Delivering Change: Community Catalysts will support communities to connect with a group of museums to make them safer and more inclusive for systemically excluded communities.

Do you have an idea about how museums could work better for you or your community? Would you like up to £25,000 to help transform museums?

What are we looking for?
  • No previous experience of working with museums or heritage is necessary.
  • Groups with lived experience of systemic exclusion. By that we mean groups of people who have been intentionally disadvantaged based on their identity. This could be because of their race, disability, sexuality, social class, education level, or gender, or a mix of these.
  • Groups who would like to engage in partnership work with a museum/gallery
  • Groups who can tell us how working with a partner museum will benefit them and their community
  • Groups who can commit to taking part in a project lasting up to 2 years (June 2024 to June 2026)
  • We’re very happy to speak to groups who have never applied for funding before.
To apply
  • We appreciate that it will take time to develop your idea, we are able to support you in this. We would like you to get in touch before applying, as we have advisors who would be happy to chat to you about your ideas and the application process.
  • Once you have had an introductory chat you can then submit your application.
Please complete and submit your application by 5pm on 17 June, 2024.

Next steps, if you are accepted onto the Programme
  • Your organisation will receive a development grant of £2,000. This money can be used to support you and your community to take part in the Programme. You might want to spend it on travel costs, childcare, venue hire etc.
  • There will be an initial visit from Delivering Change staff to discuss your project idea and to begin to plan what support, training and resources you need to participate in the programme.
  • Then you will work with the Delivering Change team to be partnered with one of the Museum Transformers.
  • You and your partner museum will develop your project, with support from the Delivering Change team.
  • Once your project is developed and approved then project funding of up to £25,000 will be awarded.
  • You and your partner museum can then get started on making your project a reality.
The completed application forms will be shared with the Delivering Change Team, the assessment panel and the external project evaluators. Any related reporting will be anonymised.

Please click on the following link to see the MGS privacy policy.

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* 1. Your name

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* 2. E-mail address

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* 3. Telephone number

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* 4. Address (home / work / organisation address)

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* 5. Your organisation or group name

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* 6. Where is your group or organisation based?

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* 7. Postcode

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* 8. Have you had an Expression of Interest conversation about the Community Catalysts programme with the Delivering Change team at MGS?

These next questions will help us to better understand how your group is managed so that we know how best to support you through the programme.

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* 9. Does your group or organisation have a constitution?

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* 10. Does your group or organisation have a bank account in its own name, with at least two unconnected people required to authorise payments or withdrawals from the account?

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* 11. When was your group or organisation established? For charities this should be the date you registered with OSCR. For groups this should be the date your constitution was formally adopted.

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* 12. We want to work with community groups supporting people who have experienced systemic exclusion. By that we mean groups of people who have been intentionally disadvantaged based on their identity. This could be because of their race, disability, sexuality, social class, education level, or gender, or a mix of these. Please tell us more about your organisation or group, the type of work you do and the people you support (Please write your response here. You have up to 300 words, but do not need to use them all.)

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* 13. Does your group or organisation have experience of working in partnership with another organisation within the past 3 years?

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* 14. Does your group or organisation have experience of working in partnership with a museum or gallery within the past 3 years?

The next question will help us to better understand the capacity of your group to take part in the programme. This will help us to know how best to support you through the programme.

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* 15. Please indicate your leave of disagreement / agreement with each of the the following statements.

  Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly disagree
Our group can commit to taking part in a project lasting up to 2 years
Our group has a suitable venue for in-person meetings
Our group has a suitable internet connection to participate in meetings or training using digital resources
Our group has the necessary computer hardware, e.g. laptops, tablets, to participate in meetings or training using digital resources
Our group have the necessary skills to participate in meetings or training remotely using digital resources
The following questions will help us in assessing your application.

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* 16. Can you tell us more about the kind of things your group is interested in? This could be a particular topic, period of history, culture, art, activity, your own object collection etc. This question will help us to partner you with a museum.
(Please write your response here. You have up to 300 words, but do not need to use them all)

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* 17. Why do you want to work with a museum partner? No experience needed, but it would be useful to know if you have any ideas and what you might get and learn from the process.
(Please write your response here. You have up to 300 words, but do not need to use them all)

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* 18. Do you have an idea about how museums could work better for you or your community? We welcome your ideas for working together with a museum partner to build solidarity and transform museum spaces for you or your community.
(Please write your response here. You have up to 300 words, but do not need to use them all)

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* 19. We are keen to understand how best to support you to take part in the programme. We will do our best to accommodate your needs. Please provide details of any provision which will benefit you during the programme. For example, equipment, translation services, captions, font sizes, visual descriptions etc.
(Please write your response here. You have up to 300 words, but do not need to use them all)

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* 20. If you are not successful with Delivering Change: Community Catalysts, would you like to have a chat to understand our decision?

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