Hastings Museum & Art Gallery

Development Officer Contract for

Finding our Place 2: Delivering the vision

Brief and specification for a small value contract with Hastings Borough Council

Role:Development Officer for ACE Resilience Project

Location:Home-based.

Must be able to travel to Hastings formeetings.

Fee:Fixed fee of £21,000

Status:Freelance supplier

Reporting to:Catherine Walling, Curator, Hastings Museum

Finding our Place Project Manager

Contract:January2017 to April 2018

1. Introduction

Hastings Museum and Art Gallery (HMAG), has recently been awarded Resilience funding by Arts Council to deliver a multifaceted activity programme focused on transforming the profile and performance of the museum. Key outcomes are:

  1. Improving the visibility of Museum through marketing & promotion initiatives
  2. Increasing and diversifying audience development & engagement
  3. Catalysing business and external funding development opportunities.
  4. Refreshing and augmenting collections management information, to ensure effective working practices and inform interpretation planning.

The Finding Our Place 2 Project will comprise the following strands of activity:

a. / Appointment of a freelance development specialist to write a Business Development Strategy with the aim of identifying potential funding opportunities and diversifying the income of the museum. This will include a review of the role of the Museum Friends’ organisation.
b. / Recruitment of a marketing intern to review current marketing activity and to establish new marketing initiatives to raise the profile of the museum.
c. / Appointment of a freelance collections review consultant to set up collections review process, provide training and oversee implementation.
d. / Recruitment of a documentation assistant intern to carry out an inventory and stocktake of the collections, with support from the Museum’s curatorial staff.

These individual elements will be coordinated by a freelance project manager working in conjunction with the Hastings Museum curator. It is anticipated that there will be periodic team meetings to ensure the project functions as a coherent whole and opportunities for added value are maximised. The interns will be managed locally by the museum staff.

2. Background

Hastings Museum was founded in 1891 by the Hastings and St. Leonards Museums Association. It came under local authority control in 1905 and since that date has been funded by Hastings Borough Council. The collections of the museum are large and diverse and include Fine Art, Ceramics, Local History, Archives, Natural History, Geology, Native American and World Collections.

The Museum’s statement of purpose is to; “fulfil its core role in the preservation, collection, documentation and interpretation of the collections associated with the history and natural history of the area, the fine arts and from a wider cultural context. Visitors and other users will be at the heart of what we do, and we believe that our collections have the power to educate and inspire people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities, and the local communities we serve”.

As a local authority funded museum, strategic direction and budgetary decisions, are shaped by elected members and corporate planning. This context has strengths but can also be challenging in terms of maintaining a focused and appropriately resourced forward plan.

Hastings Museum and Art Gallery has recently undertaken Finding Our Place: A new vision 2015-16, comprising of a:

  • Museum Review: to appraise and assess the museum’s place within the local authority and how it can deliver against local authority objectives, and to examine how to better place the museum in the wider cultural offer.
  • Spatial Review: to analyse and appraise the spatial effectiveness of the existing museum site and to consider potential development options at a conceptual level.
  • Creative Consultation Review: to evaluate and explore how the museum’s audiences and non-audiences perceive, interact with and use the building, facilities, services and staff.
  • Education Service Review: to appraise the museum’s schools education service, and make recommendations on how to restructure to fit with changes to the National Curriculum and to meet the needs of local schools.

The individual reviews provided data and evidence for a report reviewing the options for the future of Hastings Museum and Art Gallery.

3. Purpose of the Brief

The purpose of the brief is to:

  • Create a three year Business Development Strategy for Hastings Museum and identify viable fundraising opportunities and sustainable, multiple source income generation initiatives.
  • Spearhead and support the effective delivery of key elements of the Business Development Strategy over the duration of the resilience project.

4. Role and Outputs

4.1 The Hastings Museum & Art Gallery (HMAG) business development strategy and action plan should encompass the following key elements:

4.1.1 A review of HMAG funding requirements in alignment with proposed and potential activities.

4.1.2 The compilation of a compelling case for support to be used in income generation.

4.1.3 An incisive appraisal of the relative potential of key income generation opportunitiesin relation to HMAG. This should include bespoke recommendations on the relative emphasis, and therefore investment, that should be channelled into individual income generation methods.

4.1.4 A tailored income generation work plan which has the capacity to contribute to the long term sustainability of HMAG. The work plan should identify how HMAG’s ACE Resilience resources can be used to best effect and should clearly state leads for the individual elements of the plan.

4.2 To produce these deliverables, it is envisaged that the development officer will need to:

4.2.1 Holda number of workshops with staff, volunteers and Friends which will provide both a sector specific context for the HMAG team and enable them to actively contribute to the shaping the case for support and the action planning process.

4.2.2 Attend at least three meetings with the project steering group to help steer the successful development and completion of the strategy

4.2.3 Undertake desk based and potentially face to face research on sub-regional demographics, the local economic environment and HMAG’s existing networks to ensure that action planning is informed by clear and specific data, which is wholly relevant to Hastings

4.3 HMAGdo not require generic or sector specific information on fundraising activity and trends. We are already aware of this research and anticipate the development officer will be able to utilise appraisals and data from other Arts Council funded projects. We will work collaboratively to identify what contextual information might be included in the written strategy to provide stakeholders with appropriate context.

4.4 The action plan is the primary focus of the strategy and at a minimum should include:

  • Short and medium term goals across the three year period
  • Milestones and annual targets
  • A projected budget for fundraising costs
  • Income projections
  • Scheduling for individual elements

4.5 In summary, the strategy should be structured to include:

4.5.1 Targets which scope in both individual giving and corporate fundraising potential.

4.5.2 A defined approach to future community fundraising, scoping in how to maximise the potential of the HMAG Friends organisation and consider alternative structures.

4.5.3 Priorities for the internal Hastings Museum team, including business development opportunities, proposals for maximising income generation streams and signposting for trusts and foundations activity.

4.6 Additional expertise should be sought in an area of proposed income generation (for example, retail) where the development officer or members of the project team, have less specialist or robust experience. Ideally this should be sought through peer review and goodwill or through subject specialism networks (e.g. Association for Cultural Enterprises), rather than financially commissioned.

4.7On completion of the business development plan by June 2017, the development officer will spearhead and support the effective delivery of key elements of the action plan over the duration of the resilience project. It is anticipated that grants and earned income will produced during this period.

4.8 On appointment, the development officer will be provided with:

4.8.1 A more detailed summary of HMAG’s products, plans, programming, data capture and volunteering activity.

4.8.2 A table of HMAG income raised between 2013-2016 and the channels utilised to generate it.

5. Timing

  • The Development Officer will be expected to start work in January 2017.
  • It is anticipated that the consultant will commit a minimum of 60 days to the project. It is anticipated that the hours worked will be fairly evenly spread over the period of the contractbut with a more intense contribution at the outset.
  • The following milestones are proposed, linked to the payment schedule outlined in Section 8:

Milestone Date / Milestone Description
February 2017 / Agreement of detailed work programme and completion of first phase – minimum ten days work
June 2017 / Completion of Business Development Strategy and action plan to satisfaction of project steering group
Delivery of workshops
September 2017 / Delivery of agreed outputs against the action plan, to include a minimum of two fundraising initiatives and two earned income activities
November 2017 / Delivery of agreed outputs against the action plan, to include steering/mentoring of at least two fundraising initiatives by the Hastings Museum team and two by the Friends
January 2018 / Delivery of agreed outputs against the action plan and production of status report on Business Development. Refresh of the action plan informed by progress and challenges.

6. Copyright

The copyright for any material produced by the Development Officer during the course of the contract will be the property of Hastings Borough Council.

7. Location

The person appointed will work from their own premises, but will be expected to attend meetings in Hastings. This will require access to the internet, a phone line and the ability to travel to meetings.

8. Remuneration for the Contract

The fee for this contract is £21,000, exclusive of VAT, and exclusive of travel and accommodation expenses.The Development Officer will be responsible for theirNational Insurance and Tax.

Hastings Borough Council will deal with financial matters.Payment will be made against agreed outputs and paid in fiveinstalmentslinked to outputs (see section 5): £4000.00 in February 2017 £5000inJune 2017, £4000inSeptember 2017, £4000in November 2017and £4000 on final completion in January 2018.

9. Qualifications, Skills and Experience

The Development Officer must be able to work independently and work with a wide range of stakeholders. The below criteria will be used for selection and should be evidenced in a CV and letter of application.

Attributes / Criteria / Method of Assessment
Experience / Substantial track record of museum/cultural fundraising work.
Demonstrable experience of supporting a range of museums to develop effective and deliverable fundraising strategies.
Experience of planning and delivering earned income within a heritage context
(public programming/hire/retail/licensing/
membership or friends schemes) / Written app &
interview
Aptitudes & Abilities / A highly developed level of written communication.
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
Proven ability to mentor effectively over a sustained period / Written app &
interview
Knowledge & understanding / An exemplary working knowledge of the fundraising context for museums
An understanding of the fundraising environment and challenges for local authority museums
A baseline knowledge of what constitutes effective museum strategy
An experienced understanding of income generation within a museum context and realistic targets / Written app & interview
Attitude & Motivation / Ability to draw out opinions and ideas and translate into effective action planning
Ability to negotiate, persuade and advocate
Friendly, helpful attitude. / Interview

10. Insurance

The Development Officer will be required to have professional indemnity insurance.

11. Health & Safety

The Development Officer will be responsible for managing their own health & safety and those they work with, complying with all relevant legislation.

Desk space can be made available at Hastings Museum and Art Gallery for designated or ad hoc periods and should the consultant wish to use these facilities, the site specific health and safety regulations should be adhered to. A briefing will be provided.

12. To apply

By letter, detailing your relevant experience, how you will meet the requirements of the brief within the timescales, and a copy of your CV.

Your application letter should include how soon you will be able to start work on the contract, and the number of days you would work for the fee assigned. Value for money will be a key consideration in the selection process.Please provide the contact details of two referees who we may contact in respect of your application.

Applications must be submitted by email to Sonia Rasbery by 5th December 2016.

Interviews will take place on the 14 December 2015.

For an informal discussion or additional information please contact Sonia Rasbery, the Finding our Place project manager on: T: 07941 100699E: