Spark! leadership programme

Strengthen your professional and personal resilience with our programme of support and development for independent museum leaders.

AIM’s Spark! programme enables you to share your challenges and opportunities with a small peer group of museum directors and senior leaders. It is perfect if you are looking to reignite your creativity, re-energise your teams and face the future for your organisation with confidence.

Programme running from October 2024 – January 2025. Application deadline 16 September. 

Who is the Spark! programme for? 

This is a programme for those who are motivating and leading the overall team in their museum. We particularly welcome people with a significant leadership role, including individual museum directors and other senior leaders. As the programme is funded by Arts Council England, priority will be given to applicants in England.

Thanks to funding from the Welsh Government, a limited number of places are available to applicants in Wales. To claim a Welsh bursary, please tell us when you apply which Welsh museum you work for.

What benefits does the programme offer? 

The pandemic, swiftly followed by a cost-of-living crisis, has challenged the sector, and had a marked impact on our organisations, our teams and ourselves. As a museum leader you will have been under particular pressures and stresses over the last 18 months.

Guided by experienced consultants, this targeted programme of support and professional development is designed to enable you to pause, reflect and plan. Participants are expected to continue reflecting on their practice between sessions. It is also designed to be a safe space to raise difficult issues and gain ongoing support from a network of peers – which will be part of the legacy of participating.

Delivery features

The programme is delivered online to a cohort of around 12 participants and includes:

• 3 x 3 hour Action Learning Sets (two groups of six)
• 2 x 2 hour workshops to cover topics selected by you. We will work with you to shape the workshop content and adjust the programme to fit the varied needs, roles, and backgrounds of participants.

You will also be offered two, individual, hour-long coaching sessions.

When is it?

Monday, 7 October 2024 2-4pm: workshop 1

Monday, 11 November 2024 2-5pm: Action Learning Set 1

Monday 25 November 2024 2-4pm: workshop 2

Monday 2 December 2024 2-5pm: Action Learning Set 2

Monday 13 January 2025 2-5pm: Action Learning 3

How to apply

To register your interest and find out more email Margaret Harrison, Head of Programmes at AIM on [email protected] with:

• Your name, role, and organisation
• What you think will be the key challenges of the next 6 – 12 months
• What you hope to get out of the programme, both personally and for your organisation
• What the most challenging situation for you and your organisation has been in the last 18 months
• How many staff your museum has
• Whether your funding been cut, grown or stabilized in the last 18 months
• If you’re in Wales, please tell us that you’d like to apply for a Welsh bursary place.

Deadline for applications: 9am Monday 16 September.

Participants are asked to make £100 contribution towards the programme, which will be invoiced once their place has been confirmed.