New small museums grants for Wales
The Association of Independent Museums (AIM), with whom we work on our Energy Action Group service, have launched a new grant scheme for museums in Wales.
Museums in Wales can now apply for small grants to boost their financial sustainability and for support for their trustees and boards. The new opportunities are thanks to a programme supported by the Welsh government through the Museums, Archives and Libraries Division.
The new Hallmarks small grant scheme will enable museums to put their ideas for improving their financial sustainability into practice – whether they are aimed at saving money or generating new income. Museums can apply for a wide range of projects designed to broaden their sources of income: perhaps bringing in expertise to help them develop new approaches to fundraising or venue hire or making improvements to a shop or café. Other museums might need to invest to save money – replacing inefficient lighting, or upgrading back of house systems, for example. Museums can apply for between £3,000 and £6,000.
At the same time, AIM is opening the opportunity to apply for support through its Prospering Boards programme to museums in Wales. The programme offers one-to-one support from an expert consultant to help boards improve their leadership of their organisations.
Emma Chaplin, AIM Director, said: ‘We are delighted to have secured Welsh Government support to bring these opportunities to museums in Wales and we hope as many museums as possible will think about how a small grant or a package of board support could benefit them.”
The new funding also includes support for museum leaders in Wales and translation of more of AIM’s resources for museums into Welsh. To find out more about any of the other elements of the programme, please contact Helen Wilkinson, helenw@aim-museums.co.uk.
AIM are offering grants of £3,000 – £6,000 to help museums become more financially sustainable. These are open to Accredited AIM member museums in Wales in AIM’s small museum category (that is, museums with up to 20,000 visitors a year).
£20,000 is available in total, and the grants are open to all kinds of museums that meet the other criteria – small local authority museums as well as independent museums. Museums must be AIM members but can join at the point of application.
The closing date for applications is 12th April 2019.