June Issue 2003

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 

• Resource, the Council for Museums, Archives & Libraries, has promised to build a stronger relationship with AIM and independent museums – which represent half the museum provision in the UK.  At AIM’s 26th annual conference, Resource chair, Mark Wood, admitted that links between the two organisations should be improved and added that the independent museum sector represented “enormous value”, with its experience in customer awareness and commercial approach.  AIM has strived to get its messages across since Resource was launched but has been deeply disappointed at its progress. The time had come for inspirational leadership, a tight focus and clear agendas. Mark Wood accepted that Resource should be a “source of advice and guidance” and should work with AIM in developing funding sources and networks.  Page 1
  
  
• AIM has condemned recent new Museums Association (MA) guidance that it is unethical for museums to hold valuation events, like the Antiques Roadshow.  AIM says the stance is “sadly anachronistic and unrealistically restrictive” in the current economic and social climate. AIM agrees that museums should never offer valuations but feels that it is not a foregone conclusion that the public would imagine the museum was selling its collections, as the MA appears to feel. AIM points out that links with an auction house can bring benefits, enabling a museum to learn more about its collections, or allowing the public to see historic material that would otherwise not be on display.  AIM has called for a broader debate. Page 3
  
  
• A private military museum in Devon was closed down for three months, lost £70,000 and was subjected to raids at the museum and the owner’s home for failing to produce a Free From Explosives certificate. Preston Isaac, who runs the museum with his son, had to endure a police ‘raid’ and a private ordnance survey The museum, which attracts some 15,000 visitors a year, is now re-opened . “In spite of the worst they’ve thrown at us, we have survived,” says Preston Isaac. Page 6
  
  
• Museums fail to adequately check new trustees’ backgrounds and give them sufficient induction to their new tasks, says a recent Charity Commission report.  Screening potential new trustees is important as an unspent conviction for dishonesty or theft and undischarged bankruptcy disqualifies them in law, and existing board members are responsible.  New trustees should receive copies of the charity’s governing documentation as a minimum to help them understand the organisation, and a skills audit should be carried out to highlight collective strengths and weaknesses in the board, informing their efforts to recruit people with relevant experience Page 11
  
  

Also in this issue 

• AIM member wins £100,000 Gulbenkian Prize
• Museum of English Rural Life has appointed a member of staff to develop a network of rural life museums
• AIM members are ready to ‘switch on’ to help larger museums meet the Government’s target of increasing schools use of museums
• The latest code of practice has been issued for archives and museums
• New items for Newark Air Museum
• New draft Registration standards out
• Scottish Parliament urged to get on with museums framework
• Resource launches its international strategy
• Museum Profile this issue – Wisbech & Fenland Museum
  
  

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.