1. INTRODUCTION

 
 12% of survey complete.
In 2021, NMDC (the National Museum Directors’ Council) and The Exhibitions Group (then Touring Exhibitions Group), published The Principles and Guide to Lending and Borrowing.

The aim was to address sector demand for an ease and openness to lending and borrowing in the UK. The Principles and Guide are informed by Arts Council England’s ‘Ready to Borrow’ programme, the Weston Loan Programme with Art Fund and The Exhibition Group’s ‘Preparing to Borrow’ programme and ‘Lending and Borrowing Experiences Survey Report'. (2017).

National and regional museums whose leaders form the NMDC stated in 2021 their commitment to lending as widely as possible, to ensure as many people as possible across the UK can access the UK’s collections.

The Principles detail a set of commitments for lenders which NMDC members have signed up to, and a mirrored set of ‘good practice’ principles for borrowers to follow to encourage the growth of good lending and borrowing in the UK. In doing so, they hoped to encourage the wider museum community to adopt a clear, helpful and generous approach to lending.

This survey aims to gauge the degree to which these six commitments have been followed over the past 4 years and if the publication has supported a clearer and more helpful approach to lending and borrowing.

The survey is designed to be answered by both lenders and borrowers.
If your organisation does both, please answer all the questions. If you only lend or only borrow, please answer all questions relevant to your organisation. You may need to consult other colleagues to provide accurate answers and to answer questions that may be relevant to a colleague's area of work.

Please remember this is only about loans to and from UK collections.
The survey should take around 15 minutes to complete.
It may take longer if you need to discuss any questions with colleagues. If so, the questions can be seen in advance here to allow for preparation.
The closing date and time is 5pm on Monday 10 November 2025.
Thank you for participating.

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