A bid to create opportunities for trainees in local museums has over a big step nearer with the announcement that a £568,000 first stage bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has been successful.
Colchester and Ipswich Museums Service is leading on the "Transforming People to Transform Museums” project and is working with the Museum of East Anglian Life in Stowmarket, the Long Shop Museum in Leiston and Palace House in Newmarket to create high quality, paid work-based training opportunities for 24 trainees over three years. The deadline for the stage 2 application is September 2017 and if successful will see the project begin in January 2018.
Placements will last for one year, with eight trainees being supported each year. One of the aims of the project is to work towards ensuring that those that work in museums better reflect the diversity of their locality. It will create opportunities for local people to get their foot in the door of a career in museums, which may not be something they have considered.
The Suffolk County Council Museum Development Officer will work with Colchester and Ipswich Museums Service on the detail of the stage 2 application to the HLF’s “Skills For The Future” programme.
Councillor Carole Jones, Ipswich Borough Council Portfolio Holder for Development and Museums, said: “Our training programmes have been hugely successful at helping people to get their career started. This project will create more opportunities for local people to get on the jobs and skills ladder."
