October Issue 2002

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

• Gift aid donations are replacing visitor admissions in increasing numbers of independent charitable museums.  Museums have clawed back up to £50,000 each from the Inland Revenue since introducing the scheme in Spring. The lie was finally given to a perceived stumbling block when it was revealed that museums with big capital projects would still be able to claim back VAT on their admissions, even if they introduced the new scheme.  The scheme is an important revenue generator at a time when independent museums are facing increased competition and fresh challenges.  Pages 1& 2.
  
  
• A £100,000 Gulbenkian Prize for museums and galleries has been launched to celebrate projects with a “genuine and demonstrable effect on public perceptions of museums and galleries”. The prize, dubbed ‘The Museum Oscar’, will first be awarded in May 2003 during Museums and Galleries Month.  Bamber Gascoigne is chairing the judges panel.  All museums and galleries throughout the UK can compete and application forms will be sent out soon.   Meanwhile the Museums & Heritage Show has also launched a, slightly smaller, awards scheme, designed to celebrate best practice in UK museums and galleries. There will be no monetary award but the organisers hope the projects and producers rewarded will achieve some useful publicity.   Page 2
  
  
• Two new self-help groups have been formed in the East Midlands in response to the overwhelming time of change museums are facing.  NIMF (Nottinghamshire Independent Museums Forum) was formed to share advice and ideas while SID was founded following the death of the East Midlands Museums Service to act as a voice for independents in the region.  AIM chairman Sam Mullins hopes the new hubs will take notice of such groups as a way of getting to know the smaller brethren in their regions. Page 3
  
  
• AIM should continue pressing independents’ case to government, stressing their diversity and strength, said Suffolk members at a recent meeting.  AIM was acknowledged as the only organisation representing small museums in high places - and across the UK - and its work in advocacy and communication was praised. AIM was asked particularly to look out for small museums in the forthcoming hub process – in which many smaller museums feel they will lose out to big urban museum services and their needs.  Page 12
  
  

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.