I was seven years old and on a school trip the first time I entered a museum, and it changed my life forever.

Standing and screaming in a room that actually shook to recreate the different levels of Richter scale during an earthquake was an intellectual watershed moment for me.

Up until then, my life as a British Asian kid revolved around toys, school and casual racism from classmates. The “Earthquake Room” in a museum in London changed all of that. This unique experience viscerally taught me science and learning could be fun.

Passing on a love of learning

This summer my own twins turned seven and I decided to take them on their first trip to the Science Museum.

We left after many hours of joy and it felt obvious to me that in our tech-driven, experience-centred, Instagrammable culture, institutions like the Science Museum are more alive than ever. 

But that day I sent a tweet about my experience which seems to have resonated with a lot of people.

Off to the Science Museum with my twins today. All of us VERY excited.

My generation didn't get to do this stuff when we were young because

a) Our migrant parents didn't know what the science museum was.
b) They worked till they dropped & didn't have time.

My kids are lucky.x

— Bobby Friction (@bobbyfriction) July 26, 2019

Cold eyes in the museum

My mum and dad, immigrants from India, would never have taken me to a museum. It's not that they were anti-intellectual. They were actually the opposite: showering me with books and inducements to study. They had a keen interest in my educational life as a kid.

They just didn’t get what museums had to offer. Museums seemed like fussy, musty places, inextricably tied to the establishment for them I think… The kind of places where people would go silent when you walked in and looked at you with cold eyes.

Believe me; growing up in the 70s and 80s here in the UK as people of colour those cold eyes were a daily experience. 

Feeling out of place

There was also the added pressure of money in an immigrant household. Whether you had money or not, in a home like I grew up in all kinds of frivolous expenditure wasn't tolerated. That's true I think across the planet within immigrant communities. Museums always seemed like upper-class spaces to us growing up, with (true or not) upper-class price tags to match. I wouldn't be surprised if that's still the case for newer migrant families.

It was going to be up to me to explore these places on my own.

In my early teens, I spent a lot of time hanging around libraries and soaking up all the information I could. As I grew older, I decided I was to become a rock'n'roll intellectual, and I threw myself into all of London's museums. I did the old establishment museums, the classic-looking ones, and the modern ones with architecture to match.

At first I pretended to enjoy the experience, but after a while I couldn’t lie to myself anymore.

I found many of them boring and most of the time I just felt out of place and uncomfortable. Imagine that: trying to learn and expand your mind, but feeling you shouldn’t be there in the first place. 

Making everyone feel welcome

I understand that many of those museums are now very different places from even 20 years ago. But more change is still needed, particularly in how the staff reflect who their visitors are, and who those visitors could become. 

The glorious thing about the Science Museum is that my twins were talked to by what seemed like learned teacher types with a zest for what the kids wanted. They were equally good at speaking to me about interstellar space, thus keeping all of us happy.

It really felt like an intellectual British public square that we all owned and had a right to occupy. The staff responded to us as worthy British citizens who also had an ownership of the institution. 

I will leave the arguments about content and curation to people more in the know than me, but I think that that feeling of everyone being welcome in our country’s museums is vital. It should be a welcome that is full on, warm, educational, cross-generational and open to every class and colour.

The Earthquake Room opened up a lifetime of learning for me, and I want my children – all children, of all nationalities and class backgrounds – to have that kind of experience. 

How we are helping to open up heritage

At The National Lottery Heritage Fund, ensuring that a wider range of people will be involved in heritage is a mandatory outcome for any project we fund.

Get inspired with some of the projects we have funded so far.

It is difficult to think of a month like the last. Despite our many differences, people across the world have come together, joined by shared experiences and common causes.

Whether it is the climate emergency, coronavirus (COVID-19) or the issues of racial injustice stirred by the death of George Floyd in the USA, people from Korea, Kenya and Kent have connected on concerns at once both personal and universal.

How can the heritage sector respond to this time of upheaval?

"This we are all living through is history. From the perspective of future generations, this too is heritage."

The challenge is to capture these moments of shared meaning. And then to reflect them well. For this we are all living through is history. From the perspective of future generations, this too is heritage. 

But what should be collected? Whose heritage should be conserved? Who decides? And is the sector moving fast enough to capture the nuances as well as headlines of current events? Are different perspectives being given a fair representation? We are hearing loud and clear that there is little tolerance for a single lens view.

Here are some questions we could all think about:

Who is on our staff?

Are you making the most of your teams’ experiences and connections? Are their networks contributing to the mix at this critical time? Who are the well-connected individuals with the insights, understanding and community links necessary to capture the range of narratives we will wish to tell?   

Many heritage organisations have long moved to reflect a broader range of perspectives and experiences. Has that gone far enough? Is it embedded practice?  

Without a diverse workforce the challenge will continue to be steep.  

A review of the workforce to inform team planning after the pandemic could be helpful. And how can we ensure that the line of least resistance is not the first answer? 

Who are we talking to?

Paradoxically, while in lockdown, we have experienced a great opening up of institutions – illuminating access to collections, catalogues and treasures. It has been joyful to see heritage humour brought forward through Yorkshire Museum’s #CuratorBattle or the #GettyMuseumChallenge (other heritage humour examples are available!).  

What these projects have in common is the way in which they invite you to engage with heritage professionals alongside heritage objects – the personalities of curators meeting the creativity of the public.

These innovations also bring significant numbers of new audiences to heritage.  

Some may never have the opportunity for a site visit or membership, but might their curiosity still be encouraged, to build on this audience adventure beyond the period of lockdown?

How are we funded?

One of the most dramatic shifts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) experience has been the ways in which sector funders have responded with dynamism and speed.
 
Asking questions, listening, releasing new resources, flexing schedules, connecting and creating timely responses to urgent needs. And that is in addition to providing essential information and guidance, and a genuinely empathetic approach. It is, rightly, being applauded.  

Might we stick with the lean and nimble processes of this dynamic response, seeing this as the new way forward rather than simply an emergency measure?

"This funding response need not fade as a one-off gesture. Rather, it could be marked as the catalyst for innovation, spurring adaptations and new ways of investing in cultural heritage."  

It could be an opportunity to prioritise innovative organisations and ways of thinking, focusing on curation, capacity building and engagement – particularly with those who have found barriers in their way in the past. That truly would be "future heritage".

As a former member of The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s London committee, I do not underestimate the challenge. But I believe this funding response need not fade as a one-off gesture. Rather, it could be marked as the catalyst for innovation, spurring adaptations and new ways of investing in cultural heritage.  

How do we invest in leadership?

Clore Leadership has had the pleasure of working with, supporting and nurturing many of the heritage sector’s professionals. Responding to the pandemic, we:

• shared resources for crisis management
• offered timely perspectives to deal with immediate challenges
• facilitated peer-to-peer support 
• created the Clore Leadership Experience (short-form professional development opportunities for staff on furlough or freelance)

We too face the challenge of learning and adapting – of balancing our highly regarded Fellowship and Intensive Courses with the new webinars and online learning that have brought fresh successes and keen new learners to our table.  

For us, as for the heritage sector, our challenge is to look sufficiently far ahead. We need to combine urgent needs with a strong foundation for the future we want to create.

By strengthening leadership right across the sector, from established to new professionals, we share the aspirational load.

Shared experiences mark this time. Let’s ensure equitable outcomes mark the future. 

Carpe diem.

About Hilary Carty

Hilary Carty is the Executive Director, Clore Leadership, a role she took up after six years as a consultant, facilitator and coach specialising in leadership development, management and organisational change.

Hilary’s earlier roles include:

• Director of the Cultural Leadership Programme
• Director, London (Arts) at Arts Council England
• Director, Culture and Education at London 2012
• Director of Dance for Arts Council England
• Visiting Professor on leadership (Austria)
• The National Lottery Heritage Fund London Committee Member

In recognition of her contribution to the arts, culture and heritage, Hilary has been awarded three honorary doctorates and three fellowships from UK universities. Hilary is a governor of The Royal Ballet.  
 

• Views expressed in the Future Heritage blog series are those of the authors, not necessarily of The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The show, which now regularly attracts 6million viewers, is set in the bucolic surroundings of the Weald & Downland Living Museum, West Sussex. It features skilled craftspeople repairing the shabby but much-loved personal items of members of the public.

The items tell touching stories of lost family members and distant childhoods. Binoculars and glassware, chipped cups and grimy oil paintings are all treated with the same reverence that you’d see on Antiques Roadshow, except here the value is not financial, it’s emotional. In our Amazon Prime era of immediate gratification, it is a rare showcase for the luxury of taking time and care.

Facing up to false histories

I think it tells us something else too. At the moment, the future feels daunting and uncertain. The past, in contrast, is reassuringly definite.

We may not know where we are going but we can take comfort in knowing where we came from.

Just as visits to historic houses surge at times of recession and austerity – and, in particular, an increased interest in visiting the ‘downstairs’ parts of these great houses –  other consumer behaviours change too. During the last economic recession, between 2008 and 2013, TV programmes like Downton Abbey and Upstairs Downstairs were commissioned, so too were The Great British Bake Off and The Great British Sewing Bee.

Nostalgia for a past that may never have happened, and a delight in ‘make do and mend’ pervaded. 

And during lockdown, it still does. Many of us have appreciated home comforts and crafts; visitor attractions have seen recipes and gardening tips downloaded by hundreds of thousands of people. Home baking has exploded, occasionally literally. 

"The confluence of lockdown and #BlackLivesMatter has been an astonishing moment."    

But nostalgia can also be toxic. The false histories and fabricated truths. The whitewashing of uncomfortable legacies. Our cities and historical prosperity, the UK’s global power and influence, may have been created and carried on the shoulders of giants but also on the backs of slaves and slavery.

The confluence of lockdown and #BlackLivesMatter has been an astonishing moment.      

As a white, middle-aged male, the last couple of weeks have been, for me, an utterly extraordinary educational period. Many of us have learned more about the scale, horrors and the local legacies of slavery than we ever did in school. We are being forced to confront unpalatable truths and question accepted wisdom and history. Lockdown has made many of us yearn for a nostalgic, simpler past (one – it must be acknowledged – that benefited white people more) and when it is shown to us in its unvarnished horror, people like me are realising that we don’t like it after all.

Discussing unsafe issues

If we ever needed a mandate from the public for us to tell full, unadulterated stories of people, places and collections, this is it. When public trust in politicians has reached the lowest level in my lifetime, people are looking to museums and galleries, historic houses and heritage sites, the repositories of national DNA and memory, to get it right. To be safe places in which to honestly discuss unsafe issues.

There are so many fantastic examples of this already:

• the Troubles and Beyond gallery at the Ulster Museum, a brilliant example of navigating contested history
• the Prejudice and Pride initiative of the National Trust and its partners, telling the hidden stories of LGBT+ people, places and collections
• the work of MuseumDetox in challenging systems of inequality 
• the Slavery Museum in Liverpool's work to increase the understanding of enslavement as well as actively engaging with contemporary human rights issues

Funders, like The National Heritage Lottery Fund, can use their power to encourage debate, to highlight best practice and to support bold, creative storytelling.

Beyond museums

The confidence to tell unpalatable truths cannot be simply be a matter for museums. It should be heritage and cultural economy-wide.

Our landscapes and countryside are every bit the physical manifestations of choices and power. The further away you travel from cities and towns in England, the less likely you are to see someone who is Black, Asian or another minority ethnic community as Jesse Bernard wrote in The Guardian in 2017. It is one of the reasons that Black and minority ethnic communities disproportionately don’t access the countryside, our landscapes and our rural economies, and, therefore often don't feel part of the stories of those places. The onus is on those with the power to do so to make the welcome more explicit and authentic.

We must not sacrifice inclusion

Lockdown has, for me, prompted a further question. 

"Has lockdown just been a pause before normal service resumes? Or can we do better?"

Before we rush headlong to open our attractions, are we content that we just unlock and welcome back the people we said goodbye to in early March?

Has lockdown just been a pause before normal service resumes? Or can we do better?

Work differently, more creatively. Ensure that not only are diversity and inclusion budgets and programmes not sacrificed in the inevitable cost-cutting, but that we work to ensure that our audiences, visitors, staff, governance structures and partnerships, are reflective of the communities that we serve.

Being bold about our value

Tourism is the UK’s fifth biggest industry and third-largest employer. In a normal year it is worth £157bn to the economy. It is one of the largest employers in every part of the nation.

We know that our heritage and our culture are the principal reasons that overseas visitors cite for visiting the UK, regardless of their age, gender or nationality. We know that our fellow citizens say that our heritage and culture, and their access to and enjoyment of these, are vital to their happiness and wellbeing. 

Much of the visitor economy will take the longest to recover from coronavirus (COVID-19). There will be redundancies, hard decisions to make and certain losses. There will, inevitably, be economic calculations which will dominate conversations about value.

"We, in the heritage sector, cannot let GDP be the only benchmark of success." 

But we, in this sector, cannot let GDP be the only benchmark of success. Heritage and tourism is where you grow people, communities and shared principles and values. It is also the backdrop for people’s happiest memories, of respite, learning, mental and physical exercise, illuminating our future through understanding and explaining our past. That’s of great value.

Now, as never before, we have an opportunity to be bolder and more authentic in our storytelling, to be more creative in our partnerships, to be better neighbours. To mend and to celebrate what really matters.

About Bernard Donoghue

Bernard Donoghue has been the Director of ALVA since September 2011 following a career in advocacy, communications and lobbying, latterly at a senior level in the tourism and heritage sector.

In May 2017 the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, appointed Bernard to be the Mayor's Ambassador for Cultural Tourism and a member of the Mayor's Cultural Leadership Board.

He has been a member of of the UK Government's Tourism Industry Council since 2016.

• Views expressed in the Future Heritage blog series are those of the authors, not necessarily of The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Today is my second day back at work after abruptly having to put my life on hold in November 2019. Six months ago, out of the blue, I was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. 

But, if it is possible to be lucky when having cancer, I have been (so far). I had a speedy diagnosis, excellent medical care from all the NHS staff at The Royal Marsden, and successfully completed intensive treatment before the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19). My thoughts are very much with those being diagnosed or in treatment right now. 

"The world, the workplace, and the heritage sector that I am returning to, are, of course, not normal." 

Thankfully, I am now cancer free and, despite having a lot less hair (which is, at least, practical during lockdown) I am more or less back to normal. 

But the world, the workplace, and the heritage sector that I am returning to, are, of course, not normal. 

Facing the crisis 

This is the biggest crisis I have seen in my lifetime. I’m very proud of the way everyone at The Fund has mobilised to support people and organisations working in heritage across the UK.

Within days of moving all our 300 staff to home working, my team surveyed over 1,000 heritage organisations to understand the immediate impact of coronavirus (COVID-19). Using this evidence, we launched our Heritage Emergency Fund, offering emergency grants of between £3,000 and £50,000. We have already approved the first round of applications.

We increased our investment in digital skills for the sector, recognising how important digital expertise will be in a ‘social distancing’ world. And we firmly committed to supporting our existing grantees through this most difficult of times, providing them with greater flexibility on grant payments and making over £31m of grant payments in April.

Next phase of financial help 

But we also recognise that some organisations, particularly independent heritage attractions that are highly dependent on visitor income, may have a higher level of financial need than our initial emergency funding can cover.

I’m pleased to announce therefore – as my first action since returning – a new strand to our Heritage Emergency Fund. 

Within the current £50m Heritage Emergency Fund, we’re creating a new grant range of £50,000–£250,000. It will be open to past and current grantees.

This new strand will help us:

• respond to exceptional cases of larger-scale need
• protect heritage at severe immediate risk
• and, crucially, safeguard the heritage that can play a key role in the UK’s economic and community regeneration from the impacts of coronavirus (COVID-19)

We are developing the detail for how to apply for these new grants in the coming week. We will actively communicate this when applications are open. In the meantime you can keep up to date with the latest information by following us on social media.

The future for heritage 

The Heritage Emergency Fund will enable us to help those most in need in the immediate term. Our non-financial support, such as the additional investment in digital skills, will help many more organisations adapt to new ways of working and be better equipped to survive.  

This crisis, however, brings new and unique challenges.

Even heritage organisations that have built successful income streams are vulnerable. The impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) will be uneven – the consequences for some communities, regions and types of organisations will be far more significant than for others. And I recognise that despite all our efforts at the Heritage Fund, the difficult fact is that we will not have the resources to help everyone we would like to.

Some heritage organisations are going to have to rethink their future. Given the uncertainty we face, some may have to do so despite their own Herculean efforts even if they have received support from us.

"We are living through an extraordinary time, and neither we – nor our vital, creative sector – will look quite the same again."

We are living through an extraordinary time, and neither we – nor our vital, creative sector – will look quite the same again. But the fundamental importance of heritage in people’s lives, the contribution that it makes to people’s wellbeing, sense of self and of place, the need to protect it for future generations and its value as an employer and to the economy means we must all work together to achieve the best possible outcome. 

So, beyond the immediate funding support we have already launched, I see our role at The Fund as supporting the heritage sector to work through how the future will be different. This must be a joint endeavour, and we will work with the widest group of partners and draw on different and new perspectives to reimagine the heritage sector in the future.

New views 

To start this conversation, this month we are launching ‘Future Heritage’, a series of opinion pieces from a range of leaders across our sector. We hope these diverse views will stimulate new thinking, ideas and debate about the future of heritage in a world after coronavirus (COVID-19).

"All of us involved in heritage know – beyond its economic contribution – how critically important it is." 

All of us involved in heritage know – beyond its economic contribution – how critically important it is. The benefits it delivers will be just as important as we look to the future, if not more so, but our sector will need to innovate and embrace new ways of working to thrive.

It is an unfamiliar landscape that I find myself returning to, but I'm very pleased that I’m back and able to contribute at a time when there’s so much that needs to be done.

Cancer makes you stop and reassess your life. I’ve come out the other end of it feeling that what we as a sector do, and the work of The Fund is more important than ever. Working with our stakeholders, our Board of Trustees, committee members and my team, I look forward to tackling the challenges ahead for the heritage community.  

In the meantime, stay safe and look out for each other. I know how important it is to have the support of family and friends during these extraordinary times.  

When in doubt, revel in the darkness.
Each act of celebration is a spark.
Gathered together
they call back the sun.

 

- from Revelers, by Lynn Ungar

Disregard statistics for a moment. At a human level, these are dark days.

As in many other workplaces, in an independent museum, where you know the name not just of every colleague but also their children and pets, the individual cost of the pandemic is everywhere.

"This crisis has shown the remarkable capacity for people to adapt and bring their human instincts and resilience to the fore."

Our team has had its share of anxiety, illness and grief. The toll is only exacerbated by the fact we can’t reach out and touch those who most need it.

Yet this crisis has also shown the remarkable capacity for people to adapt and bring their human instincts and resilience to the fore.

The future museums face

Museums face an unimaginable future. Writing in mid-May, I hope the sector might reopen in time for the summer. But I don’t quite know how, nor whether people will come.

My own museum, the Thackray Museum of Medicine in Leeds, faces a double whammy as the lockdown started during a major refurbishment. Not only did we lose our trading income, but delay to the project means we have lost the opportunity of even an uncertain summer reopening. Government assistance, such as rates relief and furloughing, has helped us stay afloat, just.

Funders such as The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Arts Council England have been quick to provide emergency funding for those in the most need. But we know that it won’t be enough for everyone. Many museums will need to make difficult choices after coronavirus (COVID-19).

The value of independent museums

The irony is that independent museums will be needed more than ever post pandemic.

"Where better to make sense of what we have all been through than in a medical museum?"

People will need places in which to reconnect with relatives and friends. Families will need affordable destinations for previously cooped-up children to decompress. Where better to take your gran for her first cup of tea out? Where better to make sense of what we have all been through than in a medical museum?

The UK doesn’t have a national museum of medicine. Most of our medical museums are away from the bustle of the nationals, tucked in corners of medical associations and colleges or else independent charities like Thackray Museum. They don’t have the larger museums’ access to resources.

Yet these are the very times that people need to know that the Anaesthesia Heritage Centre, the George Marshall Medical Museum, the Florence Nightingale Museum, or the many others across the country, will continue to bear witness to this remarkable moment and to inspire the next generation of health heroes.

Galvanised by crisis

Even during the lockdown, the value of our sector has been proved.

Like many, we contributed to #MuseumFromHome. We have supported wellbeing through activities such as our Lorina Bulwer Sew-In and initiated coronavirus (COVID-19) collecting and co-curation initiatives, including a very hastily built Health Heroes microsite.

We made our car park free for NHS staff and hosted a food distribution point for frontline workers. We provided details of ventilator parts held in our collection to engineering companies to help make new ventilators. We worked round normally time-consuming and complex rules on disposal of museum objects to make useful kit available to the people who needed it.

"Those furloughed staff who could do so signed up as NHS volunteers while others found creative and daft ways to keep the team talking."

Those furloughed staff who could do so signed up as NHS volunteers while others found creative and daft ways to keep the team talking, laughing and even crying together, while apart.

Our trustees have been re-galvanised by the crisis, helping us to add coronavirus-related objects from the closing Nightingale Hospital and elsewhere to our museum collection, bringing both time and an enormous range of expertise to our cause. We have been in touch with other teams across the region to plan collecting strategies and digital engagement and sometimes, as in the case of Yorkshire Museum’s Curator Battles, just to be very silly indeed.

Preparing for a different future

Expectations have been (carefully) thrown out the window. And I've found that when freed from constraints of process, people’s deeper instincts and values have kicked in. That's why I’m optimistic about our capacity to meet the future. We don’t yet know quite what to expect, but we can have a good guess.

With fewer resources and audiences under pressure, our production costs will need to come down. More than ever, we will need to find ways to make every penny count, adding value and finding extra uses for everything we produce, from exhibitions to events.

"Museums that fail to reflect our collective recent experience on a human scale will seem aloof."

That will mean including more digital content in our projects and tailoring that content to a far greater range of communities’ needs, from training resources and apprenticeships, to advocacy tools, social prescribing opportunities and a whole host of other applications and re-uses that genuine collaboration will define. 

Big, expensive, blockbuster projects are, I think, going to feel unworldly after the crisis. Museums that fail to reflect our collective recent experience on a human scale will seem aloof.

Sharing for the common good

I believe that, with museums struggling to survive, remaining resources need to be shared for common good. This is not simply for the museums themselves, but for public benefit too.

This presents a fantastic opportunity for independent museums.

We are more agile, less process-driven and less beholden to patronage than many larger museums. We can get ahead of the curve.

I see this happening in a number of ways:

• It could mean finding ways to share investment in projects across multiple organisations and sites, both physical and digital.
• Contracts could follow models like Integrated Project Insurance to share risk.
• We need to share operations too. Administration and HR could be more efficiently delivered through collaboration.
• We need to find better ways of pooling our trustees’ time and expertise – why not have shared boards overseeing multiple independent museums? Put aside technical preconceptions (and a few egos) and it makes sense.

For the past bunkered weeks, we’ve all been reduced to identical digital boxes on the screen. A virtual existence that encourages democracy.

Let’s not forget how easy it is to connect and work together when the sun comes out again.

About Nat Edwards

Nat Edwards is Chief Executive of the Thackray Museum of Medicine in Leeds, one of the UK’s largest independent medical museums. 

Currently he is based in his daughter’s bedroom, both overseeing a £4million refurbishment of the museum and trying to get the virtual backgrounds on Zoom to work.

• Views expressed in the Future Heritage blog series are those of the authors, not necessarily of The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Today is my second day back at work after abruptly having to put my life on hold in November 2019. Six months ago, out of the blue, I was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. 

But, if it is possible to be lucky when having cancer, I have been (so far). I had a speedy diagnosis, excellent medical care from all the NHS staff at The Royal Marsden, and successfully completed intensive treatment before the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19). My thoughts are very much with those being diagnosed or in treatment right now. 

"The world, the workplace, and the heritage sector that I am returning to, are, of course, not normal." 

Thankfully, I am now cancer free and, despite having a lot less hair (which is, at least, practical during lockdown) I am more or less back to normal. 

But the world, the workplace, and the heritage sector that I am returning to, are, of course, not normal. 

Facing the crisis 

This is the biggest crisis I have seen in my lifetime. I’m very proud of the way everyone at The Fund has mobilised to support people and organisations working in heritage across the UK.

Within days of moving all our 300 staff to home working, my team surveyed over 1,000 heritage organisations to understand the immediate impact of coronavirus (COVID-19). Using this evidence, we launched our Heritage Emergency Fund, offering emergency grants of between £3,000 and £50,000. We have already approved the first round of applications.

We increased our investment in digital skills for the sector, recognising how important digital expertise will be in a ‘social distancing’ world. And we firmly committed to supporting our existing grantees through this most difficult of times, providing them with greater flexibility on grant payments and making over £31m of grant payments in April.

Next phase of financial help 

But we also recognise that some organisations, particularly independent heritage attractions that are highly dependent on visitor income, may have a higher level of financial need than our initial emergency funding can cover.

I’m pleased to announce therefore – as my first action since returning – a new strand to our Heritage Emergency Fund. 

Within the current £50m Heritage Emergency Fund, we’re creating a new grant range of £50,000–£250,000. It will be open to past and current grantees.

This new strand will help us:

• respond to exceptional cases of larger-scale need
• protect heritage at severe immediate risk
• and, crucially, safeguard the heritage that can play a key role in the UK’s economic and community regeneration from the impacts of coronavirus (COVID-19)

We are developing the detail for how to apply for these new grants in the coming week. We will actively communicate this when applications are open. In the meantime you can keep up to date with the latest information by following us on social media.

The future for heritage 

The Heritage Emergency Fund will enable us to help those most in need in the immediate term. Our non-financial support, such as the additional investment in digital skills, will help many more organisations adapt to new ways of working and be better equipped to survive.  

This crisis, however, brings new and unique challenges.

Even heritage organisations that have built successful income streams are vulnerable. The impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) will be uneven – the consequences for some communities, regions and types of organisations will be far more significant than for others. And I recognise that despite all our efforts at the Heritage Fund, the difficult fact is that we will not have the resources to help everyone we would like to.

Some heritage organisations are going to have to rethink their future. Given the uncertainty we face, some may have to do so despite their own Herculean efforts even if they have received support from us.

"We are living through an extraordinary time, and neither we – nor our vital, creative sector – will look quite the same again."

We are living through an extraordinary time, and neither we – nor our vital, creative sector – will look quite the same again. But the fundamental importance of heritage in people’s lives, the contribution that it makes to people’s wellbeing, sense of self and of place, the need to protect it for future generations and its value as an employer and to the economy means we must all work together to achieve the best possible outcome. 

So, beyond the immediate funding support we have already launched, I see our role at The Fund as supporting the heritage sector to work through how the future will be different. This must be a joint endeavour, and we will work with the widest group of partners and draw on different and new perspectives to reimagine the heritage sector in the future.

New views 

To start this conversation, this month we are launching ‘Future Heritage’, a series of opinion pieces from a range of leaders across our sector. We hope these diverse views will stimulate new thinking, ideas and debate about the future of heritage in a world after coronavirus (COVID-19).

"All of us involved in heritage know – beyond its economic contribution – how critically important it is." 

All of us involved in heritage know – beyond its economic contribution – how critically important it is. The benefits it delivers will be just as important as we look to the future, if not more so, but our sector will need to innovate and embrace new ways of working to thrive.

It is an unfamiliar landscape that I find myself returning to, but I'm very pleased that I’m back and able to contribute at a time when there’s so much that needs to be done.

Cancer makes you stop and reassess your life. I’ve come out the other end of it feeling that what we as a sector do, and the work of The Fund is more important than ever. Working with our stakeholders, our Board of Trustees, committee members and my team, I look forward to tackling the challenges ahead for the heritage community.  

In the meantime, stay safe and look out for each other. I know how important it is to have the support of family and friends during these extraordinary times.  

It is difficult to think of a month like the last. Despite our many differences, people across the world have come together, joined by shared experiences and common causes.

Whether it is the climate emergency, coronavirus (COVID-19) or the issues of racial injustice stirred by the death of George Floyd in the USA, people from Korea, Kenya and Kent have connected on concerns at once both personal and universal.

How can the heritage sector respond to this time of upheaval?

"This we are all living through is history. From the perspective of future generations, this too is heritage."

The challenge is to capture these moments of shared meaning. And then to reflect them well. For this we are all living through is history. From the perspective of future generations, this too is heritage. 

But what should be collected? Whose heritage should be conserved? Who decides? And is the sector moving fast enough to capture the nuances as well as headlines of current events? Are different perspectives being given a fair representation? We are hearing loud and clear that there is little tolerance for a single lens view.

Here are some questions we could all think about:

Who is on our staff?

Are you making the most of your teams’ experiences and connections? Are their networks contributing to the mix at this critical time? Who are the well-connected individuals with the insights, understanding and community links necessary to capture the range of narratives we will wish to tell?   

Many heritage organisations have long moved to reflect a broader range of perspectives and experiences. Has that gone far enough? Is it embedded practice?  

Without a diverse workforce the challenge will continue to be steep.  

A review of the workforce to inform team planning after the pandemic could be helpful. And how can we ensure that the line of least resistance is not the first answer? 

Who are we talking to?

Paradoxically, while in lockdown, we have experienced a great opening up of institutions – illuminating access to collections, catalogues and treasures. It has been joyful to see heritage humour brought forward through Yorkshire Museum’s #CuratorBattle or the #GettyMuseumChallenge (other heritage humour examples are available!).  

What these projects have in common is the way in which they invite you to engage with heritage professionals alongside heritage objects – the personalities of curators meeting the creativity of the public.

These innovations also bring significant numbers of new audiences to heritage.  

Some may never have the opportunity for a site visit or membership, but might their curiosity still be encouraged, to build on this audience adventure beyond the period of lockdown?

How are we funded?

One of the most dramatic shifts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) experience has been the ways in which sector funders have responded with dynamism and speed.
 
Asking questions, listening, releasing new resources, flexing schedules, connecting and creating timely responses to urgent needs. And that is in addition to providing essential information and guidance, and a genuinely empathetic approach. It is, rightly, being applauded.  

Might we stick with the lean and nimble processes of this dynamic response, seeing this as the new way forward rather than simply an emergency measure?

"This funding response need not fade as a one-off gesture. Rather, it could be marked as the catalyst for innovation, spurring adaptations and new ways of investing in cultural heritage."  

It could be an opportunity to prioritise innovative organisations and ways of thinking, focusing on curation, capacity building and engagement – particularly with those who have found barriers in their way in the past. That truly would be "future heritage".

As a former member of The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s London committee, I do not underestimate the challenge. But I believe this funding response need not fade as a one-off gesture. Rather, it could be marked as the catalyst for innovation, spurring adaptations and new ways of investing in cultural heritage.  

How do we invest in leadership?

Clore Leadership has had the pleasure of working with, supporting and nurturing many of the heritage sector’s professionals. Responding to the pandemic, we:

• shared resources for crisis management
• offered timely perspectives to deal with immediate challenges
• facilitated peer-to-peer support 
• created the Clore Leadership Experience (short-form professional development opportunities for staff on furlough or freelance)

We too face the challenge of learning and adapting – of balancing our highly regarded Fellowship and Intensive Courses with the new webinars and online learning that have brought fresh successes and keen new learners to our table.  

For us, as for the heritage sector, our challenge is to look sufficiently far ahead. We need to combine urgent needs with a strong foundation for the future we want to create.

By strengthening leadership right across the sector, from established to new professionals, we share the aspirational load.

Shared experiences mark this time. Let’s ensure equitable outcomes mark the future. 

Carpe diem.

About Hilary Carty

Hilary Carty is the Executive Director, Clore Leadership, a role she took up after six years as a consultant, facilitator and coach specialising in leadership development, management and organisational change.

Hilary’s earlier roles include:

• Director of the Cultural Leadership Programme
• Director, London (Arts) at Arts Council England
• Director, Culture and Education at London 2012
• Director of Dance for Arts Council England
• Visiting Professor on leadership (Austria)
• The National Lottery Heritage Fund London Committee Member

In recognition of her contribution to the arts, culture and heritage, Hilary has been awarded three honorary doctorates and three fellowships from UK universities. Hilary is a governor of The Royal Ballet.  
 

• Views expressed in the Future Heritage blog series are those of the authors, not necessarily of The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

When in doubt, revel in the darkness.
Each act of celebration is a spark.
Gathered together
they call back the sun.

 

- from Revelers, by Lynn Ungar

Disregard statistics for a moment. At a human level, these are dark days.

As in many other workplaces, in an independent museum, where you know the name not just of every colleague but also their children and pets, the individual cost of the pandemic is everywhere.

"This crisis has shown the remarkable capacity for people to adapt and bring their human instincts and resilience to the fore."

Our team has had its share of anxiety, illness and grief. The toll is only exacerbated by the fact we can’t reach out and touch those who most need it.

Yet this crisis has also shown the remarkable capacity for people to adapt and bring their human instincts and resilience to the fore.

The future museums face

Museums face an unimaginable future. Writing in mid-May, I hope the sector might reopen in time for the summer. But I don’t quite know how, nor whether people will come.

My own museum, the Thackray Museum of Medicine in Leeds, faces a double whammy as the lockdown started during a major refurbishment. Not only did we lose our trading income, but delay to the project means we have lost the opportunity of even an uncertain summer reopening. Government assistance, such as rates relief and furloughing, has helped us stay afloat, just.

Funders such as The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Arts Council England have been quick to provide emergency funding for those in the most need. But we know that it won’t be enough for everyone. Many museums will need to make difficult choices after coronavirus (COVID-19).

The value of independent museums

The irony is that independent museums will be needed more than ever post pandemic.

"Where better to make sense of what we have all been through than in a medical museum?"

People will need places in which to reconnect with relatives and friends. Families will need affordable destinations for previously cooped-up children to decompress. Where better to take your gran for her first cup of tea out? Where better to make sense of what we have all been through than in a medical museum?

The UK doesn’t have a national museum of medicine. Most of our medical museums are away from the bustle of the nationals, tucked in corners of medical associations and colleges or else independent charities like Thackray Museum. They don’t have the larger museums’ access to resources.

Yet these are the very times that people need to know that the Anaesthesia Heritage Centre, the George Marshall Medical Museum, the Florence Nightingale Museum, or the many others across the country, will continue to bear witness to this remarkable moment and to inspire the next generation of health heroes.

Galvanised by crisis

Even during the lockdown, the value of our sector has been proved.

Like many, we contributed to #MuseumFromHome. We have supported wellbeing through activities such as our Lorina Bulwer Sew-In and initiated coronavirus (COVID-19) collecting and co-curation initiatives, including a very hastily built Health Heroes microsite.

We made our car park free for NHS staff and hosted a food distribution point for frontline workers. We provided details of ventilator parts held in our collection to engineering companies to help make new ventilators. We worked round normally time-consuming and complex rules on disposal of museum objects to make useful kit available to the people who needed it.

"Those furloughed staff who could do so signed up as NHS volunteers while others found creative and daft ways to keep the team talking."

Those furloughed staff who could do so signed up as NHS volunteers while others found creative and daft ways to keep the team talking, laughing and even crying together, while apart.

Our trustees have been re-galvanised by the crisis, helping us to add coronavirus-related objects from the closing Nightingale Hospital and elsewhere to our museum collection, bringing both time and an enormous range of expertise to our cause. We have been in touch with other teams across the region to plan collecting strategies and digital engagement and sometimes, as in the case of Yorkshire Museum’s Curator Battles, just to be very silly indeed.

Preparing for a different future

Expectations have been (carefully) thrown out the window. And I've found that when freed from constraints of process, people’s deeper instincts and values have kicked in. That's why I’m optimistic about our capacity to meet the future. We don’t yet know quite what to expect, but we can have a good guess.

With fewer resources and audiences under pressure, our production costs will need to come down. More than ever, we will need to find ways to make every penny count, adding value and finding extra uses for everything we produce, from exhibitions to events.

"Museums that fail to reflect our collective recent experience on a human scale will seem aloof."

That will mean including more digital content in our projects and tailoring that content to a far greater range of communities’ needs, from training resources and apprenticeships, to advocacy tools, social prescribing opportunities and a whole host of other applications and re-uses that genuine collaboration will define. 

Big, expensive, blockbuster projects are, I think, going to feel unworldly after the crisis. Museums that fail to reflect our collective recent experience on a human scale will seem aloof.

Sharing for the common good

I believe that, with museums struggling to survive, remaining resources need to be shared for common good. This is not simply for the museums themselves, but for public benefit too.

This presents a fantastic opportunity for independent museums.

We are more agile, less process-driven and less beholden to patronage than many larger museums. We can get ahead of the curve.

I see this happening in a number of ways:

• It could mean finding ways to share investment in projects across multiple organisations and sites, both physical and digital.
• Contracts could follow models like Integrated Project Insurance to share risk.
• We need to share operations too. Administration and HR could be more efficiently delivered through collaboration.
• We need to find better ways of pooling our trustees’ time and expertise – why not have shared boards overseeing multiple independent museums? Put aside technical preconceptions (and a few egos) and it makes sense.

For the past bunkered weeks, we’ve all been reduced to identical digital boxes on the screen. A virtual existence that encourages democracy.

Let’s not forget how easy it is to connect and work together when the sun comes out again.

About Nat Edwards

Nat Edwards is Chief Executive of the Thackray Museum of Medicine in Leeds, one of the UK’s largest independent medical museums. 

Currently he is based in his daughter’s bedroom, both overseeing a £4million refurbishment of the museum and trying to get the virtual backgrounds on Zoom to work.

• Views expressed in the Future Heritage blog series are those of the authors, not necessarily of The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Today is my second day back at work after abruptly having to put my life on hold in November 2019. Six months ago, out of the blue, I was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. 

But, if it is possible to be lucky when having cancer, I have been (so far). I had a speedy diagnosis, excellent medical care from all the NHS staff at The Royal Marsden, and successfully completed intensive treatment before the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19). My thoughts are very much with those being diagnosed or in treatment right now. 

"The world, the workplace, and the heritage sector that I am returning to, are, of course, not normal." 

Thankfully, I am now cancer free and, despite having a lot less hair (which is, at least, practical during lockdown) I am more or less back to normal. 

But the world, the workplace, and the heritage sector that I am returning to, are, of course, not normal. 

Facing the crisis 

This is the biggest crisis I have seen in my lifetime. I’m very proud of the way everyone at The Fund has mobilised to support people and organisations working in heritage across the UK.

Within days of moving all our 300 staff to home working, my team surveyed over 1,000 heritage organisations to understand the immediate impact of coronavirus (COVID-19). Using this evidence, we launched our Heritage Emergency Fund, offering emergency grants of between £3,000 and £50,000. We have already approved the first round of applications.

We increased our investment in digital skills for the sector, recognising how important digital expertise will be in a ‘social distancing’ world. And we firmly committed to supporting our existing grantees through this most difficult of times, providing them with greater flexibility on grant payments and making over £31m of grant payments in April.

Next phase of financial help 

But we also recognise that some organisations, particularly independent heritage attractions that are highly dependent on visitor income, may have a higher level of financial need than our initial emergency funding can cover.

I’m pleased to announce therefore – as my first action since returning – a new strand to our Heritage Emergency Fund. 

Within the current £50m Heritage Emergency Fund, we’re creating a new grant range of £50,000–£250,000. It will be open to past and current grantees.

This new strand will help us:

• respond to exceptional cases of larger-scale need
• protect heritage at severe immediate risk
• and, crucially, safeguard the heritage that can play a key role in the UK’s economic and community regeneration from the impacts of coronavirus (COVID-19)

We are developing the detail for how to apply for these new grants in the coming week. We will actively communicate this when applications are open. In the meantime you can keep up to date with the latest information by following us on social media.

The future for heritage 

The Heritage Emergency Fund will enable us to help those most in need in the immediate term. Our non-financial support, such as the additional investment in digital skills, will help many more organisations adapt to new ways of working and be better equipped to survive.  

This crisis, however, brings new and unique challenges.

Even heritage organisations that have built successful income streams are vulnerable. The impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) will be uneven – the consequences for some communities, regions and types of organisations will be far more significant than for others. And I recognise that despite all our efforts at the Heritage Fund, the difficult fact is that we will not have the resources to help everyone we would like to.

Some heritage organisations are going to have to rethink their future. Given the uncertainty we face, some may have to do so despite their own Herculean efforts even if they have received support from us.

"We are living through an extraordinary time, and neither we – nor our vital, creative sector – will look quite the same again."

We are living through an extraordinary time, and neither we – nor our vital, creative sector – will look quite the same again. But the fundamental importance of heritage in people’s lives, the contribution that it makes to people’s wellbeing, sense of self and of place, the need to protect it for future generations and its value as an employer and to the economy means we must all work together to achieve the best possible outcome. 

So, beyond the immediate funding support we have already launched, I see our role at The Fund as supporting the heritage sector to work through how the future will be different. This must be a joint endeavour, and we will work with the widest group of partners and draw on different and new perspectives to reimagine the heritage sector in the future.

New views 

To start this conversation, this month we are launching ‘Future Heritage’, a series of opinion pieces from a range of leaders across our sector. We hope these diverse views will stimulate new thinking, ideas and debate about the future of heritage in a world after coronavirus (COVID-19).

"All of us involved in heritage know – beyond its economic contribution – how critically important it is." 

All of us involved in heritage know – beyond its economic contribution – how critically important it is. The benefits it delivers will be just as important as we look to the future, if not more so, but our sector will need to innovate and embrace new ways of working to thrive.

It is an unfamiliar landscape that I find myself returning to, but I'm very pleased that I’m back and able to contribute at a time when there’s so much that needs to be done.

Cancer makes you stop and reassess your life. I’ve come out the other end of it feeling that what we as a sector do, and the work of The Fund is more important than ever. Working with our stakeholders, our Board of Trustees, committee members and my team, I look forward to tackling the challenges ahead for the heritage community.  

In the meantime, stay safe and look out for each other. I know how important it is to have the support of family and friends during these extraordinary times.  

Today is my second day back at work after abruptly having to put my life on hold in November 2019. Six months ago, out of the blue, I was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. 

But, if it is possible to be lucky when having cancer, I have been (so far). I had a speedy diagnosis, excellent medical care from all the NHS staff at The Royal Marsden, and successfully completed intensive treatment before the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19). My thoughts are very much with those being diagnosed or in treatment right now. 

"The world, the workplace, and the heritage sector that I am returning to, are, of course, not normal." 

Thankfully, I am now cancer free and, despite having a lot less hair (which is, at least, practical during lockdown) I am more or less back to normal. 

But the world, the workplace, and the heritage sector that I am returning to, are, of course, not normal. 

Facing the crisis 

This is the biggest crisis I have seen in my lifetime. I’m very proud of the way everyone at The Fund has mobilised to support people and organisations working in heritage across the UK.

Within days of moving all our 300 staff to home working, my team surveyed over 1,000 heritage organisations to understand the immediate impact of coronavirus (COVID-19). Using this evidence, we launched our Heritage Emergency Fund, offering emergency grants of between £3,000 and £50,000. We have already approved the first round of applications.

We increased our investment in digital skills for the sector, recognising how important digital expertise will be in a ‘social distancing’ world. And we firmly committed to supporting our existing grantees through this most difficult of times, providing them with greater flexibility on grant payments and making over £31m of grant payments in April.

Next phase of financial help 

But we also recognise that some organisations, particularly independent heritage attractions that are highly dependent on visitor income, may have a higher level of financial need than our initial emergency funding can cover.

I’m pleased to announce therefore – as my first action since returning – a new strand to our Heritage Emergency Fund. 

Within the current £50m Heritage Emergency Fund, we’re creating a new grant range of £50,000–£250,000. It will be open to past and current grantees.

This new strand will help us:

• respond to exceptional cases of larger-scale need
• protect heritage at severe immediate risk
• and, crucially, safeguard the heritage that can play a key role in the UK’s economic and community regeneration from the impacts of coronavirus (COVID-19)

We are developing the detail for how to apply for these new grants in the coming week. We will actively communicate this when applications are open. In the meantime you can keep up to date with the latest information by following us on social media.

The future for heritage 

The Heritage Emergency Fund will enable us to help those most in need in the immediate term. Our non-financial support, such as the additional investment in digital skills, will help many more organisations adapt to new ways of working and be better equipped to survive.  

This crisis, however, brings new and unique challenges.

Even heritage organisations that have built successful income streams are vulnerable. The impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) will be uneven – the consequences for some communities, regions and types of organisations will be far more significant than for others. And I recognise that despite all our efforts at the Heritage Fund, the difficult fact is that we will not have the resources to help everyone we would like to.

Some heritage organisations are going to have to rethink their future. Given the uncertainty we face, some may have to do so despite their own Herculean efforts even if they have received support from us.

"We are living through an extraordinary time, and neither we – nor our vital, creative sector – will look quite the same again."

We are living through an extraordinary time, and neither we – nor our vital, creative sector – will look quite the same again. But the fundamental importance of heritage in people’s lives, the contribution that it makes to people’s wellbeing, sense of self and of place, the need to protect it for future generations and its value as an employer and to the economy means we must all work together to achieve the best possible outcome. 

So, beyond the immediate funding support we have already launched, I see our role at The Fund as supporting the heritage sector to work through how the future will be different. This must be a joint endeavour, and we will work with the widest group of partners and draw on different and new perspectives to reimagine the heritage sector in the future.

New views 

To start this conversation, this month we are launching ‘Future Heritage’, a series of opinion pieces from a range of leaders across our sector. We hope these diverse views will stimulate new thinking, ideas and debate about the future of heritage in a world after coronavirus (COVID-19).

"All of us involved in heritage know – beyond its economic contribution – how critically important it is." 

All of us involved in heritage know – beyond its economic contribution – how critically important it is. The benefits it delivers will be just as important as we look to the future, if not more so, but our sector will need to innovate and embrace new ways of working to thrive.

It is an unfamiliar landscape that I find myself returning to, but I'm very pleased that I’m back and able to contribute at a time when there’s so much that needs to be done.

Cancer makes you stop and reassess your life. I’ve come out the other end of it feeling that what we as a sector do, and the work of The Fund is more important than ever. Working with our stakeholders, our Board of Trustees, committee members and my team, I look forward to tackling the challenges ahead for the heritage community.  

In the meantime, stay safe and look out for each other. I know how important it is to have the support of family and friends during these extraordinary times.  

When in doubt, revel in the darkness.
Each act of celebration is a spark.
Gathered together
they call back the sun.

 

- from Revelers, by Lynn Ungar

Disregard statistics for a moment. At a human level, these are dark days.

As in many other workplaces, in an independent museum, where you know the name not just of every colleague but also their children and pets, the individual cost of the pandemic is everywhere.

"This crisis has shown the remarkable capacity for people to adapt and bring their human instincts and resilience to the fore."

Our team has had its share of anxiety, illness and grief. The toll is only exacerbated by the fact we can’t reach out and touch those who most need it.

Yet this crisis has also shown the remarkable capacity for people to adapt and bring their human instincts and resilience to the fore.

The future museums face

Museums face an unimaginable future. Writing in mid-May, I hope the sector might reopen in time for the summer. But I don’t quite know how, nor whether people will come.

My own museum, the Thackray Museum of Medicine in Leeds, faces a double whammy as the lockdown started during a major refurbishment. Not only did we lose our trading income, but delay to the project means we have lost the opportunity of even an uncertain summer reopening. Government assistance, such as rates relief and furloughing, has helped us stay afloat, just.

Funders such as The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Arts Council England have been quick to provide emergency funding for those in the most need. But we know that it won’t be enough for everyone. Many museums will need to make difficult choices after coronavirus (COVID-19).

The value of independent museums

The irony is that independent museums will be needed more than ever post pandemic.

"Where better to make sense of what we have all been through than in a medical museum?"

People will need places in which to reconnect with relatives and friends. Families will need affordable destinations for previously cooped-up children to decompress. Where better to take your gran for her first cup of tea out? Where better to make sense of what we have all been through than in a medical museum?

The UK doesn’t have a national museum of medicine. Most of our medical museums are away from the bustle of the nationals, tucked in corners of medical associations and colleges or else independent charities like Thackray Museum. They don’t have the larger museums’ access to resources.

Yet these are the very times that people need to know that the Anaesthesia Heritage Centre, the George Marshall Medical Museum, the Florence Nightingale Museum, or the many others across the country, will continue to bear witness to this remarkable moment and to inspire the next generation of health heroes.

Galvanised by crisis

Even during the lockdown, the value of our sector has been proved.

Like many, we contributed to #MuseumFromHome. We have supported wellbeing through activities such as our Lorina Bulwer Sew-In and initiated coronavirus (COVID-19) collecting and co-curation initiatives, including a very hastily built Health Heroes microsite.

We made our car park free for NHS staff and hosted a food distribution point for frontline workers. We provided details of ventilator parts held in our collection to engineering companies to help make new ventilators. We worked round normally time-consuming and complex rules on disposal of museum objects to make useful kit available to the people who needed it.

"Those furloughed staff who could do so signed up as NHS volunteers while others found creative and daft ways to keep the team talking."

Those furloughed staff who could do so signed up as NHS volunteers while others found creative and daft ways to keep the team talking, laughing and even crying together, while apart.

Our trustees have been re-galvanised by the crisis, helping us to add coronavirus-related objects from the closing Nightingale Hospital and elsewhere to our museum collection, bringing both time and an enormous range of expertise to our cause. We have been in touch with other teams across the region to plan collecting strategies and digital engagement and sometimes, as in the case of Yorkshire Museum’s Curator Battles, just to be very silly indeed.

Preparing for a different future

Expectations have been (carefully) thrown out the window. And I've found that when freed from constraints of process, people’s deeper instincts and values have kicked in. That's why I’m optimistic about our capacity to meet the future. We don’t yet know quite what to expect, but we can have a good guess.

With fewer resources and audiences under pressure, our production costs will need to come down. More than ever, we will need to find ways to make every penny count, adding value and finding extra uses for everything we produce, from exhibitions to events.

"Museums that fail to reflect our collective recent experience on a human scale will seem aloof."

That will mean including more digital content in our projects and tailoring that content to a far greater range of communities’ needs, from training resources and apprenticeships, to advocacy tools, social prescribing opportunities and a whole host of other applications and re-uses that genuine collaboration will define. 

Big, expensive, blockbuster projects are, I think, going to feel unworldly after the crisis. Museums that fail to reflect our collective recent experience on a human scale will seem aloof.

Sharing for the common good

I believe that, with museums struggling to survive, remaining resources need to be shared for common good. This is not simply for the museums themselves, but for public benefit too.

This presents a fantastic opportunity for independent museums.

We are more agile, less process-driven and less beholden to patronage than many larger museums. We can get ahead of the curve.

I see this happening in a number of ways:

• It could mean finding ways to share investment in projects across multiple organisations and sites, both physical and digital.
• Contracts could follow models like Integrated Project Insurance to share risk.
• We need to share operations too. Administration and HR could be more efficiently delivered through collaboration.
• We need to find better ways of pooling our trustees’ time and expertise – why not have shared boards overseeing multiple independent museums? Put aside technical preconceptions (and a few egos) and it makes sense.

For the past bunkered weeks, we’ve all been reduced to identical digital boxes on the screen. A virtual existence that encourages democracy.

Let’s not forget how easy it is to connect and work together when the sun comes out again.

About Nat Edwards

Nat Edwards is Chief Executive of the Thackray Museum of Medicine in Leeds, one of the UK’s largest independent medical museums. 

Currently he is based in his daughter’s bedroom, both overseeing a £4million refurbishment of the museum and trying to get the virtual backgrounds on Zoom to work.

• Views expressed in the Future Heritage blog series are those of the authors, not necessarily of The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Today is my second day back at work after abruptly having to put my life on hold in November 2019. Six months ago, out of the blue, I was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. 

But, if it is possible to be lucky when having cancer, I have been (so far). I had a speedy diagnosis, excellent medical care from all the NHS staff at The Royal Marsden, and successfully completed intensive treatment before the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19). My thoughts are very much with those being diagnosed or in treatment right now. 

"The world, the workplace, and the heritage sector that I am returning to, are, of course, not normal." 

Thankfully, I am now cancer free and, despite having a lot less hair (which is, at least, practical during lockdown) I am more or less back to normal. 

But the world, the workplace, and the heritage sector that I am returning to, are, of course, not normal. 

Facing the crisis 

This is the biggest crisis I have seen in my lifetime. I’m very proud of the way everyone at The Fund has mobilised to support people and organisations working in heritage across the UK.

Within days of moving all our 300 staff to home working, my team surveyed over 1,000 heritage organisations to understand the immediate impact of coronavirus (COVID-19). Using this evidence, we launched our Heritage Emergency Fund, offering emergency grants of between £3,000 and £50,000. We have already approved the first round of applications.

We increased our investment in digital skills for the sector, recognising how important digital expertise will be in a ‘social distancing’ world. And we firmly committed to supporting our existing grantees through this most difficult of times, providing them with greater flexibility on grant payments and making over £31m of grant payments in April.

Next phase of financial help 

But we also recognise that some organisations, particularly independent heritage attractions that are highly dependent on visitor income, may have a higher level of financial need than our initial emergency funding can cover.

I’m pleased to announce therefore – as my first action since returning – a new strand to our Heritage Emergency Fund. 

Within the current £50m Heritage Emergency Fund, we’re creating a new grant range of £50,000–£250,000. It will be open to past and current grantees.

This new strand will help us:

• respond to exceptional cases of larger-scale need
• protect heritage at severe immediate risk
• and, crucially, safeguard the heritage that can play a key role in the UK’s economic and community regeneration from the impacts of coronavirus (COVID-19)

We are developing the detail for how to apply for these new grants in the coming week. We will actively communicate this when applications are open. In the meantime you can keep up to date with the latest information by following us on social media.

The future for heritage 

The Heritage Emergency Fund will enable us to help those most in need in the immediate term. Our non-financial support, such as the additional investment in digital skills, will help many more organisations adapt to new ways of working and be better equipped to survive.  

This crisis, however, brings new and unique challenges.

Even heritage organisations that have built successful income streams are vulnerable. The impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) will be uneven – the consequences for some communities, regions and types of organisations will be far more significant than for others. And I recognise that despite all our efforts at the Heritage Fund, the difficult fact is that we will not have the resources to help everyone we would like to.

Some heritage organisations are going to have to rethink their future. Given the uncertainty we face, some may have to do so despite their own Herculean efforts even if they have received support from us.

"We are living through an extraordinary time, and neither we – nor our vital, creative sector – will look quite the same again."

We are living through an extraordinary time, and neither we – nor our vital, creative sector – will look quite the same again. But the fundamental importance of heritage in people’s lives, the contribution that it makes to people’s wellbeing, sense of self and of place, the need to protect it for future generations and its value as an employer and to the economy means we must all work together to achieve the best possible outcome. 

So, beyond the immediate funding support we have already launched, I see our role at The Fund as supporting the heritage sector to work through how the future will be different. This must be a joint endeavour, and we will work with the widest group of partners and draw on different and new perspectives to reimagine the heritage sector in the future.

New views 

To start this conversation, this month we are launching ‘Future Heritage’, a series of opinion pieces from a range of leaders across our sector. We hope these diverse views will stimulate new thinking, ideas and debate about the future of heritage in a world after coronavirus (COVID-19).

"All of us involved in heritage know – beyond its economic contribution – how critically important it is." 

All of us involved in heritage know – beyond its economic contribution – how critically important it is. The benefits it delivers will be just as important as we look to the future, if not more so, but our sector will need to innovate and embrace new ways of working to thrive.

It is an unfamiliar landscape that I find myself returning to, but I'm very pleased that I’m back and able to contribute at a time when there’s so much that needs to be done.

Cancer makes you stop and reassess your life. I’ve come out the other end of it feeling that what we as a sector do, and the work of The Fund is more important than ever. Working with our stakeholders, our Board of Trustees, committee members and my team, I look forward to tackling the challenges ahead for the heritage community.  

In the meantime, stay safe and look out for each other. I know how important it is to have the support of family and friends during these extraordinary times.  

Today is my second day back at work after abruptly having to put my life on hold in November 2019. Six months ago, out of the blue, I was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. 

But, if it is possible to be lucky when having cancer, I have been (so far). I had a speedy diagnosis, excellent medical care from all the NHS staff at The Royal Marsden, and successfully completed intensive treatment before the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19). My thoughts are very much with those being diagnosed or in treatment right now. 

"The world, the workplace, and the heritage sector that I am returning to, are, of course, not normal." 

Thankfully, I am now cancer free and, despite having a lot less hair (which is, at least, practical during lockdown) I am more or less back to normal. 

But the world, the workplace, and the heritage sector that I am returning to, are, of course, not normal. 

Facing the crisis 

This is the biggest crisis I have seen in my lifetime. I’m very proud of the way everyone at The Fund has mobilised to support people and organisations working in heritage across the UK.

Within days of moving all our 300 staff to home working, my team surveyed over 1,000 heritage organisations to understand the immediate impact of coronavirus (COVID-19). Using this evidence, we launched our Heritage Emergency Fund, offering emergency grants of between £3,000 and £50,000. We have already approved the first round of applications.

We increased our investment in digital skills for the sector, recognising how important digital expertise will be in a ‘social distancing’ world. And we firmly committed to supporting our existing grantees through this most difficult of times, providing them with greater flexibility on grant payments and making over £31m of grant payments in April.

Next phase of financial help 

But we also recognise that some organisations, particularly independent heritage attractions that are highly dependent on visitor income, may have a higher level of financial need than our initial emergency funding can cover.

I’m pleased to announce therefore – as my first action since returning – a new strand to our Heritage Emergency Fund. 

Within the current £50m Heritage Emergency Fund, we’re creating a new grant range of £50,000–£250,000. It will be open to past and current grantees.

This new strand will help us:

• respond to exceptional cases of larger-scale need
• protect heritage at severe immediate risk
• and, crucially, safeguard the heritage that can play a key role in the UK’s economic and community regeneration from the impacts of coronavirus (COVID-19)

We are developing the detail for how to apply for these new grants in the coming week. We will actively communicate this when applications are open. In the meantime you can keep up to date with the latest information by following us on social media.

The future for heritage 

The Heritage Emergency Fund will enable us to help those most in need in the immediate term. Our non-financial support, such as the additional investment in digital skills, will help many more organisations adapt to new ways of working and be better equipped to survive.  

This crisis, however, brings new and unique challenges.

Even heritage organisations that have built successful income streams are vulnerable. The impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) will be uneven – the consequences for some communities, regions and types of organisations will be far more significant than for others. And I recognise that despite all our efforts at the Heritage Fund, the difficult fact is that we will not have the resources to help everyone we would like to.

Some heritage organisations are going to have to rethink their future. Given the uncertainty we face, some may have to do so despite their own Herculean efforts even if they have received support from us.

"We are living through an extraordinary time, and neither we – nor our vital, creative sector – will look quite the same again."

We are living through an extraordinary time, and neither we – nor our vital, creative sector – will look quite the same again. But the fundamental importance of heritage in people’s lives, the contribution that it makes to people’s wellbeing, sense of self and of place, the need to protect it for future generations and its value as an employer and to the economy means we must all work together to achieve the best possible outcome. 

So, beyond the immediate funding support we have already launched, I see our role at The Fund as supporting the heritage sector to work through how the future will be different. This must be a joint endeavour, and we will work with the widest group of partners and draw on different and new perspectives to reimagine the heritage sector in the future.

New views 

To start this conversation, this month we are launching ‘Future Heritage’, a series of opinion pieces from a range of leaders across our sector. We hope these diverse views will stimulate new thinking, ideas and debate about the future of heritage in a world after coronavirus (COVID-19).

"All of us involved in heritage know – beyond its economic contribution – how critically important it is." 

All of us involved in heritage know – beyond its economic contribution – how critically important it is. The benefits it delivers will be just as important as we look to the future, if not more so, but our sector will need to innovate and embrace new ways of working to thrive.

It is an unfamiliar landscape that I find myself returning to, but I'm very pleased that I’m back and able to contribute at a time when there’s so much that needs to be done.

Cancer makes you stop and reassess your life. I’ve come out the other end of it feeling that what we as a sector do, and the work of The Fund is more important than ever. Working with our stakeholders, our Board of Trustees, committee members and my team, I look forward to tackling the challenges ahead for the heritage community.  

In the meantime, stay safe and look out for each other. I know how important it is to have the support of family and friends during these extraordinary times.