December Issue 2004

The AIM Bulletin is the main communication channel for the UKs 1000+ independent museums and heritage organisations - half the total provision for the British Isles - which have been in the forefront of the museum movement for over 25 years.

IN THIS ISSUE

• AIM’s 2005 Annual Conference will be on 5-7 May in York, hosted by the York Museums Trust.  The theme will centre on trusts, governance, sustainability and commercialism and highlights will include the annual dinner at The Merchant Adventurers’ Hall and an evening tour of the Archbishop’s Palace. Further information: contact Diana Zeuner (see below).  Page 3.
  
  
• The Museums Subject Specialist Network scheme – a key part of the Renaissance in the Regions report – is set to take off with the announcement of £200,000 funding from MLA, the Museums Libraries and Archives Council, to encourage the development of a framework.  Money will be available to explore new SSNs and develop those already in existence.  Among successful ones already off the ground are those for heritage railways, motor and maritime collections.  AIM has been a strong supporter of SSNs and welcomes the move. Page 1
  
  
• Museums are carrying on with their admissions Gift Aid schemes.  As they prepare their annual budgets for the next financial year they are in a quandary as there has been no further statement from the Government on the future of the scheme. It is thought likely that any change to the scheme would need one or two years’ adjustment time, so AIM members are urged to continue. Page 2
  
  
• Museums should prepare child protection policies even thought they fall outside the statutory provisions of the Protection of Children Act 1999, says Adrian Babbidge in his Bottom Line column on legal and administrative issues. He puts forward a series of steps museums are well advised to take to ensure risks are reduced as much as possible. It need not be an onerous task, he adds, suggesting NSPCC guidance as a source of further information. Page 5
  
  
• AIM has welcomed the Museums Assocation’s report Collections for the future for the renewed focus it places on collections and collecting. AIM believes collecting and the stewardship of collections have not received the attention they deserve in recent years, and presses for more resources for the care of collections, rather than radical changes in collecting policies. Page 7
  
  
• More people visit museums each year than go to live sports events, theme parks or the theatre, new research for the Museums Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) has found. Undertaken by MORI, the research sheds new light on museum visiting.  Over a third of adults in Britain visited a museum or gallery in the past year.  They prefer ancient history, how people used to live, local history and paintings as subjects, and fewer people feel there is nothing to draw them to museums (down by 19%). Mark Wood, MLA chairman, says the research shows that once people visited museums they were hooked. Page 12
  
  

Also in this issue 

• Boris Johnson MP to give AIM’s 16th Annual Lecture
• Queen Anne House at centre of development for Museum of East Anglian Life
• National Visitor Attractions Conference provokes thought: Bill Ferris
• AIM’s membership of new governance forum
• Dynamic new structure proposed for Scotland’s museums
• 2005 Museum & Heritage Awards under way
• London Canal Museum’s award
• New business partners for Surrey’s Watts Gallery
• MuseumProfile: The new Hunterian Museum, London
  
  

Plus

Information on AIM’s latest events, AIM’s Trading Survey, the Bob Harding Training Fund Bursaries and FOCUS information papers, and the two-page AIM Directory – 30+ providers of products and services for the museum sector.
Further information contacts:  Sam Mullins, AIM chairman - Tel 020 7379 6344.  Fax 020 7565 7250.   Email  samm@ltmuseum.co.uk.  Diana Zeuner, AIM Bulletin editor - Tel/Fax 01243 811364.  Email  heavyhorse@mistral.co.uk.