Museum Development Project Manager – Marlow Museum

Marlow Museum is at an exciting point in its growth and now wishes to run a two-year development project led by a freelancer with sound museum experience.  This project could make a real difference to the museum’s future.

Marlow Museum has been in existence for 15 years as a small independent museum, managed and staffed entirely by a group of dedicated volunteers. It is located in a small building adjacent to Court Garden Leisure Centre and Pound Lane car park, next to the popular riverside Higginson Park in Marlow.  It focuses on the history and heritage of Marlow and its surrounding villages of Little Marlow, Marlow Bottom, Bisham, Medmenham and Greater Marlow. Current opening hours are three afternoons during March to October and one afternoon during November to February. Its aims are to attract more volunteers and visitors and open more often, with a longer-term aim of achieving larger premises to do greater justice to the fascinating history and heritage of this beautiful area.

In recent years Marlow Museum has become a CIO, gained Working Towards Accreditation status with submission in February 2025, and has benefited greatly from working with a museum mentor and museum freelancers who helped the trustees secure funds for phase one of a makeover of the building, completed in April 2024.  They have also worked on Documentation, Fundraising and Audience Development projects which have shown the way forward. These plans, alongside the Forward Plan, now need further implementation.  A recent legacy has enabled the museum to create a two-year fixed term post, working alongside trustees and volunteers, to implement the plans and develop the museum. 

The Museum Development Project

involves the following:

1. Putting the Fundraising Plan into practice; recruiting volunteers to assist; implementing museum development plans while achieving an end-of-year operating surplus, in cooperation with the Treasurer.
2. Developing the second stage of the museum makeover, improving cabinets and including interactive displays, in cooperation with the Exhibitions Project Officer and the Management Committee.
3. Implementing the Audience Development Plan; recruiting and training volunteers to assist in the development of a public programme for target audiences and a learning programme for schools.
4. Implementing and monitoring the actions in the Forward Plan in cooperation with the trustees.
5. Ensuring the Documentation Plan is implemented with the help of volunteers, including the use of Modes Compact.
6. Overseeing the day-to-day operations of the Museum in cooperation with volunteers and the Management Committee, to maintain working to Accreditation standards.

Responsible to: the Chair of the Management Committee or named trustee.

Hours and payment:  Flexible hours, averaging the equivalent of 10 hours a week, 48 weeks a year, with 4 hours a week in the museum.

Fixed term contract for 2 years at £12,000 a year including VAT. (FTE £42,000 p.a. pro rata.)  Ideally the project will run from January 2025 – December 2026.

Payment schedule: in monthly instalments, relating to work undertaken each month. As this role is a freelance position, you will need to be responsible for your own National Insurance and tax. 

Other Responsibilities:

• Project management of exhibitions and other projects
• Deal with visitor queries online and in person as applicable
• Occasional evening or weekend work, by arrangement.

Knowledge, skills and experience: 

Essential

• A minimum of five years’ experience working in a museum
• A good communicator
• Confidence in managing a budget
• Good organisational skills
• Willingness to follow procedures and use own initiative, seeking advice when appropriate.
• Ability to work effectively as part of a team, as well as unsupervised using own initiative. 

Desirable:

• A degree in a relevant subject
• An interest in/ knowledge of the history of Marlow and district
• Enjoy interacting with the public
• A driving licence.

Questions

Please direct any questions about the project to Della Fitzgerald at [email protected] or 07598 476807 by 27 November.

How to Apply

Please send:

• your CV
• a proposal as to how you would fulfil the project
• the names of two referees who know your work in museums
• and a brief covering letter to [email protected] by 6pm on 6 December 2024.

We expect interview dates to be 11 and 12 December at the museum.

We would hope to start the project early in January 2025. Please state the date you would be able to start, if you are asked to deliver the project.