The Accreditation Development Project
The revised Accreditation Scheme was launched in November 2011. Arts Council England (ACE) is leading this project with input from Museums Galleries Scotland, Cymal, Northern Ireland Museums Council and colleagues working directly in museums.
The revised Standard was launched at the Museums Association Conference in early October 2011 and ACE are working to the following timetable:
- The guidance material and application form will be available from 13 December 2011
- New applications will be welcomed from December 2011
- Phased Returns requests for existing participants will be issued from November 2011. A complete list of the invite dates for Returns is now available.
MGS have been members of the Accreditation Advisory Panel, sitting on working groups developing the Accreditation Scheme. Scottish museums have also been represented on the working groups. In addition, we have chaired a workshop comprising representatives of Scotland’s museums to hear views and opinions on the future of Accreditation and have fed discussion from this session into the redevelopment.
CyMAL, NIMC, MGS and ACE are committed to:
- Maintaining and developing Accreditation as a nationally agreed standard for museums, for public benefit;
- Appropriate branding to reflect UK coverage, ensuring representation from all devolved countries;
- Using Accreditation as a foundation, working in partnership across the UK to ensure continuous improvement while respecting national initiatives.
This last point relates to our development of the Quality Improvement System (QIS) as a continuous improvement model in Scotland.
For more information about the Accreditation Development Project, visit the MLA website.