Authors: Emma Chaplin and Heather Lomas
This success guide aims to help groups or individuals in the UK who are thinking about setting up a new museum to make some informed choices. It may be that after reading the guide you decide that a museum is not the right approach for you and we will signpost some other options.
If you do decide to continue with setting up your museum, the guide aims to give you a structure that will help you build a strong and successful museum and avoid potential pitfalls. It is not intended to be (nor could it be) an exhaustive guide, but it provides an overview of the scope of the work involved.
The guide is structured around the AIM Hallmarks of Prospering Museums. The AIM Hallmarks distil and share the experience of two generations of leaders of independent, innovative and imaginative museums, combined with respected thinking and research. Since they were first published in 2015, AIM has worked with museums and heritage organisations across the UK to put the ideas in the Hallmarks into practice in hundreds of museums.
The Hallmarks cover all the aspects of running a museum successfully and are an excellent checklist for a new museum to use to plan its development.
Download setting up a new museum (opens in a new tab)