Strengthen your professional and personal resilience with this programme of support and development for independent museum leaders. Share your challenges and opportunities with a small peer group of museum directors and senior leaders. Reignite your creativity, re-energize your teams and face the future for your organisation with confidence.
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.
We have funded places for Accredited Museums in Wales (or those working towards accreditation). Please get in touch with Margaret (details below) by Monday 7 March to apply for a funded place.
Please note, before applying please check if this is the right programme for you as we also have AIM Higher and AIM Aspire open for applications. Please consider carefully which programme best meets your needs before you apply.
What benefits does the programme offer?
The last few years have had a marked impact on our organisations, our teams and ourselves. We understand the particular pressures and stresses that you will have been facing as a museum leader.
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.
This programme is intended to a springboard for the next phase of your career and is always well received participants:
“Excellent and rare opportunity to develop through the safe space of peers and facilitators (who were brilliant).”
“It really was the most valuable thing I have done this year.”
“I had high expectations and it met them!“
Delivery features
The programme is interactive and offers a range of development opportunities. The programme is delivered online to a cohort of 12 participants. It will include:
- 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.
These could include:
- Restructuring and managing organisational culture and reputational risk
- Recasting roles for volunteers
- ED&I considerations in recruitment and retention
- Supporting the Board exercise governance
- Developing your team(s)
- Leaving and moving on.
The dates for this round of Spark! are:
- Workshop 1 10am-12noon Friday 2 May
- Action Learning Set 1 2pm-5pm Monday 12 May
- Action Learning Set 2 2pm-5pm Monday 23 June
- Workshop 2 2pm-4pm Monday 30 June
- Action Learning Set 3 2pm-5pm Monday 14 July
You will also be offered two individual, hour-long coaching sessions.
How to apply
If you would like to apply please email Margaret Harrison, Head of Programmes at [email protected], with the following information:
- Your name, role and organisation
- What has been the most challenging situation for you and your organisation in the last 18 months?
- What you hope to get our of the programme both personally and for your organisation?
- How many staff does your museum have?
- Has your funding been cut, grown or stabilized in the last 18 months?
- What are the biggest challenges you are facing in the next 6 months?
Please also confirm that you will be able to attend all the sessions on the dates listed. We ask for £100 contribution from all participants. We do have a limited number of funded places available for accredited museums in Wales (or working towards accreditation).
Closing date for Welsh museums: 5pm Monday 7 March.
Closing date 5pm Monday 7 April.