Development Of Model Community Organisations for Coastal Museums and Galleries

Transcription

1 Development Of Model Community Organisations for Coastal Museums and Galleries 1. Brief for Consultant Canterbury City Council (CCC) has secured funding from Arts Council England s (ACE) Strategic Fund to develop model community organisations for the two coastal museums which it currently manages; Whitstable Museum and Gallery and Herne Bay Museum and Gallery. We are now seeking to appoint a Project Manager for nine months (July 2014 until the end of March 2015) to manage this programme. 2. Background Canterbury Museums and Galleries is part of Canterbury City Council. Last year we worked with consultants to assess options determining the most effective delivery model and governance to support the delivery of our Vision and Strategy. The final project report recommended that the coastal museums at Whitstable and Herne Bay should be managed by community organisations and that we should develop a business model which would harness the knowledge and skills of the local community. We have progressed this recommendation working in partnership with local community groups. Canterbury City Council has recently founded a new Commissioned Services department and is extending its commissioning work. Our activity will be a key pilot commissioning project for this department in which Canterbury Museums and Galleries sits. We have secured funding from Arts Council England s Strategic Fund to support this work with the objective of developing model community organisations to manage the coastal museums. This activity involves partnership working with partners from beyond the museum sector to develop the coastal museums. There will be a formal tendering process for the management of the coastal museums which will start at the end of July and will be completed by November 2014 with the aim of establishing community organisations for the two museums by April Responsibilities The Project Manager will work closely with local community groups and other organisations to support and develop them and to manage the transfer of the management of the coastal museums. Responsibilities will include training and development in order to equip and prepare interested parties to manage the coastal museums. Any organisation interested in tendering will be eligible for this training. The programme, as

2 agreed with ACE, will focus particularly upon the management of museums, including ACE s Accreditation Standard, and will include the three overarching requirements for Accreditation which encompass museum management: 1. Organisational Health, including governance, demonstration of financial viability and business planning, workforce arrangements, volunteer management and emergency planning. 2. Collections, including collections development, management, care and conservation, documentation and security. 3. Users and Their Experiences, including an understanding of users and non users and evaluation, customer care and providing learning experiences. The Project Manager will work closely with the Museum Development Officer for Kent and Medway to develop the training and professional development programme for the community groups. The Project Manager will arrange and evaluate the training programme. The Project Manager will manage the transfer, support the community groups and advise on the development of fundraising and commercial strategies for each community organisation. The Project Manager will prepare regular interim activity reports and a final activity report for ACE and income and expenditure statements The Project Manager will manage the transfer from CCC to community organisations to include potential applications to Charities Commission to establish charitable trusts, preparation of transfer documents including: Memorandum and Articles of Association. Transitional Plan. Novation Agreement to be completed for all contracts novated from Council to Trusts. Asset Transfer agreement. Business Plan. Lease. The Project Manager will share the model and the project as an example of best practice at conferences and seminars in order to share learning with sectors including museums, cultural, heritage, community and voluntary sectors. 4. Outside the Scope of this project The ACE funding includes a budget to refresh of visitor offer at each coastal museum to improve the visitor experience prior to handover. This aspect of the project will be project managed by the Canterbury Museums and Galleries team working in partnership with the community groups and is outside the scope of the Project Manager s brief. 5. Experience, knowledge and skills A proven track record as a project manager.

3 Experience of working with or for a charity, with preferably experience of transferring an organisation to charitable status. Strong communication and interpersonal skills. Able to show initiative and take responsibility. Experience of working with volunteers and or community groups Experience of partnership working. Experience of business planning. Commercial acumen and experience of developing commercial strategies and income generation. Experience of fundraising and developing fundraising strategies. Experience of risk management. Ability to work under pressure to tight deadlines. Knowledge of the voluntary sector. A working knowledge of the ACE Accreditation scheme for Museums. Self employed with a unique tax reference (UTR number) and able to provide address of tax office. Public and Liability Insurance. Employers Liability Insurance. Contract Management The Project Sponsor will be David Ford, Head of Commissioning david.ford@canterbury.gov.uk The Project Manager will be Joanna Jones, Director of Museums and Galleries ( ) Joanna.jones@CANTERBURY.GOV.UK Timetable Stage One (July - September 2014) Training and professional development programme for community groups and evaluation of programme. Stage Two (July - September 2014) Decision by Canterbury City Council Executive to accept or reject Expressions of Interest (early July). Training and development programme for community groups (July September)

4 Stage Three (Late July - November 2014) Formal tendering process for transfer of management of coastal museums. Development of fundraising and commercial strategies and business plans. Stage Four (December 2015) Contracts awarded. Refresh of visitor offer at coastal museums commences. This aspect of the project will be project managed by the Canterbury Museums and Galleries team working in partnership with the community groups and is outside the scope of the Project Manager s brief. Stage Five (January - March 2015) Refresh of visitor offer at coastal museums (not within the scope of this brief). Transfer management of costal museums from Canterbury City Council to community trusts. Applications to Charities Commission to establish charitable trusts. Preparation of transfer documents: Memorandum and Articles of Association. Transitional Plan. Novation Agreement to be completed for all contracts novated from Council to Trusts. Asset Transfer agreement. Lease. Sharing model as an example of best practice at conferences and seminars. Evaluation of activity. Stage Six (April 2015) Charitable status for community trusts approved by Charities Commission Transfer from Canterbury City Council to community trusts complete. Stage Seven (April 2015 onwards) Completion of project: 31 st March 2015 Budget A budget of no more than 29,000 is available for the Consultant s work. This budget includes all Consultant s expenses, including travel, admin etc. An additional budget of no more than 13,000 is available for the consultant to manage and organise the training and development programme for community groups.

5 An additional budget of no more than 5,000 is available for the consultant and CCC team members to share the activity as a model of best practice at conferences and seminars, to include travel and expenses. Payment Milestones 25% of fee to be paid upon completion of training and development programme for community groups (stages one and two of the project). 25% of fee to be paid upon completion of fundraising and commercial strategies and business plans (stage three of the project). 25% of fee to be paid upon completion of stage five of the project. 25% of fee to be paid upon completion of project To express your interest in this contract please complete an Expression of Interest (the expression of interest form accompanies this brief by 1 st July 2014 to: Procurement Section, Canterbury City Council, Military Road, Canterbury, CT1 1YW If you have any queries about the Expression of Interest please contact: Joanne Barton, Strategic Procurement Manager, procurement@canterbury.gov.uk or Telephone Interviews to be held on 10 th July 2014 at Canterbury Heritage Museum, Canterbury