which is by Museum Development East Midlands.
This recorded webinar (external link, opens in YouTube), 'Accreditation: Getting started (and the technical bits)' is hosted by Jennie Pitceathly for Museum Development North West. It shows you how to get started with some technical tips about applying using the online Grantium system.
Forward planning good practice case studies, researched and written by Alex Dawson for the Collections Trust, as well as examples of policies and a template giving the required wording of a Collections Development Policy (external link), are available on the Collections Trust - Accreditation Resources website (external link). The forward planning case studies (external link) relate to Kirkleatham Museum (type 2 local authority museum with staff), and Thornbury and District Heritage Trust (type 1 independent museum with a volunteer workforce).
The Association of Independent Museums (external link) produce a number of best practice guidance documents and toolkits including the AIM Hallmarks of Prospering Museums' toolkit (external link).
Museums at Risk
In working with museums, personal data will not be shared. However, organisational information may be shared with our main funder Arts Council England in relation to our role of maintaining a watching brief on Accredited museums undergoing circumstances of significant change, including risk of closure.
Arts Council England is the national development agency for museums and a key stakeholder in relation to museums and collections at risk. Arts Council England will not share this information more widely unless it is in the public domain or without the permission of your museum’s governing body.