From 1st August 2012 Museum Development North West is the new name for museum development support in the North West Region
The Manchester Partnership (Manchester Art Gallery, the Whitworth Art Gallery and Manchester Museum) and The Cumbrian Museums Consortium (Lakeland Arts Trust, Wordsworth Trust and Tuille House Museum and Art Gallery Trust) have been commissioned by Arts Council England (ACE) to provide museum development support to the North West region until March 2015. From 1st August there is a total of £880,000 investment dedicated to enhancing the sustainability of the region’s museums over this period.

From August, Museum Development North West will be rolling out its support programme and there will be a number of opportunities for museums to become involved. The focus for the first year’s programme will be New Opportunities for Regional Museums through Museum Development North West Sustainable Improvement Fund 2012 – 2015

The Sustainable Improvement Fund is a major part of the Museum Development North West Programme (MDNW).

North West Accredited museums can bid to The Sustainable Improvement Fund to experiment and trial new ideas to strengthen sustainability and resilience. The Fund can help you develop new ways of working, partnerships and business models. It can provide funding for simple projects that can make a big difference in what you do or how you do things; or for more ambitious projects where you want to explore or test ideas in order to develop more substantial funding bids from other sources.

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Please look out for information in your email ‘in-box’ and bookmark our new blog for regular information. The blog can be found at http://museumdevelopmentnorthwest.wordpress.com/