Financial Help to Attend the Museums Association Conference

The Museums Association (MA) conference will take place in Belfast on 8-10 November this year and there it offers the opportunity to those who are on a tight budget to attend by offering 50 subsidised places at a reduced rate of £129.

These places will be given to staff from smaller museums that are institutional members of the association, but these are limited and early booking is essential.

There's also a discount for people undertaking the Associateship of the MA (AMA), and MA members who are students, volunteers, retired or unwaged, and early bird discount is available to every delegate who books their place before 20 August.

In addition, members of the Northern Ireland Museums Council and the Irish Museums Association can attend the whole conference at the reduced rate of £210.

And if you're travelling there by plane, the MA has partnered with FlyBe to run a 20% discount on flights booked by 20 August.

Grants and bursaries are available from a number of organisations to support people to attend conferences. A number of MA members may be eligible to apply to the MA Benevolent Fund (including the Trevor Walden Trust) for grants to advance their education and training.

The Scottish Museums Federation recently launched a new Career Development Award of up to £500 that can be used to support attendance at conferences. The deadline for applications is 20 July.

The Welsh Museums Federation offers training and conference grantson a rolling basis, funded by the Welsh government and the federation.

The Association of Independent Museums offers training grants of up to £300 to its members, with priority given to smaller museums of less than 50,000 visitors. Applications are considered throughout the year.

Museum Development Yorkshire has launched its Small Development Grant Scheme 2018-22, which can be used to support staff attendances at conferences. Up to £3,000 is available and applications are assessed on a monthly basis.

The South East Museum Development Programme offers Skills Builder grants of up to £500 to fund CPD activities that can be used for conferences. The grants are open to any individual working in a an Accredited or provisionally Accredited museum in the south east. The next deadlines to apply for the funding are 31 August and 31 October.

Members of the Midlands Federation of Museums and Art Galleries can apply for bursaries for first time attendance at museum-related conferences to enhance their CPD. Applications are considered on a rolling basis but should be made well in advance.

A number of other organisations are planning to offer funded places at the MA conference. For more information and details keep an eye out on the MA website.

www.museumsassociation.org